best biography about queen victoria

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20 Best Books on Queen Victoria (2022 Review)

September 10, 2020 by James Wilson

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Alexandria Victoria, also known as Queen Victoria, was the Queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1837 until she died in 1901. She was also known as the Empress of India and is the second British monarch with the longest reign of 63 years with Queen Elizabeth II in the lead of 68 years and present.

Her reign was known as the Victorian era and saw significant industrial advances and cultural expansion. Work into industry, science, and communication took place and brought about a great revolution. During her reign, Britain expanded to Canada, Australia, India, and various colonies of Africa and the South Pacific. She exercised influence on foreign affairs and often expressed her preferences within the limits of constitutional propriety.

What are the Best Books on Queen Victoria to read?

Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire

Queen Victoria continued her duties until her death. She was strict and a profound figure since becoming the Queen at the age of 18. She also popularized the white wedding dress tradition, and she wore black for the rest of her reign ever since her husband passed away to whom she was devoted to immensely. There are many excellent books written on her personal life as well as her reign; out of which, I have reviewed a few as below:

Best Books on Queen Victoria: Our Top 20 Picks

Here are some of the best books on queen victoria that you can consider to expand your knowledge on the subject:

1. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird

Biography of the life of Queen Victoria. It is well defined and well researched. The global style of this biography is very satisfying. Julia Baird brings us closer to Victoria by first telling us about her history, her life, anecdotes, her reign, and politics with a very well-rounded piece of writing. It focused on not only Queen Victoria herself but also her ancestors, her descendants as well as her husband’s family, etc. it was part history, part personal story. It transports the reader into Victorian life, and we are set to imagine the scenes and the tribulations of her life even though most of her journals and letters are heavily censored. It was very well written.

Authors : Julia Baird (Author)
Publisher : Random House (November 22, 2016)
Pages : 670 pages

2. Queen Victoria: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History

Celebrates the life of Queen Victoria. It is very informative and an easy read. This book portrays her as a unique and strong-willed woman. She didn’t care for motherhood and had a complicated relationship with her children. In her life, she suffered much pain and loss, especially when she lost her beloved husband, Prince Albert. She brought about a change in the monarchy and empire, and one can see a lot of steep paths that she had to cross and reading all this in this book makes one wonder about her life and reign, and as intrigued as I was, it sparked me to learn more about her and get to know her. It is a very interesting read and, much like others, delivers what it says.

Authors : Hourly History (Author)
Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 19, 2016)
Pages : 49 pages

3. We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

People who say they love Victorian literature, they must be interested in the couple that created their lifestyle that was based on sexual morality, premarital chastity, conjugal fidelity, and hypocrisy. The book is very clear, and history has been made clear. It is presented simply. Although the details of the whole family might become a bit too much, the events leading up to the Crimean War are fascinating and well explained. You look at this couple, and you will understand what they were all about and what the Victorian Era means. The title aptly covers what it says and speaks of their relationship, rivals, partners, and rulers.

Authors : Gillian Gill (Author)
Publisher : Ballantine Books (May 14, 2009)
Pages : 616 pages

4. Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters 1860-1918 by Christina Croft

Covers a great variety of royals amongst Queen Victoria’s granddaughters. It is not in-depth as it would have been in the singular biographies, but it still provides a well-defined information structure to the readers. The author offers a list of names of the figures to be discussed and a brief note on each of them at the beginning of each chapter hence making it much easier to track the European royalty and how they were connected. This audiobook is a well-planned and well-thought-out book that gives a unique and different detail every time.

Authors : Christina Croft (Author)
Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 28, 2013)
Pages : 423 pages

5. Victoria: A Life by A. N. Wilson

An interesting and exhaustive biography of Queen Victoria. The author has a good sense of humor, and his humorous references are delightful especially when he relates the history to the modern world. It is extensively researched and noted, and there are excerpts from her journals and letters. He doesn’t hide her imperfections nor her many faults. It is a 600-page book filled with British and European politics, this book could seem overwhelming, but if you want to get immersed in Victoria’s life, you will love this book. It acts as an ideal detailed biography, and you cannot go wrong in reading this. It is very easy to read and easy on the pocket.

Authors : A. N. Wilson (Author)
Publisher : Penguin Press; First Edition (October 23, 2014)
Pages : 656 pages

6. Victoria & Albert: A Royal Love Affair by Daisy Goodwin

Focuses on the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It acts as a companion book to the PBS television series. It is covered tremendously, and their relationship is described as no less than a fairy tale and how their love for each other and how they were perceived by the nation. The final part of this book reflects how she felt about her constant pregnancies and her children to her clothing and food and the entire culture that made the Victorian Era so unique from the others. Some gorgeous pictures and illustrations made this edition are stunning, and the content is so well written that you get an exposure to the real royals. It is very informative and value for its money. Daisy Goodwin did an amazing job of bringing these two together in her book. Definitely worth the read.

Authors : Daisy Goodwin (Author), Sara Sheridan (Author)
Publisher : St. Martin’s Press (November 21, 2017)
Pages : 304 pages

7. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

To a certain degree, Queen Victoria’s reign cannot be compared to any other monarch in British history. She utterly defined her age and not as a label, but definitely as a symbol, an institution, and an enduring pillar of the British Empire. This recollection gives an insight into her court and household staff – people who were close to her in her everyday life. It follows the lives of six members of her household, from governess to the royal children and her maid-of-honor to her chaplain and personal physician and draws their letters and diaries. This book offers an insight into the happenings of the court with all its frustrations and absurdities with the Queen sitting at the center. It is an interesting read for all the curious readers who love to see things from a different perspective.

Authors : Kate Hubbard (Author)
Publisher : Harper; Reprint Edition (April 30, 2013)
Pages : 451 pages

8. Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

Concentrates on twenty-four days in Victoria’s life through which the readers come to understand her family background and relationships and her immense love for her husband Albert, who stood by her throughout his life. The author wanted to make the Queen more human in the eyes of the reader and bring her out of her famous image of being a dour recluse widow with the thirst for power, wine, and dancing. She draws all the information from Victoria’s diaries and journals and presents us with a version of the woman who is more human, complicated, and compassionate at the same time and someone we can and more and dislike at once. This biography is a work of art, and one must give it a read.

Authors : Lucy Worsley (Author)
Publisher : St. Martin’s Press; Illustrated Edition (January 8, 2019)
Pages : 432 pages

9. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams

Two-part book devoted to first to Queen Victoria and her lesser-known cousin Charlotte, daughter of George IV, who was heir-presumptive during her short life. This book contrasts the two scenarios and compares how the world would have been talking about the Charlottian age rather than Victorian. Victoria would have been a footnote in history if Charlotte had lived long enough to be Queen. It is a dual biography, and it helps understand the vital point in British history – the transition between the reign of Hanoverians and the German Princes to the new age of the Victorian era. It a well-worded biography and a recollection of history that one must-read.

Authors : Kate Williams (Author)
Publisher : Ballantine Books; 1st Edition (August 10, 2010)
Pages : 464 pages

10. Queen Victoria’s Children by John Van der Kiste

Focus more on Queen Victoria’s heirs and their relationship with her. It is in the form of an audiobook, and it contains apt information about all of them. It gives us a different perspective on their lives. One can understand them to a new level and can empathize to their situation of how some of them were quite unhappy with their lives and marriages and the constant sibling rivalry and quarreling who put the needs of various countries before family and their sibling bonds and how much each of them had to sacrifice in their way, and John Van der Kiste does an excellent job at delivering this information in a light and interesting way while keeping all the listeners involved.

Authors : John Van der Kiste (Author)
Publisher : The History Press (June 1, 2010)
Pages : 239 pages

11. Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

Based on the masterpiece series Victoria that currently airs on PBS and is served as a companion book to the original series. The author plunges into the Queen’s writings and gives evidence of scholarly insight. Throughout the book, there are quotes from the Queen’s diaries and journals, along with letters to her family and confidants. It also contains family trees and pictures, and one is compelled to watch the series and lookup relatable information online of the details of the events that took place. This book is a unique resource designed to cater to the questions that one must have after watching the series.

Authors : Helen Rappaport (Author), Daisy Goodwin (Foreword)
Publisher : Harper Design; Illustrated Edition (January 31, 2017)

12. Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe by Deborah Cadbury

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria saw dynastic marriages between their children and European royalty to avoid wars and create a balance in powers along with spreading British values across the continent. After her husband’s death, she had a vision that needed to come true through her forty-two grandchildren. Deborah Cadbury writes this book, which provokes the readers to look at Queen Victoria’s desire to be involved in matchmaking marriage for her grandchildren, who were elevated to the throne at a critical time in Europe’s history. The author does include many snippets from personal letters of the Queen, thus making this book a fascinating read for the audience.

Authors : Deborah Cadbury (Author)
Publisher : PublicAffairs; Illustrated Edition (April 16, 2019)
Pages : 416 pages

13. Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert

Christopher Hibbert paints a fresh and intimate portrait of Queen Victoria, who not only shaped the country but also revolutionized an era. This book is a fascinating and enjoyable biography of the Queen. Well-accounted and thoroughly researched, this book gives an exciting picture to the powerful woman of an empire. The insights into the contradictions of the Queen’s attitude and her voice against women’s suffrage are quite commendable, and the inclusion of her journal pages made her seem more accessible as a person rather than a historical figure. This biography is well structured and constructed and is in a standard format that depicts her life from cradle to her grave.

Authors : Christopher Hibbert (Author)
Publisher : Da Capo Press; Illustrated Edition (November 1, 2001)
Pages : 608 pages

14. Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria by Jean Plaidy

Long fictional biography of Queen Victoria, which explains her unhappy childhood and her marriage with Prince Albert, who was someone she loved dearly, and they had nine children together who all lived. It is an interesting read about Queen Victoria and how Great Britain came about in over 300 years. It is written and dramatized in the first-person point of view that is Queen Victoria. It is a comprehensive and very informative read that will give you comfort. It follows from her birth to her death. Very enjoyable and value for money.

