Queen Victoria

Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom for a record sixty-four years. She was born on May 24 1819 to Edward, duke of Kent, the fourth son of George III of the United Kingdom; and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg, sister of King Leopold of the Belgians. Following the death of Princess Charlotte, the only legitimate heir of King George IV of the United Kingdom, in 1817, there had been a scramble for the king's brothers to abandon their mistresses, marry and beget heirs to the realm; Edward, marrying at the age of fifty, was the most successful.

Ascending to the throne at the death of King William IV of the United Kingdom on June 20 1837, Victoria was to prove Britain's longest reigning monarch. In her early days, she was largely dependent for advice on the prime minister, William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, with whom she forged a strong relationship.

Victoria met Prince Francis Charles Augustus Albert of Saxe-Coburg when she was just sixteen, and found him appealing even then. The families' desire to unite the two happened to coincide well with the desires of Victoria and Albert themselves, and they were married on February 10, 1840. However, there was some friction between them at first, because Albert wished to take an active role in the administration of the realm. Eventually, they reached a compromise, and their marriage became an outstandingly happy one, with the result that Victoria was completely devastated by his early death in 1861.

An indirect cause of Albert's death was the irresponsible behaviour of their eldest son, Bertie, the Prince of Wales. Victoria continued to regard Bertie as unfit to take responsibility, even though he was the heir to the throne, and never allowed him the kind of role that would have helped him prepare for kingship. He responded by becoming an ageing playboy, whilst the queen withdrew into semi-permanent mourning and was popularly known as "the widow of Windsor". She was known to keep Dachshund dogs.

Relying increasingly on a Scottish retainer, John Brown, Victoria developed a reputation (which she did not altogether deserve) for being stern and lacking in humour. Her favourite prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, persuaded her, in 1876, to assume the title of Empress of India, reflecting the fact that she had presided over a massive expansion of the British Empire and the continued rise of Britain as an industrial power. In 1887, her golden jubilee brought her to new heights of popularity, and she went on to celebrate a diamond jubilee ten years later.

Queen Victoria died on January 22 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, and was buried at Windsor.