Authors : Jean Plaidy (Author)
Publisher : Broadway Books (February 19, 2009)
Pages : 578 pages

15. Who was Queen Victoria? By Jim Gigliotti

Book specifically written for children with amazing fun facts for kids who want to know who Queen Victoria was. It is perfect for elementary school students who would be interested in reading about a featured person. This biography covers her life as a child and how she would be sad and happy and grew up with much scrutiny. Facts like Queen Victoria introducing the white wedding gown and her husband, Prince Albert, introducing the Christmas tree are highlighted in this book. It is excellent for kids and for adults too who are looking for something light and easy to read.

Authors : Jim Gigliotti (Author), Who HQ (Author), Max Hergenrother (Illustrator)
Publisher : Penguin Workshop; DGS Edition (July 10, 2014)
Pages : 112 pages

16. Queen Victoria’s Little Wars by Byron Farwell

Another terrific book by one of the great historians of the British experience. It contains the reign of Queen Victoria and the “little wars” that were continually prevailing over 60 years. Some were direct, while others were small skirmishes that are mostly forgotten over the years. It sheds light on the uprisings, revolts, and wars that happened across the empire. The author provides new and fascinating biographical sketches of the leading military leaders and those armies which showed bravery and foolhardiness. This book is an excellent synopsis of the many colonial wars fought under the reign of Queen Victoria.

Authors : Byron Farwell (Author)
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint Edition (June 17, 1985)

17. Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef

Comprehensive introduction to the life of Queen Victoria, especially written for young adults, which appeals to them to learn more about Queen Victoria and the times that she lived in. The author Catherine Reef includes many resources such as personal pictures and drawings of the Queen, letters, and articles, and much more. It is well-written and well-organized biography that is not only interesting but also fascinating because it makes one aware of their history in which they came from. It is enlightening and readable and starts off with the words: “if another princess had not died tragically and young, Victoria never would have been born.”

Authors : Catherine Reef (Author)
Publisher : Clarion Books; Illustrated Edition (November 7, 2017)
Pages : 256 pages

18. The Victorian Era: A Captivating Guide to the Life of Queen Victoria and an Era in the History of the United Kingdom Known for its Hierarchy-Based Social Order by Captivating History

Serves as a captivating guide to the life of the powerful Queen. It is a concise biography that provides an excellent and straight forward narrative that is not only engaging but also readily comprehensible. It is thoroughly researched and presented in a clear and unbiased perspective. The information contained within is supplemented by the snippets from her journals and letters – much like other books. There is also a window of information that taps into the people of London of that time and their wealth, social status, and the impact of the cultural revolution that she brought about during that era. Its quality of the narrative is quite enjoyable, and it is an interesting read and a value for money.

Authors : Captivating History (Author)
Publisher : Ch Publications (November 26, 2019)
Pages : 122 pages

19. Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace by Amanda Foreman

Tells the story of how Queen Victoria transformed the Buckingham Place from a bachelor pad to an iconic historical symbol of the monarchy, which became a rallying point for Great Britain and became a cherished family home for any generations to come. This new and delightful book features many objects and paintings present in the Buckingham Palace. It illustrates how Queen Victoria ascended the throne and her ceremony of coronation and how she transformed it into a symbol of national solidarity. It gives an insight into one of Britain’s most influential and famous monarchs. It is a beautiful read, and one should give it a try.

Authors : Amanda Foreman (Author), Lucy Peter (Author)
Publisher : Royal Collection Trust; 1st Edition (September 15, 2019)

20. Curtain Down at Her Majesty’s: The Death of Queen Victoria in the Words of Those Who Were There by Stewart Richards

Covers the life after the death of the second longest-reigning monarch who ruled for over six decades. It tells us about the aftermath and shock that the people fell in. The confusion, the chaos, the grief, and the turmoil that struck her kingdom. The author delves into the archives of the event and creates this book, which is an interesting read and a well-researched account of the happenings. It reveals the ceremony around the deaths of the royals and how history is then made. Do give it a read.

Authors : Stewart Richards (Author)
Publisher : The History Press (September 1, 2019)

Choosing the Best Books on Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was amongst the influential leaders of all time, and she is not only a figure to be looked up to but the one who should be remembered throughout history. These books explain her life and define her as a person, and one must give it a read as it will increase our knowledge about how our world came to be.

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Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901 — the second-longest reign of any British monarch.

(1819-1901)

Who Was Queen Victoria?

Victoria's reign saw great cultural expansion; advances in industry, science and communications; and the building of railways and the London Underground.

Born Alexandrina Victoria on May 24, 1819, Queen Victoria’s father died when she was 8 months old. Her mother became a domineering influence in her life. As a child, she was said to be warm-hearted and lively.

Educated at the Royal Palace by a governess, she had a gift for drawing and painting and developed a passion for journal writing.

Despite a feisty temperament, Victoria was famously tiny in stature, measuring just 4 feet 11 inches tall. Later in life, her weight ballooned, with her waist reportedly measuring 50 inches.

Parents and Half-Sister

Queen Victoria was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, who was King George III 's fourth son. Her mother was Victoria Saxe-Saalfield-Coburg, sister of Leopold, king of the Belgians.

Queen Victoria also had a half-sister who was 12 years her senior, Princess Feodora, from her mother’s first marriage to Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen. When Princess Feodora was 6 years old, her father died. Her mother remarried Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent, and promptly moved from Germany to England for the future queen’s birth.

Ascension to the Throne

At birth, Victoria was fifth in line to the throne. However, upon her father’s death in 1820, Victoria became the heir apparent, since her three surviving uncles — who were ahead of her in succession — had no legitimate heirs who survived childhood. When King William IV died in June 1837, Victoria became queen at the age of 18.

Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s First Prime Minister

Lord Melbourne was Victoria’s first prime minister, who served in 1834 and again from 1835 to 1841. When she first took the crown at the young age of 18 in 1837, Melbourne helped teach Victoria the intricacies of being a constitutional monarch. He acted as the queen’s political advisor and confidant during the early years of her reign.

In 1840, when Great Britain was fighting wars with Afghanistan and China and facing a working-class movement, Melbourne helped the queen work with an uncooperative Conservative government and suggested she let her husband, Albert, take the reigns of state responsibilities.

Victoria ascended to the throne at age 18 on June 20, 1837, and she served until her death at the age of 81 on January 22, 1901. Under Victoria's reign, Great Britain experienced unprecedented expansion in industry, building railways, bridges, underground sewers and power distribution networks throughout much of the empire. Seven assassination attempts were made on Victoria's life between 1840 and 1882.

There were advances in science ( Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution) and technology (the telegraph and popular press), with vast numbers of inventions; tremendous wealth and poverty; growth of great cities like Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham; increased literacy; and great civic works, often funded by industrial philanthropists.

During Victoria’s reign, Britain expanded its imperial reach, doubling in size and encompassing Canada, Australia, India and various possessions in Africa and the South Pacific. The Queen was emblematic of the time: an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire, which stretched across the globe and earned the adage: “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

At various points in her reign, Victoria exercised some influence over foreign affairs, expressing her preference, but not pressing beyond the bounds of constitutional propriety. During this time, the British Empire experienced only a few small wars, exerting its authority over foreign possessions.

One of the major factors that helped Britain avoid European entanglements was the marriage of Victoria's children: either directly or by marriage, she was related to the royal houses of nearly every major European power. Though the English constitutional arrangement denied her powers in foreign affairs, she ruled her family with an iron hand that helped keep Great Britain away from the intrigues of European politics.

During Victoria’s reign, the political climate in British Parliament went through a major transition. The Tory Party split, forming the Liberal and Conservative parties, and started a succession of opposing administrations. Victoria played a crucial role as a mediator between arriving and departing prime ministers.

Though she detested Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, she found ways to work with him, even during her mourning period. She was particularly fond of Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who linked the monarchy to the expansion of the empire, which helped restore public opinion following Victoria’s long seclusion after the death of her beloved husband Albert.

Victoria continued in her duties up to her death. In keeping with tradition, she spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where her health quickly declined to the point that she was unable to return to London.

The Victorian Era

Life in Britain during the 19th century was known as Victorian England because of Victoria’s long reign and the indelible stamp it and her persona placed on the country. Her strict ethics and personality have become synonymous with the era.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

In 1840, Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the son of her mother’s brother. The couple met when Victoria was just 16; their uncle Leopold suggested they marry.

Since Victoria was queen, Albert couldn’t propose to her. So she proposed to him on October 15, 1839.

At first, the British public didn’t warm up to the German prince and he was excluded from holding any official political position. At times, their marriage was tempestuous, a clash of wills between two extremely strong personalities.

However, the couple was intensely devoted to each other. Prince Albert became Victoria’s strongest ally, helping her navigate difficult political waters.

After several years of suffering from stomach ailments, Victoria's beloved Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861 at the age of 42. Victoria was devastated, sleeping with a plaster cast of his hand by her side, and went into a 25-year seclusion. For the rest of her reign, she wore black.

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Queen Victoria's Children

Victoria and Albert had nine children together:

Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise (1840-1901), who married the future emperor of Germany Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia in 1858. On his death three months after taking the throne, their eldest son became Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
Prince Albert Edward Wettin (1841-1910), who succeeded his mother to the crown as King Edward VII in 1901.
Princess Alice Maude Mary (1843-1878), whose daughter Alix married Nicholas II , the last Russian tzar.
Prince Alfred Ernest Albert (1844-1900), who married the daughter of Tzar Alexander II of Russia. His oldest daughter, Marie, wed the crown Prince of Romania.
Princess Helena Augusta Victoria (1846-1923)
Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939) created quite a scandal when she married a commoner, John Douglas Sutherland Campbell (later the Duke of Argyll).
Prince Arthur William Patrick (1850-1942), who married Princess Louise Margarete of Prussia.
Prince Leopold George Duncan (1853-1884)
Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria (1857-1944)

Relationship with John Brown

John Brown was Victoria’s Scottish servant and one of her closest friends, with some suggestions that the two may have been lovers. Seven years her junior and many ranks below her, the queen said Brown was her dearest friend — an unthinkable relationship at the time. He became known as “the queen’s stallion” in the royal household and pledged his lifelong loyalty to her.

There were rumors that Brown and Victoria were lovers, especially after the death of Albert. Historians have since parsed through her journals — which were edited by her daughter Beatrice — and never found evidence of an affair. But one thing is clear: She loved him. When Brown died suddenly in March 1883, Victoria told his sister-in-law that he was the “best, the truest heart that ever beat.”

Relationship with Abdul Karim

Following Brown’s death in 1883, Victoria’s servant Abdul Karim ascended into the queen’s inner circle and became her closest confidant. Karim was the son of a hospital assistant in Northern India and was brought to England to serve at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. He quickly impressed the queen with his cooking, and she asked him to teach her Urdu. Victoria lavished Karim with gifts including a private carriage, titles and honors. She also commissioned several portraits.

In letters to Karim, the queen referred to herself as “your loving mother” and “your closest friend.” However, historians do not believe that the two had a physical relationship.

Abdul’s great-grandson Javed Mahmood told The Telegraph in 2010 that they shared “a mother and son relationship. She became an Indophile in part because of her affection for him. But the prejudice of her family percolated down to Victoria’s staff.”

Victoria and Karim’s close relationship was scandalous to the royal family. Upon the queen’s death in 1901, they had all of the pair’s letters burned, and Victoria’s daughter Beatrice removed all references of Karim from the queen’s journals. Although the family followed through with the queen’s wish for Karim to be among a small group of mourners at her funeral, they later evicted Karim from the home Victoria gave to him and sent him back to India.

Karim’s relationship with Victoria was uncovered decades later by journalist Shrabani Basu, who visited the queen’s summer home in 2003 and noticed several paintings and a bust of Karim. Basu investigated their relationship and wrote a book, Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant .

Death and Successor

Victoria died after a lengthy period of poor health on January 22, 1901, at the age of 81. Her son, the future King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, were both at her bedside.

Prince Albert Edward Wettin, Victoria’s eldest son, succeeded her to the British throne as King Edward VII upon her death in 1901.

QUICK FACTS

Name: Victoria
Birth Year: 1819
Birth date: May 24, 1819
Birth City: London, England
Birth Country: United Kingdom
Gender: Female
Best Known For: Queen Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901 — the second-longest reign of any British monarch.
World Politics
Astrological Sign: Gemini
Interesting Facts
Queen Victoria was tiny, standing at 4 feet, 11 inches tall.
Queen Victoria's reign lasted 63 years, surpassed by great-great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II in 2015.
Death Year: 1901
Death date: January 22, 1901
Death City: Near Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
Death Country: United Kingdom

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CITATION INFORMATION

Article Title: Queen Victoria Biography
Author: Biography.com Editors
Website Name: The Biography.com website
Url: https://www.biography.com/royalty/queen-victoria
Access Date:
Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
Last Updated: March 15, 2021
Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.
Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.
I don't dislike babies, though I think very young ones rather disgusting.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Queen Elizabeth II

Marcus Aurelius

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Maria Theresa

Alexander the Great

Nicholas II

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Victoria: A Life by AN Wilson – review

T owards the end of this subtle, thoughtful biography of Queen Victoria AN Wilson presents his defining argument. Victoria, he suggests, was an artist. He isn't talking here about her rather good watercolours, but something more profound. The queen, he claims, lived an entirely inward life, filled with characters and narratives of her own making: saintly Albert, bad Bertie, twinkly Disraeli and the wicked, wicked Boers. Just like that other epic storyteller Marcel Proust , Victoria stayed home (although, unlike the Frenchman, she never allowed herself to lie in bed) and conjured up a world that unfurled over the decades as larger-than-life characters bloomed, hovered and faded, leaving behind their own particular perfume.

It is the queen's inwardness, Wilson says, which makes her such an excellent subject for a biographer. There's no requirement to go puffing after her on endless banal state visits, bridge openings, or troopings the colour – because she didn't do them, or at least not much. Anyway, Wilson covered all that in The Victorians , his bestseller of 10 years ago that dealt with the 19th-century's outerworld of iron, brick and cotton bales. In this new book he prefers to stay indoors with Victoria in one of her freezing residences as she pours out millions of words into her daily journal and letters, sifting external events through what Wilson calls "the rich comedy" of her consciousness.

Like any artist whose vision was both protean – she was perfectly capable of believing six contradictory things before breakfast – and particular, Victoria has been a magnet for biographical rereadings in the 11 decades since her death. The best include Lytton Strachey 's surprisingly tender Queen Victoria of 1921 and Elizabeth Longford 's still highly readable Victoria RI of 1964. Then, in the 1990s, academic scholars got hold of the queen and the result was a poststructuralist Victoria – all fragments, gaps and jagged edges. Now, 20 years since that last serious flurry of biographical interest, Wilson picks up the pieces and puts the jigsaw back together again, creating in the process a Victoria for our own times.

And what those times require, it turns out, is a passionate pan-Europeanist. It has long been a given of Victorian scholarship that Prince Albert spent his short, strenuous life trying to graft German liberalism on to the British constitution to create a template of moderate monarchism that could withstand the challenge of revolution and nationalism alike. His grand idea was to export this model back to Protestant Europe as a gift-with-purchase whenever someone married one of his and Victoria's nine-strong nursery tribe. By this means every Duchy, Palatinate and hyphenated micro-kingdom would be given the tools it needed to stay safe in an uncertain world. They would also, in time, join up to form a central European hub that was rock-solid liberal.

The assumption has always been that by the time of Albert's early death in 1861 this project had stalled under pressures of working class democracy at home and Prussian militarism abroad. Wilson, though, has been back to the archives in Coburg and reconnected with the tap-root of Victoria and Albert's plan for a united, moderate Germany. He shows convincingly that, despite being poleaxed by grief at losing her "Angel", Victoria remained passionately engaged in what might be described as "the Coburg project". When the Schleswig-Holstein crisis blew up in the early 1860s she understood, in a way that her prime minister, Palmerston, did not, that buried in this parochial squabble between Prussia and Denmark were the first signs of the Bismarckian aggression that would eventually rip Europe apart. It was only thanks to the wise queen, suggests Wilson, that Britain did not blunder into a war with Germany at this point, 50 years before it was capable of winning.

Wilson pays proper attention to the Hanoverian side of Victoria's inheritance too. She was the granddaughter of King George III, which meant that whenever she behaved oddly courtiers began to wonder if she might be mad. Wilson believes that there were times, especially in the late 1860s, when Victoria was properly "out of her mind". Her letters to Gladstone, sometimes scrawled in blue crayon and barely stretching to two lines, read like dispatches from an interior world to which the drawbridge has been pulled temporarily shut.

In the end, though, Wilson doesn't put the queen's strange episodes down to porphyria , the heritable disease that is assumed to have caused her grandfather to clatter off into his own imaginary kingdom. Instead, he blames grief, the menopause and too much whisky: Victoria picked up the tippling habit from John Brown and never shook it off. And as to whether or not she actually slept with the man in the tartan skirt, Wilson thinks it doesn't really matter, although it's pretty clear he thinks she did. What interests him, rather, is the way that "Mrs Brown's" spectacular bad behaviour makes her the obvious, if unlikely, role model for her scoundrel heir, the hapless Bertie. Mother and son both did exactly as they damn well pleased, embarrassing their families and imperilling the monarchy as they acted on the prompts of their own emotional and erotic inner worlds.

This makes Victoria's constant criticism of Bertie as well as his siblings – arrogant Affie, wild Louise, selfish Leopold – seem hypocritical. But, Wilson insists, for Victoria, the political always remained intensely personal. She was critiquing her children not so much as real people but as characters in an imaginary dynastic drama, as vivid to her as the Guermantes were to Proust. As Prussia began to dominate Germany, the ageing queen continued to fret over the marriages of her grandchildren – all those oyster-eyed Victorias, Alices, Arthurs and Alfreds – who were to be sent out in a second wave to the four corners of Europe, carrying their fateful cargo of haemophilia, porphyria and sound constitutional principles.

Of course, anyone who gathered in the streets in 1897 to wave a flag as the queen passed by on her way to celebrate her diamond jubilee with a Te Deum on the steps of St Paul's was probably not thinking much about the Coburg project. Decades earlier she had thrown in her lot with Disraeli , that other great storymaker, who had turned her into the Empress of India, a suitably gaudy figurehead for the new age of popular, jingoistic Toryism. All the same, Wilson suggests in this shimmering and rather wonderful biography, as the elderly queen smiled and inclined her head to the ecstatic crowd, it was still possible to discern in that dumpling form traces of all the earlier versions of herself still buried deep inside. She had become nothing less than a symbol of Time itself, a reminder of the good intentions of the past and a warning about what might happen once she was gone and, with her, the dream of a united Europe.

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The Best Books About Queen Victoria

Feed your royal curiosity with the most interesting stories about the iconic queen.

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Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird

Even the most dedicated fans of Queen Victoria are sure to learn something new in this biography of the monarch. From Victoria's struggle to claim her own power as a vivacious but sheltered young woman, to her rule in a rapidly changing world, Baird delves into previously unpublished sources, including information about Victoria's controversial relationship with her servant John Brown, to craft an enlightening biography.

Victoria: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

Written by the writer and creator of Masterpiece's Victoria , Daisy Goodwin, this novel, based on the young life of the queen (and drawing from her personal diaries) is sure to hit the spot for anyone wishing for more episodes of Victoria .

We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

They're known to history for their fairytale romance—a love story that transcended even death—but there was far more to the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert than passion. Gill's book serves as a biography of one of the most famous marriages in history, both the fawning romance and the rough patches born of two strong personalities butting heads.

Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

This official companion piece to Victoria, written by the show's historical consultant, digs even further into Victoria's personal letter and journals, mining details from the queen's young life including her opinions of her suitors and the drama of court as well as photos and details from the filming of the show.

Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams

Often overlooked in the history of Victoria's rise to the throne is her cousin, Princess Charlotte, whose unexpected death left England without an heir and led directly to Victoria's conception. CNN's official royal historian delves into the lives of both royal women in her biography, exploring all of the depths and similarities between the queen and the queen-who-could-have-been.

Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting by Carolyn Harris

Though Victoria was famously iffy on the prospect of having children, her life as a mother is perhaps one of the features she's best remembered for. From their medieval ancestors to Victoria and Albert all the way to William and Kate, this history examines the way royal parents have raised their broods and how their choices as parents have influenced the rise and fall of empires.

More: What Was Queen Victoria Like as a Mother?

Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

Rather than your typical chronological biography, Worsley examines the life of Queen Victoria through the lens of 24 days that made a particular impact on the queen, including the obvious (her birth, her wedding, Prince Albert's death) as well as the ephemeral (a particular Christmas morning, the wedding day of her youngest child, Princess Beatrice.)

Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

Craving a more Downton Abbey view of life at Victoria's court? Pulling from the letters and diaries of six members of the queen's household, this nonfiction book paints a portrait of the monarch's family and life in Osbourne house from a decidedly un-royal perspective.

Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.

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Queen Victoria

By: History.com Editors

Updated: November 9, 2022 | Original: November 9, 2009

An 1883 painting of Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901), taken from an 1882 photograph by Alexander Bassano. Behind the queen is a portrait of her deceased consort, Prince Albert, by German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter, and the box beside her is labelled 'First Lord of the Treasury'.

Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire for nearly 64 years, after ascending the throne just weeks after turning 18. She was the second-longest-reigning English royal in history, topped only by her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II . While short in stature–she was barely 5 feet tall–Victoria was a giant in shaping the modern monarchy, leaving her mark on what has come to be called the Victorian Era .

Early Life and Ascension to the Throne

Alexandrina Victoria was born on May 24, 1819, at London’s Kensington Palace to Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III , and his wife, Princess Maria Louisa Victoria, who was of German descent. Named for her godfather, Russian Tsar Alexander I, she was fifth in line for the crown at birth.

Before Victoria turned 1, Edward died of pneumonia. When King George died, her uncle, William IV, was named king, and, because Edward’s brothers had no surviving legitimate heirs, Victoria became first in line to the throne. In preparation for her daughter’s reign, Victoria’s mother soon aligned with courtier John Conroy, and the two forced Victoria to follow what came to be known as the Kensington System. The set of strict, manipulative rules were as isolating as they were demanding on the girl, a gifted artist and avid diarist who was made to share her bedroom with her mother and was never left alone.

Just a few weeks after turning 18, Victoria ascended the throne as Queen of England on June 20, 1837, following William’s death, with the coronation taking place a year later on June 28, 1838. She almost immediately dismissed Conroy and moved into Buckingham Palace, which had been owned by William, making her the first monarch to reside at the estate.

“I shall do my utmost to do fulfil my duty towards my country,” she wrote in her diary soon after taking the crown. “I am very young and perhaps in many, although not all, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.”

British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne became her trusted advisor and confidante, and, under her rule, Victoria began to win back public approval of the monarchy as she worked to modernize the empire, supporting the arts and charities and championing industrial advancements. In fact, she was the first monarch to ride a train, in 1842, at the age of 23, writing that the “motion was very slight, and much easier than a carriage—also no dust or great heat.”

WATCH: How Department Stories Liberated Victorian-Era Women

Family and Descendants

Victoria married her first cousin, the German Prince Albert, on February 10, 1840, whom she loved dearly. "I never, never spent such an evening!!” she wrote in her diary following their wedding night. “My dearest dearest dear Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before!"

Along with Melbourne, Albert carried great influence in setting the queen’s priorities and projects, which largely centered on arts, sciences, trade and industry. Among Albert’s projects was the Great Exhibition of 1851 , which brought 6 million people to London in celebration of global industry, technology and culture and is considered the first World’s Fair.

The couple had nine children from 1840-1857: Victoria, Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice. Nearly all of them married into European royal families and many of her 42 grandchildren, including Kaiser Wilhelm II , the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruled monarchies across the continent.

Notable great-great-grandchildren include Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, King Constantine II of Greece, King Michael I of Romania, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. King Charles III is her great-great-great-grandson.

Albert’s Death and Victoria’s Later Years

Albert died in 1861 at the age of 42 from typhoid fever. Devastated, Victoria spent the next 10-plus years in seclusion, and wore black as a symbol of mourning for the rest of her life.

While in isolation, her popularity sank, but once she returned to public life, her penchant for foreign policy based on peace, support of charities that focused on the poor, health care and education, and wide expansion of the British Empire—along with her survival of at least seven assassination attempts during that led her to carry a chain mail “bulletproof” umbrella —won over public opinion.

Acting on advice from British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Victoria took the title of Empress of India in 1877, extending the empire’s imperialist reach. In 1887, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee , which marked the 50th anniversary of her accession, followed by the Diamond Jubilee, taking place a decade later in 1897, on the 60th anniversary, cemented her image and popularity among her subjects, earning her the nickname “Grandmother of Europe.”

During Victoria’s nearly 64-year reign, the British Empire was at its largest and most powerful. The empire included India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, and covered one-fifth of the globe and accounted for roughly one in four people on Earth. Locations around the world, from Victoria, Canada to Victoria Falls, Zambia to Queensland, Australia are named in her honor. The Victorian Era is noted for advancements in the arts and industry, inventions including telephone and telegraph and political reform and change.

She also helped shape popular culture: It was Victoria who started the trend of a bride wearing white on her wedding day and a widow wearing all black in mourning. Albert and Victoria made decorating Christmas trees customary. She is also credited with restoring the public’s view of the monarchy.

Victoria died January 22, 1901 at the age of 81, with her heir Edward VII and Emperor Wilhelm II at her side. She was succeeded by her oldest son, Edward VII, and was buried next to Albert at the Frogmore Mausoleum near Windsor.

“Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901),” Royal.uk .

“How Queen Victoria remade the British monarchy,” National Geographic .

“Queen Victoria: From Pampered Princess to Elderly Empress: Wife, Mother, and Queen,” Historic Royal Palaces .

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7 Best Books On Queen Victoria

“We will not have failure – only success and new learning.”

When you have a whole era named after you, you know that you’ve left a serious imprint on history. Queen Victoria ruled the United Kingdom from 1837-1901. At sixty-four years, she was the longest-ruling monarch in British history until Elizabeth II surpassed that record in 2015 and her time on the throne coincided with some of the most profound transformations in the technological, cultural, economic and political landscapes both in her dominions and across the globe.

From her devoted marriage to Prince Albert, and her sprawling extended family, to the complexities in her personality as a monarch and as a woman in the nineteenth century, check out the best Queen Victoria books at What We Reading !

Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire – Julia Baird

Kicking off our list of the best Queen Victoria books is Julia Baird’s Goodreads nominated biography, Victoria The Queen . Drawing on numerous unpublished papers and other materials, Baird attempts to reveal the true figure behind the stereotypical image history normally presents. Bold, glamorous and unbreakable, Baird traces the path of Victoria from fifth in line to the throne to take the crown during a period of incredible and turbulent shifts both in her kingdom and beyond.

Through her compelling storytelling, Baird vividly brings Victoria to life, humanising her by exploring some of the relatable challenges and obstacles she was forced to endure and overcome.

Victoria: A Life – A.N. Wilson

Award-winning biographer A.N. Wilson presents an exhaustingly researched and definitive overview book on Queen Victoria in Victoria: A Life . Featuring a wealth of new material and never-before-utilised sources, Wilson’s biography explores everything from the strange series of circumstances that led to her coronation, her isolated childhood, devoted marriage to Albert to her intimate friendship with Highland servant John Brown.

A Life successfully takes on the long-held presumptions about the woman and her reign and presents a far more colourful character with far more complexities than most realise.

Empress: Queen Victoria And India – Miles Taylor

As the first Empress of India , Queen Victoria’s reign has become as synonymous with the subcontinent as it has with her home isles. In Empress: Queen Victoria and India , Miles Taylor dissects Victoria’s relationship with India. In what is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic and engaging Queen Victoria books, he argues that the queen and her husband Albert were passionately fascinated by the domain long before her final years.

He also argues that the influence of Victoria played a significant role in the cultural, political and economic modernisation of India, making this one of the most engaging works on Victoria, India and imperial rule.

My Dearest, Dearest Albert: Queen Victoria’s Life Through Her Letters And Journals – Karen Dolby

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s marriage has become one of the greatest love stories in history. However, it is only through the personal letters and memoirs curated by Karen Dolby in My Dearest, Dearest Albert do we get a real insight into how passionate this relationship is.

Using extracts from 122 volumes of Victoria’s diaries written from the age of 13, My Dearest, Dearest Albert gives readers the most intimate illumination on what Victoria felt about her husband, children and family, the people she came into contact with as well as her private opinions on both domestic and global affairs.

Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow – Dr. Lucy Worsley

Another one of the best Queen Victoria books for understanding the personality behind the crown comes from Dr Lucy Worsley in Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow . In it, Worsley explores the various family roles Victoria played during her lifetime.

Examining how society’s values affected how a queen behaved in a domestic environment, the book covers 24 days of Victoria’s life. It uses diaries, letters and other primary sources to demonstrate how the queen was from the dour-faced and glum figure history has led us to picture.

Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household – Kate Hubbard

Looking for a Queen Victoria book from the perspective of those closest to her? Kate Hubbard’s Serving Victoria is for you! Using letters and diary entries from six members of the queen’s household, this book takes readers behind the scenes of Osbourne house, illuminating what Victoria’s home and family life was truly like.

Unlike other books on the monarch, Serving Victoria is a unique perspective thanks to its decidedly un-royal or academic narrators.

Grandmama Of Europe: The Crowned Descendants Of Queen Victoria – Theo Aronson

On the back of producing well over 700 descendants, Queen Victoria’s title as the ‘ grandmama of Europe ’ is a fitting one. With many of those descendants sitting in powerful positions across the continent, Theo Aronson breaks down the lasting legacy of Victoria in his biography, Grandmama of Europe .

In it, he looks at the many families of mainland Europe that can trace their bloodlines back to Victoria, exploring the complicated relations among the royal houses of Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Check Out The Best Victorian Historical Fiction Books

Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).

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Biography of Queen Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India

She ruled during a time of economic and imperial expansion

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B.A., Mundelein College
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Queen Victoria (May 24, 1819–January 22, 1901), was the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the empress of India. She was the longest-ruling monarch of Great Britain until Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her record and ruled during a time of economic and imperial expansion known as the Victorian Era.

Fast Facts: Queen Victoria

Known For : Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (r. 1837–1901), Empress of India (r. 1876–1901)
Born : May 24, 1819 in Kensington Palace, London, England
Parents : Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoire Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg
Died : January 22, 1901 in Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Published Works : Letters , Leaves From the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands , and More Leaves
Spouse : Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (m. Feb. 10, 1840)
Children : Alice Maud Mary (1843–1878), Alfred Ernest Albert (1844–1900), Helena Augusta Victoria (1846–1923), Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), Arthur William Patrick Albert (1850–1942), Leopold George Duncan Albert (1853–1884), Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore (1857–1944)

Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren married into many royal families of Europe, and some introduced the hemophilia gene into those families. She was a member of the house of Hanover , later called the house of Windsor.

Queen Victoria was born Alexandrina Victoria at Kensington Palace, London, England on May 24, 1819. She was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent (1767–1820), the fourth son of King George III (1738–1820, r. 1760–1820). Her mother was Victoire Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg (1786–1861), sister of Prince (later King) Leopold of the Belgians (1790–1865, r. 1831–1865). Edward had married Victoire when an heir to the throne was needed after the death of Princess Charlotte, who had been married to Prince Leopold. Edward died in 1820, just before his father did. Victoire became the guardian of Alexandrina Victoria, as designated in Edward's will.

When George IV became king (r. 1821–1830), his dislike for Victoire helped isolate the mother and daughter from the rest of the court. Prince Leopold helped his sister and niece financially.

In 1830 and at the age of 11, Victoria became heir-apparent to the British crown on the death of her uncle George IV, at which point the parliament granted her income. Her uncle William IV (1765–1837, r. 1830–1837) became king. Victoria remained relatively isolated, without any real friends, though she had many servants and teachers and a succession of pet dogs. A tutor, Louise Lehzen (1784–1817), tried to teach Victoria the kind of discipline that Queen Elizabeth I had displayed. She was tutored in politics by her uncle Leopold.

When Victoria turned 18, her uncle King William IV offered her a separate income and household, but Victoria's mother refused. Victoria attended a ball in her honor and was greeted by crowds in the streets.

When William IV died childless a month later, Victoria became Queen of Great Britain and was crowned June, 20, 1837.

Victoria began to exclude her mother from her inner circle. The first crisis of her reign came when rumors circulated that one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora, was pregnant by her mother's adviser, John Conroy. Lady Flora died of a liver tumor, but opponents at court used the rumors to make the new queen seem less innocent.

Queen Victoria tested the limits of her royal powers in May 1839, when the government of Lord Melbourne (William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, 1779–1848), a Whig who had been her mentor and friend, fell. She refused to follow established precedent and dismiss her ladies of the bedchamber so that the Tory government could replace them. In the "bedchamber crisis" she had the support of Melbourne. Her refusal brought back the Whigs and Lord Melbourne until 1841.

Neither Victoria nor her advisers favored the idea of an unmarried queen, despite or because of the example of Elizabeth I (1533–1603, r. 1558–1603). A husband for Victoria would have to be royal and Protestant, as well as an appropriate age, which narrowed the field. Prince Leopold had been promoting her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861) for many years. They had first met when both were 17 and had corresponded ever since. When they were 20, he returned to England and Victoria, in love with him, proposed marriage. They were married on Feb. 10, 1840.

Victoria had traditional views on the role of wife and mother, and although she was queen and Albert was prince consort, he shared government responsibilities at least equally. They fought often, sometimes with Victoria shouting angrily.

Their first child, a daughter, was born in November 1840, followed by the Prince of Wales, Edward, in 1841. Three more sons and four more daughters followed. All nine pregnancies ended with live births and all the children survived to adulthood, an unusual record for that time. Although Victoria had been nursed by her own mother, she used wet-nurses for her children. Though the family could have lived at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, or the Brighton Pavilion, they worked to create homes more appropriate for a family. Albert was key in designing their residences at Balmoral Castle and Osborne House. The family traveled to several places, including Scotland, France and Belgium. Victoria became especially fond of Scotland and Balmoral.

Government Role

When Melbourne's government failed again in 1841, he helped with the transition to the new government to avoid another embarrassing crisis. Victoria had a more limited role under Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850), with Albert taking a lead for the next 20 years of "dual monarchy." Albert guided Victoria to an appearance of political neutrality, though she didn't become any fonder of Peel. Instead, she became involved with establishing charities.

European sovereigns visited her at home, and she and Albert visited Germany, including Coburg and Berlin. She began to feel herself part of a larger network of monarchs. Albert and Victoria used their relationship to become more active in foreign affairs, which conflicted with the ideas of the foreign minister, Lord Palmerston (Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, 1784–1865). He didn't appreciate their involvement, and Victoria and Albert often thought his ideas too liberal and aggressive.

Albert worked on a plan for a Great Exhibition, with a Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Public appreciation for this construction completed in 1851 finally led to a warming of the British citizens toward their queen's consort.

In the mid-1850s, the Crimean War (1853–1856) engrossed Victoria's attention; she rewarded Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) for her service in helping protect and heal soldiers. Victoria's concern for the wounded and sick led to her founding Royal Victoria Hospital in 1873. As a result of the war, Victoria grew closer to the French emperor Napoleon III and his empress Eugénie. Napoleon III (1808–1873) was president of France from 1848–1852, and when he was not reelected, seized power and ruled as an emperor from 1852–1870.

The unsuccessful revolt of Indian infantrymen in the army of the East India Company known as the Mutiny of the Sepoys (1857–1858) shocked Victoria. This and subsequent events led to British direct rule over India and Victoria's new title as empress of India on May 1, 1876.

In family matters, Victoria became disappointed with her eldest son, Albert Edward, prince of Wales, heir presumptive. The eldest three children—Victoria, "Bertie," and Alice—received better educations than their younger siblings did, as they were most likely to inherit the crown.

Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal Victoria weren't as close as Victoria was to several of the younger children; the princess was closer to her father. Albert won his way in marrying the princess to Frederick William, son of the prince and princess of Prussia. The young prince proposed when Princess Victoria was only 14. The queen urged delay in marriage to be sure that the princess was truly in love, and when she assured herself and her parents that she was, the two were formally engaged.

Albert had never been named prince consort by parliament. Attempts in 1854 and 1856 to do so failed. Finally in 1857, Victoria conferred the title herself.

In 1858, Princess Victoria was married to the Prussian prince. Victoria and her daughter, known as Vicky, exchanged many letters as Victoria attempted to influence her daughter and son-in-law.

A series of deaths among Victoria's relatives kept her in mourning starting in 1861. First, the king of Prussia died, making Vicky and her husband Frederick crown princess and prince. In March, Victoria's mother died and Victoria collapsed, having reconciled with her mother during her marriage. Several more deaths in the family followed, and then came a scandal with the prince of Wales. In the middle of negotiating his marriage with Alexandra of Denmark, it was revealed that he was having an affair with an actress.

Then Prince Albert's health failed. He caught a cold and couldn't shake it. Perhaps weakened already by cancer, he developed what may have been typhoid fever and died on Dec. 14, 1861. His death devastated Victoria; her prolonged mourning lost her much popularity.

Eventually coming out of seclusion in February 1872, Victoria maintained an active role in government by building many memorials to her late husband. She died on January 22, 1901.

Her reign was marked by waxing and waning popularity, and suspicions that she preferred the Germans a bit too much diminished her popularity. By the time she had assumed the throne, the British monarchy was more figurehead and influence than it was a direct power in the government, and her long reign did little to change that.

Queen Victoria's influence on British and world affairs, even if often was a figurehead, led to the naming of the Victorian Era for her. She saw the largest extent of the British empire and the tensions within it. Her relationship with her son, keeping him from any shared power, probably weakened the royal rule in future generations, and the failure of her daughter and son-in-law in Germany to have time to actualize their liberal ideas probably shifted the balance of European history.

The marriage of her daughters into other royal families and the likelihood that her children bore a mutant gene for hemophilia affected the following generations of European history.

Baird, Julia. "Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire." New York: Random House, 2016.
Hibbert, Christopher. "Queen Victoria: A Personal History. " New York: Harper-Collins, 2010.
Hough, Richard. "Victoria and Albert." New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
Rappaport, Helen. "Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion." Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
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Biography Online

Queen Victoria Biography

Short Biography of Queen Victoria (1819 –1901)

Queen Victoria was born 24 May 1819. Aged 18 she became Queen of Great Britain and she went on to rule for 63 years – at the time – she was the longest-serving Monarch in Europe. She ruled through a period of British imperialism with the British Empire expanding and she became Empress of India. She came to epitomise an era of social conservatism and economic expansion.

She was the granddaughter of George III, and her father, Edward was fourth in line to the throne. However, her father’s three brothers all died without leaving any living relatives. She was crowned Queen on 20 June 1837 and ruled until her death 63 years later in 1901.

Her early life until the age of 18 was closeted and carefully controlled by her mother and her assistant John Conroy. Her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld kept Victoria very close and allowed her little real-life experience. She was brought up with a strict set of rules and regulations known as the ‘Kensington System’. Victoria described her childhood as “rather melancholy.” In 1830 her grandfather George III died. He was succeeded by King William IV, but in 1837, he also passed away, meaning the crown passed onto Victoria who was aged only 18, and somewhat unprepared for the role.

One of her first decisions was to cut free from her mother and gain more independence from the controlling atmosphere she had been brought up in. She also took her new duties very seriously. On her ascendency to the throne, she said:

“Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.”

Queen Victoria, Extract from the Queen’s Journal, Tuesday, 20th June 1837.

After her coronation, Queen Victoria met many potential suitors from Royal houses across Europe. She fell in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany. There were married in 1840. Victoria and Prince Albert had a very close, intimate relationship and she described the intensity of feelings towards her beloved husband. She wrote in her diary shortly after their marriage.

“MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before!”

– Queen Victoria.

In the same year as her marriage, Queen Victoria gave birth to her first child – a daughter named Victoria. They had nine children in total. She found pregnancy and childbirth difficult and once exclaimed. “An ugly baby is a very nasty object – and the prettiest is frightful.”

Queen Victoria and Nineteenth-Century Britain

The 19th Century was a time of unprecedented expansion for Britain in term of both industry and Empire. Although her popularity ebbed and flowed during her reign, towards the end of her crown, she had become a symbol of British imperialism and pride.

The Victorian period also witnessed great advances in science and technology. It became known as the steam age, enabling people to easily travel throughout the UK and the World.

Queen Victoria was emblematic of this period. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire. She celebrated at Lord Kitchener’s victory in the Sudan; she supported British involvement in the Boer War. She was also happy to preside over the expansion of the British Empire, which was to stretch across the globe. In 1877 Queen Victoria was made Empress of India, in a move instigated by the imperialist Disraeli. Famously, at the end of the Victorian period, people could say ‘the sun never set on the British Empire.’

Queen Victoria was conservative in her politics and social views. She opposed women’s rights and was socially conservative. This led to an unfortunate episode. When she saw a servant who appeared to be pregnant, Victoria claimed she was having an affair. The Queen actually made her take a test to prove she was a virgin. The test was positive and the growth in her stomach was actually a form of cancer; a few months later the servant died, and Queen Victoria suffered a decline in her popularity as a result of this episode.

In the early part of her reign, she became a close friend and confidant of the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. She spent many hours talking to him and relied on his political advice. Lord Melbourne was a Whig, with conservative attitudes. He tried to shield Queen Victoria from the extreme poverty that was endemic in parts of the UK.

Queen Victoria was also highly devoted to her husband, Prince Albert; together they had nine children. When Prince Albert died in 1861, at the age of 41, Queen Victoria went into deep mourning and struggled to overcome this loss. She became reclusive and was reluctant to appear in public. Parliament and Benjamin Disraeli had to use all their persuasive power to get her to open parliament in 1866 and 1867. Her hiding from the public led to a decline in popularity. However, by the end of her reign, her popularity was restored. This was partly due to the rise of Great Britain as the leading superpower of the era.

For various reasons, several attempts were made on the life of Queen Victoria. These were mostly between 1840 and 1882. She was always unharmed, but her courageous attitude helped to endear her to the public.

Personality of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was successful in portraying a public image of an aloof Queen who embodied the virtues of the British Empire. In person, away from the public glare, she was known to be a combination of honesty, plain-speaking but also prone to emotional outbursts and quite obstinate.

“Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.”

– Queen Victoria

Despite her social conservativism, she was passionate about her husband and greatly enjoyed spending time in close proximity. However, even their relationship could be punctuated with loud, emotional arguments. Despite perceptions of her being dry and serious, members of the household stated she could have a great sense of humour and laugh uproariously.

The death of her husband in 1861 was a huge blow and she was deeply affected with grief. She wore black and mourned for several years. Her grief was so intense, it affected the nation. She struggled to overcome the grief and Albert’s early death led to a further worsening of relationships with her first son Edward VII – whom Victoria blamed for his playboy lifestyle causing stress for his father Albert.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Queen Victoria”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 23rd May 2014. Last updated 8 March 2019.

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Your guide to Queen Victoria and a timeline of her life – plus 16 fascinating facts

One of history's most iconic monarchs, Queen Victoria (1819-1901) ruled for more than 60 years. She was empress of the world's largest ever empire, and her name denotes an entire era of British history. Here, we bring you a guide to her life, plus 16 facts…

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At the time of her birth, Victoria was never expected to be queen. Yet upon the death of her uncle, King William IV, she succeeded him at the age of 18. She is remembered for her reign that spanned more than six decades, overseeing the expansion of the British empire for almost 64 years. Here are facts you need to know about the diminutive monarch – from her famed love and mourning for her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, to the many attempts on her life…

Queen Victoria: a biography

Victoria was born fifth in line to the throne.

“Plump as a partridge… more of a pocket Hercules than a pocket Venus”, is how the Duke of Kent described his spirited newborn daughter Princess Victoria when she was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace.

Yet though she went on to become one of Britain’s most iconic monarchs, Victoria’s birth did not herald national celebration. As the daughter of King George III ’s fourth son, at the time of her birth Victoria was only fifth in line to the throne. Expected to be just another minor royal relative who would end up married into a European royal family, Victoria’s arrival slipped under the radar somewhat. Few could have predicted that she would sit on the throne for more than 60 years. By the time Victoria reached her teens, however, the death of her father, his brothers and any other legitimate heirs left the young princess as King William IV’s closest surviving heir.

On 24 June 1819, the princess was christened in a low-key ceremony. Frustrated by his own inability to produce a surviving heir, Victoria’s uncle, the Prince Regent, only allowed a handful of people to attend. Also under the direction of her uncle, she was given the name ‘Alexandrina Victoria’. At the time, Victoria was far from a regal name – it was highly unusual and of French origin. When it became clear that Victoria would indeed accede to the throne, her name was seen to be completely inappropriate for a queen of England. She was advised to change it to something more traditional, but refused.

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Victoria as a child. (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Queen Victoria had an unhappy childhood

Victoria spent her formative years at Kensington Palace. However, in many ways the palace proved a prison for the princess, and her childhood there was far from rosy.

Following her father’s death from pneumonia when she was just eight months old, Victoria’s early life was dominated by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her ambitious adviser Sir John Conroy. Keen to establish himself as the power behind the throne in the event of a Regency (in which Victoria’s mother would rule with her if she acceded while still underage), Conroy sought to keep tight control of the princess. Both he and the Duchess had a hostile relationship with Victoria’s uncle, King William, and consequently kept Victoria isolated from the royal court, even preventing her from attending her uncle’s coronation.

The pair imposed a stifling code of discipline on the young Victoria, which came to be known as the ‘Kensington System’ . Along with a strict timetable of lessons to improve her moral and intellectual rigor, this suffocating regime dictated that the princess spent hardly any time with other children and was under constant adult supervision. Right up until the time she became queen, Victoria was forced to share a bedroom with her mother. She was forbidden from ever being alone, or even walking down stairs without someone holding her hand.

Later in life, Victoria reflected that she “led a very unhappy life as a child… and did not know what a happy domestic life was”. She retained a deep-seated hatred of John Conroy for manipulating her mother and imposing such rigid rules on her, later describing him as “demon incarnate”.

Victoria was only 18 when she became queen

“I went into my sitting room (only in my dressing gown) alone and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at twelve minutes past two this morning and consequently that I was Queen.”

This is how Victoria recalled the moment that would change her life forever. At 6am on 20 June 1837, the young princess was woken from her bed to be informed that her uncle, King William IV, had died during the night. This meant that Victoria, who was only 18 at the time, was now queen of England.

Although it came as a shock, Victoria took the news extremely stoically. Despite her young age she remained calm and had no need for the smelling salts her governess had prepared for her. In her first meeting with her privy council just a few hours later, Victoria’s new ministers towered over her – at just 4ft 11, she had to be seated on a raised platform in order to be seen. What Victoria lacked in height, however, she made up for in determination, and she quickly made a favourable impression.

How tall was Queen Victoria? And what did she really look like?

Portrait of Victoria I , Queen of England (1819-1901). Painting by Xavier Winterhalter (1806-1873) 1842. 1,32 x 0,97. Castle Museum, Versailles, France (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Victoria had turned 18 less than a month before acceding to the throne. This was a crucial milestone, as it meant that she was able to rule under her own steam, rather than alongside her mother in a regency. She began her new life by moving away from her childhood home at Kensington to Buckingham Palace, in part to escape from the controlling influence of Conroy and her mother. Her relationship with her mother remained strained and distant for many years and she limited Conroy’s influence at court. Just two years after Victoria took the throne, he resigned his post and left for Italy amid shame and scandal.

In June the following year, Victoria was crowned in a five-hour-long ceremony at Westminster Abbey followed by a royal banquet and fireworks. “I shall ever remember this day as the proudest of my life” she recorded in her diary.

Read more about the young Victoria's struggle to gain the throne

Queen Victoria proposed to Prince Albert

Though as a young woman she had many suitors , a key figure throughout Victoria’s life and reign was her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria met the German prince at Kensington Palace when the pair were both just 17. The meeting of Victoria and Albert, who were also first cousins, had been masterminded by Victoria’s uncle, Leopold I of Belgium, who believed he could benefit politically from the match.

Yet despite the marriage brokering that had led the couple to meet, this was most definitely a love match. Victoria’s diary revealed that she found the young prince “extremely handsome”. She wrote, “his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful”. As royal tradition dictated that no one could propose to a reigning monarch, in October 1839 it was Victoria who proposed to Albert.

Victoria's marriage was the first of a reigning queen of England in 286 years

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's wedding , which took place in St James’s Palace chapel on 10 February 1840, was the first marriage of a reigning queen of England since Mary I in 1554. Victoria wore an 18-foot-long train carried by 12 bridesmaids and kicked off a modern-day tradition by wearing white. Outside, the nation erupted into huge public celebration. Victoria recorded how she “never saw such crowds of people… they cheered most enthusiastically”. She reflected on the event as “ the happiest day of my life”.

Over the course of their 21-year marriage, Victoria and Albert had a passionate, if sometimes tempestuous, relationship. Although the couple had blazing arguments, Victoria clearly adored her husband, describing him in her diary as “perfection in every way … oh how I adore and love him”.

Read more about Victoria and Albert's marriage

Queen Victoria had nine children… but she hated being pregnant

Just over nine months after their wedding, Victoria and Albert’s first child, Princess Victoria, was born at Buckingham Palace. The queen soon after recorded how “after a good many hours suffering, a perfect little child was born… but alas! A girl & not a boy, as we both had so hoped & wished for”. The royal couple’s wishes were granted less than a year later, however, when Victoria gave birth to a male heir: Edward, known by the family as Bertie. Victoria and Albert went on to have a total of nine children – four boys and five girls .

Surprisingly, Victoria hated being pregnant, and historians have suggested that she may have suffered from post-natal depression. She compared pregnancy to feeling like a cow and wrote that “an ugly baby is a very nasty object – and the prettiest is frightful when undressed”.

Many of Victoria’s children were married into the royal families of Europe, yet throughout her life she maintained a close, perhaps even suffocating, relationship with them. She had a notoriously fractious relationship with her eldest son, the charismatic yet quick-tempered Bertie.

Queen Victoria, her husband Prince Albert, and their nine children.

The 1839 'Bedchamber Crisis' got Queen Victoria into trouble

Victoria took the throne at a time when the monarch’s role was intended to be largely apolitical. Yet early in her reign, the inexperienced queen got into hot water for meddling in political matters, in an event termed ‘The Bedchamber Crisis’.

The first prime minister of Victoria’s reign was the Whig politician Lord Melbourne, with whom she enjoyed a remarkably close relationship. Melbourne held significant sway over the young queen, who appointed the majority of her ladies-in-waiting according to his advice.

In 1839, Melbourne resigned following several parliamentary defeats. Tory Robert Peel stepped forward to become prime minister, on one condition: he requested that Victoria dismiss some of her existing household – who largely held Whig sympathies and were loyal to Melbourne – and replace them with Tory ladies. As many of Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting were also her closest friends, she took offence at Peel’s request and refused.

The queen had already been criticised for her over-reliance on Lord Melbourne, and now she was widely condemned for being not just politically partisan, but unconstitutional. The tense situation was eventually defused by the ever-reasonable Prince Albert, who arranged for some of Victoria’s ladies to resign their posts voluntarily.

Queen Victoria spoke several languages

Perhaps in part due to her strict schooling under the ‘Kensington system’, Victoria proved herself to be a remarkably adept linguist. As well as being fluent in both English and German, she also spoke French, Italian and Latin.

As her mother and governess both hailed from Germany, Victoria grew up speaking the language and at one stage reportedly even had a German accent, which had to be erased by tutors. When she later married her German cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the couple regularly spoke German together. Although Albert was fluent in English, he and Victoria could often be heard talking – and indeed arguing – in German when in private.

Later in life, Victoria also experimented with some of the languages from across her vast empire. Following the arrival of Indian servants at Windsor Castle in August 1887, she was taught Hindustani and Urdu phrases by her favourite Indian attendant, Abdul Karim . The queen recorded in her diary: "I am learning a few words of Hindustani to speak to my servants. It is a great interest to me for both the language and the people, I have naturally never come into real contact with before".

The queen's relationship with her prime ministers wasn’t always easy

Over the course of the six decades she sat on the throne, Victoria saw many prime ministers come and go. Yet while she established a remarkably close bond with some, others failed spectacularly to win her favour.

Victoria’s first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, was keen to flatter, instruct and influence the young queen from the very beginning. The pair were so close that Victoria claimed to love him “like a father”. However, this intense friendship with ‘Lord M’ made the queen unpopular with many – she was criticised for being politically partisan and was even mockingly called her “Mrs Melbourne”. Later in her reign, Benjamin Disraeli similarly pulled out all the stops to win Victoria’s favour with charm and flattery. His tactics clearly worked, as the queen told her eldest daughter [also named Victoria] that he would “do very well” and was “full of poetry, romance and chivalry”.

Other ministers, however, received a much less enthusiastic response from her majesty: she found Lord John Russell stubborn and rude and referred to Lord Palmerston as a “dreadful old man”. As foreign secretary, Palmerston had invoked Victoria’s wrath by ignoring Albert’s suggested amendments to dispatches and apparently attempting to seduce one of her ladies-in-waiting. Victoria found Gladstone similarly infuriating, and with her characteristically sharp tongue dismissed him as a “half-crazy and in many ways ridiculous, wild and incomprehensible old fanatic”.

Britain's imperial conquests increased nearly fivefold during Victoria's reign

Over the course of her reign, Victoria witnessed a mammoth expansion of the British empire . During her first 20 years on the throne, Britain’s imperial conquests had increased almost fivefold. By the time she died, it was the largest empire the world had ever known and included a quarter of the world’s population. As the monarchy was seen as a focal point for imperial pride, and a means of uniting the empire’s disparate peoples, Victoria’s image was spread across the empire.

The queen herself took a great interest in imperial affairs. In 1877, prime minister Benjamin Disraeli pronounced her empress of India in a move to cement Britain’s link to the “jewel in the empire’s crown”. The queen had pushed for the title for several years, but, concerned about its absolutist connotations, Disraeli had been hesitant to agree. By 1877, however, Victoria had become so insistent he felt he could not resist any longer, for fear of offending her.

Queen Victoria was known as the “grandmother of Europe”

Over the course of their 21-year marriage, Victoria and Albert raised nine children together . As a means of extending Britain’s influence and building international allegiances, several of their sons and daughters were married into various European monarchies, and within just a couple of generations Victoria’s descendants were spread across the continent. Her 42 grandchildren could be found in the royal families of Germany, Russia, Greece, Romania, Sweden, Norway and Spain.

Warring First World War royals Kaiser Wilhelm (of Germany), Tsarina Alexandra (of Russia) and George V (of Britain) were all grandchildren of Victoria. Kaiser Wilhelm reportedly remarked that had his grandmother still been alive, the First World War may never have happened, as she simply would not have allowed her relatives to go to war with one another.

Could Queen Victoria have prevented World War I?

Queen Victoria with her children and grandchildren. Kaiser Wilhelm II is pictured left in the front row. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Victoria’s widespread influence had unexpected genetic, as well as political, implications for Europe’s monarchies. It is believed that the queen was a carrier of haemophilia and had unwittingly introduced the rare inherited disease into her bloodline. Over subsequent generations the condition resurfaced in royal families across the continent. In an age of limited medical facilities, haemophilia – which affects the blood’s ability to clot – could have disastrous consequences. Victoria’s own son Leopold suffered from the disease and died aged 30 after he slipped and fell, triggering a cerebral haemorrhage. Three of the queen’s grandchildren also suffered from the disease, as did her great-grandson, the murdered heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Alexei.

Listen | Deborah Cadbury shows how Queen Victoria sought to influence the future of Europe through the marriages of her descendants

Queen Victoria survived at least six assassination attempts

During the course of her 63-year-long reign, Victoria came out unscathed from at least six serious attempts on her life, some of which were terrifyingly close calls.

In June 1840, while four months pregnant with her first child, Victoria was shot at while on an evening carriage ride with Prince Albert. For a moment it seemed as though the queen had been hit, but Albert spurred the driver to speed away to safety and the would-be assassin, Edward Oxford, was apprehended.

Oxford – who was later acquitted on grounds of insanity – proved to be the first of many to target the queen while she was driving in her open-top carriage. In 1850, as the carriage slowed down to pass through the gates of Buckingham Palace, retired soldier Robert Pate ran forward and managed to strike the queen sharply on the head with a small cane. Although it transpired that the cane weighed less than three ounces, so could not have done much damage, the incident nonetheless unnerved Victoria. She escaped several more assassination attempts while riding in her carriage in 1842, 1849 and 1872.

Victoria was also infamously targeted by a stalker – a notorious teenager known in the newspapers as ‘The Boy Jones’. Between 1838 and 1841, Edward Jones managed to break into Buckingham Palace several times, hiding under the queen’s sofa, sitting on her throne and reportedly even stealing her underwear, before being caught.

Victoria mourned Prince Albert for 40 years

On 14 December 1861, Victoria’s life was rocked by the death of her beloved husband, Albert. As the prince was aged just 42 and generally enjoyed good health, his death from typhoid was highly unexpected. It came as a huge blow to the queen, who had been intensely reliant on his support, practically and politically as well as emotionally.

Read more about Prince Albert's death

Following Albert’s death, Victoria retreated from public life , adopting elaborate mourning rituals that rapidly became obsessive. As time went on, the situation began to spiral out of control as it became clear the queen’s period of mourning would last much longer than the two years that convention dictated. Consumed by grief, Victoria fell into a state of depression and began neglecting her royal duties. As she repeatedly refused to take part in public events, her popularity began to deteriorate. The British people began to lose patience with their queen, questioning what the ‘Widow of Windsor’ did to earn her royal income. It was not until the 1870s that Victoria was coaxed back into gradually engaging in public life once more.

Queen Victoria had a set of clothes laid out for Prince Albert each morning, right up until her own death 40 years later in 1901

Despite the decades that passed, Victoria never fully recovered from the loss of Albert. Although she had other intimate relationships – most notably a close friendship with her Scottish servant John Brown – she never remarried. She continued to wear black and sleep beside an image of Albert, and she even had a set of clothes laid out for him each morning, right up until her own death 40 years later in 1901.

(Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images)

Both Queen Victoria's golden and diamond jubilees were celebrated

Years after her damaging retreat from public life following Albert’s death, Victoria was eventually coaxed back into the limelight. Her golden and diamond jubilees of 1887 and 1897 were crucial to restoring her reputation. Designed to be show-stopping crowd-pleasers, these national festivities reinvented the ‘widow of Windsor’ as a source of national (and imperial) pride and celebration. Grand processions and military displays were jam-packed with patriotic pomp, while Victoria’s face was plastered on all manner of commemorative products.

During 1897’s diamond jubilee (marking Victoria’s 60th year on the throne), street parties, parades, fireworks and cricket games took place across the country. Some 300,000 of Britain’s poor were treated to a special jubilee dinner, while in India 19,000 prisoners were pardoned. During a royal procession to St Paul’s Cathedral, Victoria was reportedly so overwhelmed by the cheering crowds that she burst into tears.

Queen Victoria was buried with a lock of John Brown's hair

As she entered her eighties, Victoria was still actively taking on her royal duties. Yet, after six decades on the throne, her health finally began to decline. After being diagnosed with ‘cerebral exhaustion’, Queen Victoria died at the age of 81 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901. The queen had refused to be embalmed, so part of the preparations that followed her death included preparing the coffin to combat the smell and absorb moisture, by scattering coal across its floor. The queen's staff also cut off her hair, dressed her in a white silk dressing gown with garter ribbon and star and placed her wedding veil over her face, before summoning members of the queen's family – the royal dukes, the kaiser and the new king, Edward VII – to lift her body into the coffin.

The family then retired, leaving staff to carry out the queen’s secret instructions that were never to be revealed to her children. The wedding ring of the mother of her personal servant, John Brown, was placed on her finger; a photograph of Brown and a lock of his hair were laid beside her, along with Brown’s pocket handkerchief, all carefully hidden from view.

The queen was buried beside her beloved Prince Albert on 4 February 1901, in the mausoleum the queen had built for her husband at Frogmore , adjoining Windsor Castle.

Queen Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son

Victoria and Albert's first son and second child was named Albert Edward, although he was known as ‘Bertie’. As Prince of Wales, he had a love of society and 'good living' and was known for his hearty appetites, Bertie – who was crowned King Edward VII on 9 August 1902 – defied expectations by proving himself to be a very successful and well-loved monarch.

Think you know everything about Queen Victoria? Put your knowledge to the test in our Queen Victoria quiz !

Ellie Cawthorne is staff writer at BBC History Magazine .

This article was first published by HistoryExtra in 2016

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Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire Kindle Edition

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00RKO3UMY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (November 22, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 22, 2016
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Julia baird.

Julia Baird is a journalist, broadcaster, and author based in Sydney, Australia. She is a columnist for the International New York Times and Sydney Morning Herald and host of The Drum on ABC TV (Australia). Her writing has appeared in a host of publications including Newsweek, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly,and Harper’s Bazaar. She has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Sydney. (Her 2004 book, Media Tarts: How the Australian Press Frames Female Politicians was based on her PhD research) In 2005, Baird was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.

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Queen Victoria

Occupation: Queen of the United Kingdom
Born: May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace, London
Died: January 22, 1901 at Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Reign: June 20, 1837 to January 22, 1901
Nicknames: The Grandmother of Europe, Mrs. Brown
Best known for: Ruling the United Kingdom for 63 years
She was named after her mother as well Alexander I, the Emperor of Russia.
Victoria's favorite pet growing up was her dog, a King Charles spaniel named Dash.
Prince Edward Island in Canada was named after Victoria's father.
She went by the nickname "Drina" while growing up.
Victoria was told she would someday be queen when she was thirteen years old. She remarked "I will be good."
In 1887, the United Kingdom celebrated the 50th anniversary of her reign with a big party called the Golden Jubilee. They celebrated again in 1897 with the Diamond Jubilee.
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20 Best Books on Queen Victoria (2022 Review)
1. 2. 3. Book. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire. Queen Victoria: A Life From Beginning to End (Biographies of British Royalty) We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. Check Book. Check Price on Amazon.
Best Queen Victoria Books (71 books)
Best Queen Victoria Books Best non-fiction books about Queen Victoria. ... Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by. Julia Baird. 4.10 avg rating — 11,197 ratings. ... Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm by. Hannah Pakula. 4.18 avg rating — 1,095 ratings.
Queen Victoria
DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S QUEEN VICTORIA FACT CARD. ... Best Known For: Queen Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901 — the second-longest reign of any ...
Victoria: A Life by AN Wilson
The best include Lytton Strachey's surprisingly tender Queen Victoria of 1921 and Elizabeth Longford's still highly readable Victoria RI of 1964. Then, in the 1990s, academic scholars got hold of ...
The Best Books About Queen Victoria
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill. Now 12% Off. $18 at Amazon. They're known to history for their fairytale romance—a love story that transcended even death ...
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 - 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of any of her predecessors, is known as the Victorian era.It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and ...
Queen Victoria
Just a few weeks after turning 18, Victoria ascended the throne as Queen of England on June 20, 1837, following William's death, with the coronation taking place a year later on June 28, 1838.
Victoria
Victoria (born May 24, 1819, Kensington Palace, London, England—died January 22, 1901, Osborne, near Cowes, Isle of Wight) queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837-1901) and empress of India (1876-1901). She was the last of the house of Hanover and gave her name to an era, the Victorian Age.During her reign the British monarchy took on its modern ceremonial character.
7 Best Books On Queen Victoria
Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire - Julia Baird. Kicking off our list of the best Queen Victoria books is Julia Baird's Goodreads nominated biography, Victoria The Queen.Drawing on numerous unpublished papers and other materials, Baird attempts to reveal the true figure behind the stereotypical image history normally presents.
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria of Great Britain (r. 1837-1901) was one of the most loved of all Britain's monarchs. Her longevity, devotion to her role as figurehead of an empire, and recovery from the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert won her a unique status as the ever-present symbol of 19th-century Britain, an era of tremendous political, industrial, and social changes.
The ten best books about Queen Victoria
QUEEN VICTORIA TOP TEN READS. 1. CHILDHOOD. The Young Victoria by Alison Plowden. Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London on 24 May 1819 and lost her father Prince Edward before reaching her first birthday. As heir to the throne from infancy Victoria grew up knowing the would one day be queen. The Young Victoria explores the conflicting ...
Life of Queen Victoria
Victoria, orig. Alexandrina Victoria, (born May 24, 1819, Kensington Palace, London, Eng.—died Jan. 22, 1901, Osborne, near Cowes, Isle of Wight), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837-1901) and Empress of India (from 1876).The only child of Edward, duke of Kent, she succeeded her uncle, William IV, in 1837. She was first guided as queen by the Whig prime minister ...
My favorite books about the fascinating Queen Victoria
This was the first biography of Queen Victoria that I read and, to date, it remains the best! Effortlessly combing in the personal with the political, it not only portrays Victoria as a Queen but also as a woman, who could simultaneously be one of the most dominant monarchs of the 19 th century, and as nervous as a child. A brilliant portrayal of a fascinating character, playing a major role ...
Queen Victoria in Fiction and Nonfiction
VICTORIA THE QUEEN An Intimate Biography of the WomanWho Ruled an Empire By Julia Baird Illustrated. 696 pp. Random House. $35. VICTORIA By Daisy Goodwin 404 pp. St. Martin's Press. $26.99.
Queen Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India
Jone Johnson Lewis. Updated on August 19, 2019. Queen Victoria (May 24, 1819-January 22, 1901), was the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the empress of India. She was the longest-ruling monarch of Great Britain until Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her record and ruled during a time of economic and imperial expansion ...
Queen Victoria Biography
Short Biography of Queen Victoria (1819 -1901) Queen Victoria was born 24 May 1819. Aged 18 she became Queen of Great Britain and she went on to rule for 63 years - at the time - she was the longest-serving Monarch in Europe. She ruled through a period of British imperialism with the British Empire expanding and she became Empress of India.
Queen Victoria: Guide & Timeline Of Her Life, Plus 16 Facts
Queen Victoria: a biography. Born: 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace, London (born Alexandrina Victoria) | Read more about her childhood Died: 22 January 1901, aged 81 | Read more about her final days and death Preceded by: King William IV, her uncle | Read more about her unusual succession Reigned: 1837-1901 Parents: Edward (King George III's fourth son) and Victoria, the Duke and Duchess ...
Queen Victoria: The Definitive Biography... by Strachey, Lytton
Queen Victoria. $9.86. (166) Only 1 left in stock - order soon. This is the definitive biography of BritainÂ s greatest monarch, who Â was hailed at once as the mother of her people and as the embodied symbol of their imperial greatness.Â Â One of the surpassingly beautiful prose achievements of our timeÂ (Chicago Daily News). Index ...
Queen Victoria: The woman who redefined Britain's monarchy
20 June 1837 Victoria becomes Queen. Victoria succeeded her uncle William IV, just weeks after her 18th birthday. Her first request was an hour alone, something denied to her until then.
Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an
The true story for fans of the PBS Masterpiece series Victoria, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.
Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey
159 books49 followers. Follow. Giles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. His 1921 biography Queen Victoria was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an
The true story for fans of the PBS Masterpiece series Victoria, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.
Biography: Queen Victoria for Kids
Occupation: Queen of the United Kingdom Born: May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace, London Died: January 22, 1901 at Osborne House, Isle of Wight Reign: June 20, 1837 to January 22, 1901 Nicknames: The Grandmother of Europe, Mrs. Brown Best known for: Ruling the United Kingdom for 63 years Biography: Born a Princess Princess Victoria Alexandria was born on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.

20 Best Books on Queen Victoria (2022 Review)

Best Books on Queen Victoria: Our Top 20 Picks

1. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird

2. Queen Victoria: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History

3. We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

4. Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters 1860-1918 by Christina Croft

5. Victoria: A Life by A. N. Wilson

6. Victoria & Albert: A Royal Love Affair by Daisy Goodwin

7. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

8. Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

9. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams

10. Queen Victoria’s Children by John Van der Kiste

11. Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

12. Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe by Deborah Cadbury

13. Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert

14. Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria by Jean Plaidy

15. Who was Queen Victoria? By Jim Gigliotti

16. Queen Victoria’s Little Wars by Byron Farwell

17. Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef

18. The Victorian Era: A Captivating Guide to the Life of Queen Victoria and an Era in the History of the United Kingdom Known for its Hierarchy-Based Social Order by Captivating History

19. Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace by Amanda Foreman

20. Curtain Down at Her Majesty’s: The Death of Queen Victoria in the Words of Those Who Were There by Stewart Richards

Choosing the Best Books on Queen Victoria

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Queen Victoria

Who Was Queen Victoria?

Parents and Half-Sister

Ascension to the Throne

Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s First Prime Minister

The Victorian Era

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Queen Victoria's Children

Relationship with John Brown

Relationship with Abdul Karim

Death and Successor

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Victoria: A Life by AN Wilson – review

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The Best Books About Queen Victoria

Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird

Victoria: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams

Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting by Carolyn Harris

Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

Queen Victoria

Early Life and Ascension to the Throne

Family and Descendants

Albert’s Death and Victoria’s Later Years

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7 Best Books On Queen Victoria

Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire – Julia Baird

Victoria: A Life – A.N. Wilson

Empress: Queen Victoria And India – Miles Taylor

My Dearest, Dearest Albert: Queen Victoria’s Life Through Her Letters And Journals – Karen Dolby

Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow – Dr. Lucy Worsley

Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household – Kate Hubbard

Grandmama Of Europe: The Crowned Descendants Of Queen Victoria – Theo Aronson

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