Queen Victoria Queen Victoria ( Alexandrina Victoria ; 24 May 181922 January 1901 ) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death . From 1 May 1876 , she used the additional title of Empress of India . Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward , Duke of Kent and Strathearn , the fourth son of King George III . Both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820 , and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German - born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld . She inherited the throne at the age of 18 , after her father ' s three elder brothers had all died leaving no legitimate , surviving children . The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy , in which the Sovereign held relatively little direct political power . Privately , Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments . Publicly , she became a national icon , and was identified with strict standards of personal morality . Victoria married her first cousin , Prince Albert of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha , in 1840 . Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent , tying them together and earning her the nickname " the grandmother of Europe " . After Albert ' s death in 1861 , Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances . As a result of her seclusion , republicanism temporarily gained strength , but in the latter half of her reign , her popularity recovered . Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration . Her reign of 63 years and seven months , which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history , is known as the Victorian era . It was a period of industrial , cultural , political , scientific , and military change within the United Kingdom , and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire . She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover . Her son and successor , Edward VII , belonged to the House of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha , the line of his father . Birth and family . Victoria ' s father was Prince Edward , Duke of Kent and Strathearn , the fourth son of the reigning King of the United Kingdom , George III . Until 1817 , Edward ' s niece , Princess Charlotte of Wales , was the only legitimate grandchild of George III . Her death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis in the United Kingdom that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children . In 1818 , he married Princess Victoria of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld , a widowed German princess who already had two children — Carl ( 1804 – 1856 ) and Feodora ( 1807 – 1872 ) — by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen . Her brother Leopold was the widower of Princess Charlotte . The Duke and Duchess of Kent ' s only child , Victoria , was born at 4 . 15 a . m . on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London . Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Charles Manners - Sutton , on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace . She was baptised " Alexandrina " , after one of her godparents , Emperor Alexander I of Russia , and " Victoria " after her mother . Additional names proposed by her parents — Georgina ( or Georgiana ) , Charlotte and Augusta — were dropped on the instructions of the Duke ' s elder brother , the Prince Regent ( later George IV ) . At birth , Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after her father and his three older brothers : the Prince Regent , the Duke of York , and the Duke of Clarence ( later William IV ) . The Prince Regent and the Duke of York were estranged from their wives , who were both past child - bearing age , so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further children . The Dukes of Kent and Clarence married on the same day 12 months before Victoria ' s birth , but both of Clarence ' s daughters ( born in 1819 and 1820 respectively ) died as infants . Victoria ' s grandfather and father died in 1820 , within a week of each other , and the Duke of York died in 1827 . On the death of her uncle George IV in 1830 , she became heiress presumptive to her next surviving uncle , William IV . The Regency Act 1830 made special provision for the Duchess of Kent to act as regent in case William died while Victoria was still a minor . King William distrusted the Duchess ' s capacity to be regent , and in 1836 declared in her presence that he wanted to live until Victoria ' s 18th birthday , so that a regency could be avoided . Heiress presumptive . Victoria later described her childhood as " rather melancholy " . Her mother was extremely protective , and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so called " Kensington System " , an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by the Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller , Sir John Conroy , who was rumoured to be the Duchess ' s lover . The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable ( including most of her father ' s family ) , and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them . The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of the King ' s bastard children , and perhaps prompted the emergence of Victorian morality by insisting that her daughter avoid any appearance of sexual impropriety . Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night , studied with private tutors to a regular timetable , and spent her play hours with her dolls and her King Charles spaniel , Dash . Her lessons included French , German , Italian , and Latin , but she spoke only English at home . In 1830 , the Duchess of Kent and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills , stopping at towns and great country house s along the way . Similar journeys to other parts of England and Wales were taken in 1832 , 1833 , 1834 and 1835 . To King William ' s annoyance , Victoria was enthusiastically welcomed in each of the stops . William compared the journeys to royal progress es and was concerned that they portrayed Victoria as his rival rather than his heiress presumptive . Victoria disliked the trips ; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill , and there was little time for her to rest . She objected on the grounds of the King ' s disapproval , but her mother dismissed his complaints as motivated by jealousy , and forced Victoria to continue the tours . At Ramsgate in October 1835 , Victoria contracted a severe fever , which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence . While Victoria was ill , Conroy and the Duchess unsuccessfully badgered her to make Conroy her private secretary . As a teenager , Victoria resisted persistent attempts by her mother and Conroy to appoint him to her staff . Once queen , she banned him from her presence , but he remained in her mother ' s household . By 1836 , the Duchess ' s brother , Leopold , who had been King of the Belgians since 1831 , hoped to marry his niece to his nephew , Prince Albert of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha . Leopold , Victoria ' s mother , and Albert ' s father ( Ernest I , Duke of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha ) were siblings . Leopold arranged for Victoria ' s mother to invite her Coburg relatives to visit her in May 1836 , with the purpose of introducing Victoria to Albert . William IV , however , disapproved of any match with the Coburgs , and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands , second son of the Prince of Orange . Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes . According to her diary , she enjoyed Albert ' s company from the beginning . After the visit she wrote , " [ Albert ] is extremely handsome ; his hair is about the same colour as mine ; 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 . " Alexander , on the other hand , was " very plain " . Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold , whom Victoria considered her " best and kindest adviser " , to thank him " for the prospect of " great " happiness you have contributed to give me , in the person of dear Albert . . . He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy . He is so sensible , so kind , and so good , and so amiable too . He has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see . " However at 17 , Victoria , though interested in Albert , was not yet ready to marry . The parties did not undertake a formal engagement , but assumed that the match would take place in due time . Early reign . Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837 , and a regency was avoided . On 20 June 1837 , William IV died at the age of 71 , and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom . In her diary she wrote , " I was awoke at 6 o ' clock by Mamma , who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me . I got out of bed and went into my sitting - room ( only in my dressing gown ) and " alone " , and saw them . Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle , the King , was no more , and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning , and consequently that " I " am " Queen " . " Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina Victoria , but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again . Since 1714 , Britain had shared a monarch with Hanover in Germany , but under Salic law women were excluded from the Hanoverian succession . While Victoria inherited all the British dominions , Hanover passed instead to her father ' s younger brother , her unpopular uncle the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale , who became King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover . He was her heir presumptive until she married and had a child . At the time of her accession , the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne , who at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced Queen , who relied on him for advice . Charles Greville supposed that the widowed and childless Melbourne was " passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one " , and Victoria probably saw him as a father figure . Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838 , and she became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace . She inherited the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall , and was granted a civil list of £385 , 000 per year . Financially prudent , she paid off her father ' s debts . At the start of her reign Victoria was popular , but her reputation suffered in an 1839 court intrigue when one of her mother ' s ladies - in - waiting , Lady Flora Hastings , developed an abdominal growth that was widely rumoured to be an out - of - wedlock pregnancy by Sir John Conroy . Victoria believed the rumours . She hated Conroy , and despised " that odious Lady Flora " , because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington System . At first , Lady Flora refused to submit to a naked medical examination , until in mid - February she eventually agreed , and was found to be a virgin . Conroy , the Hastings family and the opposition Tories organised a press campaign implicating the Queen in the spreading of false rumours about Lady Flora . When Lady Flora died in July , the post - mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen . At public appearances , Victoria was hissed and jeered as " Mrs . Melbourne " . In 1839 , Melbourne resigned after Radicals and Tories ( both of whom Victoria detested ) voted against a Bill to suspend the constitution of Jamaica . The Bill removed political power from plantation owners who were resisting measures associated with the abolition of slavery . The Queen commissioned a Tory , Sir Robert Peel , to form a new ministry . At the time , it was customary for the prime minister to appoint members of the Royal Household , who were usually his political allies and their spouses . Many of the Queen ' s ladies of the bedchamber were wives of Whigs , and Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories . In what became known as the bedchamber crisis , Victoria , advised by Melbourne , objected to their removal . Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen , and consequently resigned his commission , allowing Melbourne to return to office . Marriage . Though queen , as an unmarried young woman Victoria was required by social convention to live with her mother , despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother ' s continued reliance on Conroy . Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace , and Victoria often refused to meet her . When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother ' s close proximity promised " torment for many years " , Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage , which Victoria called a " schocking alternative " . She showed interest in Albert ' s education for the future role he would have to play as her husband , but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock . Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839 . Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839 , just five days after he had arrived at Windsor . They were married on 10 February 1840 , in the Chapel Royal of St . James ' s Palace , London . Victoria was besotted . She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache , but wrote ecstatically in her diary : Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen ' s companion , replacing Lord Melbourne as the dominant , influential figure in the first half of her life . Victoria ' s mother was evicted from the palace , to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square . After the death of Princess Augusta in 1840 , Victoria ' s mother was given both Clarence and Frogmore House s . Through Albert ' s mediation , relations between mother and daughter slowly improved . During Victoria ' s first pregnancy in 1840 , in the first few months of the marriage , 18 - year - old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother . Oxford fired twice , but either both bullets missed or , as he later claimed , the guns had no shot . He was tried for high treason and found guilty , but was acquitted on the grounds of insanity . In the immediate aftermath of the attack , Victoria ' s popularity soared , mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis . Her daughter , also named Victoria , was born on 21 November 1840 . The Queen hated being pregnant , viewed breast - feeding with disgust , and thought newborn babies were ugly . Nevertheless , over the following seventeen years , she and Albert had a further eight children : Albert Edward , Prince of Wales ( b . 1841 ) , Alice ( b . 1843 ) , Alfred ( b . 1844 ) , Helena ( b . 1846 ) , Arthur ( b . 1850 ) , Leopold ( b . 1853 ) and Beatrice ( b . 1857 ) . Victoria ' s household was largely run by her childhood governess , Baroness Louise Lehzen from Hanover . Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria , and had supported her against the Kensington System . Albert , however , thought Lehzen was incompetent , and that her mismanagement threatened the health of his daughter . After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue , Lehzen was pensioned off , and Victoria ' s close relationship with her ended . 1842 – 1860 . On 29 May 1842 , Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall , London , when John Francis aimed a pistol at her but the gun did not fire ; he escaped . The following day , Victoria drove the same route , though faster and with a greater escort , in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act . As expected , Francis shot at her , but he was seized by plain clothes policemen , and convicted of high treason . On 3 July , two days after Francis ' s death sentence was commuted to transportation for life , John William Bean also tried to fire a pistol at the Queen , but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge . Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840 . Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail . In a similar attack in 1849 , unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder - filled pistol at Victoria ' s carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill , London . In 1850 , the Queen did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex - army officer , Robert Pate . As Victoria was riding in a carriage , Pate struck her with his cane , crushing her bonnet and bruising her forehead . Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years ' transportation . Melbourne ' s support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria ' s reign , and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated . Peel became prime minister , and the ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced . In 1845 , Ireland was hit by a potato blight . In the next four years over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine . In Ireland , Victoria was labelled " The Famine Queen " . She personally donated £2 , 000 to famine relief , more than any other individual donor , and also supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland , despite Protestant opposition . The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish , and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home , was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century . By 1846 , Peel ' s ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws . Many Tories — by then known also as Conservatives — were opposed to the repeal , but Peel , some Tories ( the " Peelites " ) , most Whigs and Victoria supported it . Peel resigned in 1846 , after the repeal narrowly passed , and was replaced by Lord John Russell . Internationally , Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain . She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans , who were related by marriage through the Coburgs . In 1843 and 1845 , she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at château d ' Eu in Normandy ; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French one since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 . When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844 , he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign . Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolutions of 1848 , and fled to exile in England . At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848 , Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of Osborne House , a private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped . Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support , and the scare died down without any major disturbances . Victoria ' s first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success , but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism . Russell ' s ministry , though Whig , was not favoured by the Queen . She found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary , Lord Palmerston , who often acted without consulting the Cabinet , the Prime Minister , or the Queen . Victoria complained to Russell that Palmerston sent official dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge , but Palmerston was retained in office and continued to act on his own initiative , despite her repeated remonstrances . It was only in 1851 that Palmerston was removed after he announced the British government ' s approval of President Louis - Napoleon Bonaparte ' s coup in France without consulting the Prime Minister . The following year , President Bonaparte was declared Emperor Napoleon III , by which time Russell ' s administration had been replaced by a short - lived minority government led by Lord Derby . In 1853 , Victoria gave birth to her eighth child , Leopold , with the aid of the new anaesthetic , chloroform . Victoria was so impressed by the relief it gave from the pain of childbirth that she used it again in 1857 at the birth of her ninth and final child , Beatrice , despite opposition from members of the clergy , who considered it against biblical teaching , and members of the medical profession , who thought it dangerous . Victoria may have suffered from post - natal depression after many of her pregnancies . Letters from Albert to Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self - control . For example , about a month after Leopold ' s birth Albert complained in a letter to Victoria about her " continuance of hysterics " over a " miserable trifle " . In early 1855 , the government of Lord Aberdeen , who had replaced Derby , fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the Crimean War . Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry , but neither had sufficient support , and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister . Napoleon III , since the Crimean War Britain ' s closest ally , visited London in April 1855 , and from 17 to 28 August the same year Victoria and Albert returned the visit . Napoleon III met the couple at Dunkirk and accompanied them to Paris . They visited the Exposition Universelle ( a successor to Albert ' s 1851 brainchild the Great Exhibition ) and Napoleon I ' s tomb at Les Invalides ( to which his remains had only been returned in 1840 ) , and were guests of honour at a 1 , 200 - guest ball at the Palace of Versailles . On 14 January 1858 , an Italian refugee from Britain called Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with a bomb made in England . The ensuing diplomatic crisis destabilised the government , and Palmerston resigned . Derby was reinstated as prime minister . Victoria and Albert attended the opening of a new basin at the French military port of Cherbourg on 5 August 1858 , in an attempt by Napoleon III to reassure Britain that his military preparations were directed elsewhere . On her return Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for the poor state of the Royal Navy in comparison to the French one . Derby ' s ministry did not last long , and in June 1859 Victoria recalled Palmerston to office . Eleven days after Orsini ' s assassination attempt in France , Victoria ' s eldest daughter married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in London . They had been betrothed since September 1855 , when Princess Victoria was 14 - years - old ; the marriage was delayed by the Queen and Prince Albert until the bride was 17 . The Queen and Albert hoped that their daughter and son - in - law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussia n state . Victoria felt " sick at heart " to see her daughter leave England for Germany ; " It really makes me shudder " , she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters , " when I look round to all your sweet , happy , unconscious sisters , and think I must give them up too – one by one . " Almost exactly a year later , Princess Victoria gave birth to the Queen ' s first grandchild : Wilhelm . Widowhood . In March 1861 , Victoria ' s mother died , with Victoria at her side . Through reading her mother ' s papers , Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply ; she was heart - broken , and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for " wickedly " estranging her from her mother . To relieve his wife during her intense and deep grief , Albert took on most of her duties , despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble . In August , Victoria and Albert visited their son , the Prince of Wales , who was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin , and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney . In November , Albert was made aware of gossip that his son had slept with an actress in Ireland . Appalled , Albert travelled to Cambridge , where his son was studying , to confront him . By the beginning of December , Albert was very unwell . He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner , and died on 14 December 1861 . Victoria was devastated . She blamed her husband ' s death on worry over the Prince of Wales ' s philandering . He had been " killed by that dreadful business " , she said . She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life . She avoided public appearances , and rarely set foot in London in the following years . Her seclusion earned her the nickname " widow of Windsor " . Victoria ' s self - imposed isolation from the public diminished the popularity of the monarchy , and encouraged the growth of the republican movement . She did undertake her official government duties , yet chose to remain secluded in her royal residences — Windsor Castle , Osborne House , and the private estate in Scotland that she and Albert had acquired in 1847 , Balmoral Castle . In March 1864 , a protester stuck a notice on the railings of Buckingham Palace that announced " these commanding premises to be let or sold in consequence of the late occupant ' s declining business " . Her uncle Leopold wrote to her advising her to appear in public . She agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage . Through the 1860s , Victoria relied increasingly on a manservant from Scotland , John Brown . Slanderous rumours of a romantic connection and even a secret marriage appeared in print , and the Queen was referred to as " Mrs . Brown " . The story of their relationship was the subject of the 1997 movie " Mrs . Brown " . A painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer depicting the Queen with Brown was exhibited at the Royal Academy , and Victoria published a book , " Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands " , which featured Brown prominently and in which the Queen praised him highly . Palmerston died in 1865 , and after a brief ministry led by Russell , Derby returned to power . In 1866 , Victoria attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since Albert ' s death . The following year she supported the passing of the Reform Act 1867 which doubled the electorate by extending the franchise to many urban working men , though she was not in favour of votes for women . Derby resigned in 1868 , to be replaced by Benjamin Disraeli , who charmed Victoria . " Everyone likes flattery , " he said , " and when you come to royalty you should lay it on with a trowel . " With the phrase " we authors , Ma ' am " , he complimented her . Disraeli ' s ministry only lasted a matter of months , and at the end of the year his Liberal rival , William Ewart Gladstone , was appointed prime minister . Victoria found Gladstone ' s demeanour far less appealing ; he spoke to her , she is thought to have complained , as though she was " a public meeting rather than a woman " . In 1870 , republican sentiment in Britain , fed by the Queen ' s seclusion , was boosted after the establishment of the Third French Republic . A republican rally in Trafalgar Square demanded Victoria ' s removal , and Radical MPs spoke against her . In August and September 1871 , she was seriously ill with an abscess in her arm , which Joseph Lister successfully lanced and treated with his new antiseptic carbolic acid spray . In late November 1871 , at the height of the republican movement , the Prince of Wales contracted typhoid fever , the disease that was believed to have killed his father , and Victoria was fearful her son would die . As the tenth anniversary of her husband ' s death approached , her son ' s condition grew no better , and Victoria ' s distress continued . To general rejoicing , he pulled through . Mother and son attended a public parade through London and a grand service of thanksgiving in St Paul ' s Cathedral on 27 February 1872 , and republican feeling subsided . On the last day of February 1872 , two days after the thanksgiving service , 17 - year - old Arthur O ' Connor ( great - nephew of Irish MP Feargus O ' Connor ) waved an unloaded pistol at Victoria ' s open carriage just after she had arrived at Buckingham Palace . Brown , who was attending the Queen , grabbed him and O ' Connor was later sentenced to 12 months ' imprisonment . As a result of the incident , Victoria ' s popularity recovered further . Empress of India . After the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , the British East India Company , which had ruled much of India , was dissolved , and Britain ' s possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent were formally incorporated into the British Empire . The Queen had a relatively balanced view of the conflict , and condemned atrocities on both sides . She wrote of " her feelings of horror and regret at the result of this bloody civil war " , and insisted , urged on by Albert , that an official proclamation announcing the transfer of power from the company to the state " should breathe feelings of generosity , benevolence and religious toleration " . At her behest , a reference threatening the " undermining of native religions and customs " was replaced by a passage guaranteeing religious freedom . In the 1874 general election , Disraeli was returned to power . He passed the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 , which removed Catholic rituals from the Anglican liturgy and which Victoria strongly supported . She preferred short , simple services , and personally considered herself more aligned with the presbyterian Church of Scotland than the episcopal Church of England . He also pushed the Royal Titles Act 1876 through Parliament , so that Victoria took the title " Empress of India " from 1 May 1876 . The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1 January 1877 . On 14 December 1878 , the anniversary of Albert ' s death , Victoria ' s second daughter Alice , who had married Louis of Hesse , died of diphtheria in Darmstadt . Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates as " almost incredible and most mysterious " . In May 1879 , she became a great - grandmother ( on the birth of Princess Feodora of Saxe - Meiningen ) and passed her " poor old 60th birthday " . She felt " aged " by " the loss of my beloved child " . Between April 1877 and February 1878 , she threatened five times to abdicate while pressuring Disraeli to act against Russia during the Russo - Turkish War , but her threats had no impact on the events or their conclusion with the Congress of Berlin . Disraeli ' s expansionist foreign policy , which Victoria endorsed , led to conflicts such as the Anglo - Zulu War and the Second Anglo - Afghan War . " If " we " are to " maintain " our position as a " first - rate " Power " , she wrote , " we must . . . be " Prepared " for " attacks " and " wars " , " somewhere " or " other " , CONTINUALLY . " Victoria saw the expansion of the British Empire as civilising and benign , protecting native peoples from more aggressive powers or cruel rulers : " It is not in our custom to annexe countries " , she said , " unless we are obliged & forced to do so . " To Victoria ' s dismay , Disraeli lost the 1880 general election , and Gladstone returned as prime minister . When Disraeli died the following year , she was blinded by " fast falling tears " , and erected a memorial tablet " placed by his grateful Sovereign and Friend , Victoria R . I . " Later years . On 2 March 1882 , Roderick Maclean , a disgruntled poet apparently offended by Victoria ' s refusal to accept one of his poems , shot at the Queen as her carriage left Windsor railway station . Two schoolboys from Eton College struck him with their umbrellas , until he was hustled away by a policeman . Victoria was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity , but was so pleased by the many expressions of loyalty after the attack that she said it was " worth being shot at — to see how much one is loved " . On 17 March 1883 , she fell down some stairs at Windsor , which left her lame until July ; she never fully recovered and was plagued with rheumatism thereafter . Brown died 10 days after her accident , and to the consternation of her private secretary , Sir Henry Ponsonby , Victoria began work on a eulogistic biography of Brown . Ponsonby and Randall Davidson , Dean of Windsor , who had both seen early drafts , advised Victoria against publication , on the grounds that it would stoke the rumours of a love affair . The manuscript was destroyed . In early 1884 , Victoria did publish " More Leaves from a Journal of a Life in the Highlands " , a sequel to her earlier book , which she dedicated to her " devoted personal attendant and faithful friend John Brown " . On the day after the first anniversary of Brown ' s death , Victoria was informed by telegram that her youngest son , Leopold , had died in Cannes . He was " the dearest of my dear sons " , she lamented . The following month , Victoria ' s youngest child , Beatrice , met and fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg at the wedding of Victoria ' s granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine to Henry ' s brother Prince Louis of Battenberg . Beatrice and Henry planned to marry , but Victoria opposed the match at first , wishing to keep Beatrice at home to act as her companion . After a year , she was won around to the marriage by Henry and Beatrice ' s promise to remain living with and attending her . Victoria was pleased when Gladstone resigned in 1885 after his budget was defeated . She thought his government was " the worst I have ever had " , and blamed him for the death of General Gordon at Khartoum . Gladstone was replaced by Lord Salisbury . Salisbury ' s government only lasted a few months , however , and Victoria was forced to recall Gladstone , whom she referred to as a " half crazy & really in many ways ridiculous old man " . Gladstone attempted to pass a bill granting Ireland home rule , but to Victoria ' s glee it was defeated . In the ensuing election , Gladstone ' s party lost to Salisbury ' s and the government switched hands again . Golden Jubilee . In 1887 , the British Empire celebrated Victoria ' s Golden Jubilee . Victoria marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession on 20 June with a banquet to which 50 kings and princes were invited . The following day , she participated in a procession and attended a thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey . By this time , Victoria was once again extremely popular . Two days later on 23 June , she engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters , one of whom was Abdul Karim . He was soon promoted to " Munshi " : teaching her Hindustani , and acting as a clerk . Her family and retainers were appalled , and accused Abdul Karim of spying for the Muslim Patriotic League , and biasing the Queen against the Hindus . Equerry Frederick Ponsonby ( the son of Sir Henry ) discovered that the Munshi had lied about his parentage , and reported to Lord Elgin , Viceroy of India , " the Munshi occupies very much the same position as John Brown used to do . " Victoria dismissed their complaints as racial prejudice . Abdul Karim remained in her service until he returned to India with a pension on her death . Victoria ' s eldest daughter became Empress consort of Germany in 1888 , but she was widowed within the year , and Victoria ' s grandchild Wilhelm became German Emperor as Wilhelm II . Under Wilhelm , Victoria and Albert ' s hopes of a liberal Germany were not fulfilled . He believed in autocracy . Victoria thought he had " little heart or " Zartgefühl " [ tact ] – and . . . his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped " . Gladstone returned to power aged over 82 after the 1892 general election . Victoria objected when Gladstone proposed appointing the Radical MP Henry Labouchere to the , and so Gladstone agreed not to appoint him . In 1894 , Gladstone retired and , without consulting the outgoing prime minister , Victoria appointed Lord Rosebery as prime minister . His government was weak , and the following year Lord Salisbury replaced him . Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria ' s reign . Diamond Jubilee . On 23 September 1896 , Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest - reigning monarch in English , Scottish , and British history . The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897 , to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee , which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain . The prime ministers of all the self - governing dominions were invited , and the Queen ' s Diamond Jubilee procession through London included troops from all over the empire . The parade paused for an open - air service of thanksgiving held outside St Paul ' s Cathedral , throughout which Victoria sat in her open carriage . The celebration was marked by great outpourings of affection for the septuagenarian Queen . Victoria visited mainland Europe regularly for holidays . In 1889 , during a stay in Biarritz , she became the first reigning monarch from Britain to set foot in Spain when she crossed the border for a brief visit . By April 1900 , the Boer War was so unpopular in mainland Europe that her annual trip to France seemed inadvisable . Instead , the Queen went to Ireland for the first time since 1861 , in part to acknowledge the contribution of Irish regiments to the South African war . In July , her second son Alfred ( " Affie " ) died ; " Oh , God ! My poor darling Affie gone too " , she wrote in her journal . " It is a horrible year , nothing but sadness & horrors of one kind & another . " Death and succession . Following a custom she maintained throughout her widowhood , Victoria spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight . Rheumatism in her legs had rendered her lame , and her eyesight was clouded by cataracts . Through early January , she felt " weak and unwell " , and by mid - January she was " drowsy . . . dazed , [ and ] confused " . She died on Tuesday , 22 January 1901 , at half past six in the evening , at the age of 81 . Her son and successor King Edward VII , and her eldest grandson , Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany , were at her deathbed . Her favourite pet Pomeranian , Turri , was laid upon her deathbed as a last request . In 1897 , Victoria had written instructions for her funeral , which was to be military as befitting a soldier ' s daughter and the head of the army , and white instead of black . On 25 January , Edward VII , the Kaiser and Prince Arthur , Duke of Connaught , helped lift her into the coffin . She was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil . An array of mementos commemorating her extended family , friends and servants were laid in the coffin with her , at her request , by her doctor and dressers . One of Albert ' s dressing gowns was placed by her side , with a plaster cast of his hand , while a lock of John Brown ' s hair , along with a picture of him , were placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers . Items of jewellery placed on Victoria included the wedding ring of John Brown ' s mother , given to her by Brown in 1883 . Her funeral was held on Saturday , 2 February , in St George ' s Chapel , Windsor Castle , and after two days of lying - in - state , she was interred beside Prince Albert in Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park . As she was laid to rest at the mausoleum , it began to snow . With a reign of 63 years , seven months and two days , Victoria is the longest - reigning British monarch and the longest - reigning queen regnant in world history . She was the last monarch of Britain from the House of Hanover . Her son and heir Edward VII belonged to her husband ' s House of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha . Legacy . According to one of her biographers , Giles St Aubyn , Victoria wrote an average of 2500 words a day during her adult life . From July 1832 until just before her death , she kept a detailed journal , which eventually encompassed 122 volumes . After Victoria ' s death , her youngest daughter , Princess Beatrice , was appointed her literary executor . Beatrice transcribed and edited the diaries covering Victoria ' s accession onwards , and burned the originals in the process . Despite this destruction , much of the diaries still exist . In addition to Beatrice ' s edited copy , Lord Esher transcribed the volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatrice destroyed them . Part of Victoria ' s extensive correspondence has been published in volumes edited by A . C . Benson , Hector Bolitho , George Earle Buckle , Lord Esher , Roger Fulford , and Richard Hough among others . Victoria was physically unprepossessing — she was stout , dowdy and no more than five feet tall — but she succeeded in projecting a grand image . She experienced unpopularity during the first years of her widowhood , but was well liked during the 1880s and 1890s , when she embodied the empire as a benevolent matriarchal figure . Only after the release of her diary and letters did the extent of her political influence become known to the wider public . Biographies of Victoria written before much of the primary material became available , such as Lytton Strachey ' s " Queen Victoria " of 1921 , are now considered out of date . The biographies written by Elizabeth Longford and Cecil Woodham - Smith , in 1964 and 1972 respectively , are still widely admired . They , and others , conclude that as a person Victoria was emotional , obstinate , honest , and straight - talking . Through Victoria ' s reign , the gradual establishment of a modern constitutional monarchy in Britain continued . Reforms of the voting system increased the power of the House of Commons at the expense of the House of Lords and the monarch . In 1867 , Walter Bagehot wrote that the monarch only retained " the right to be consulted , the right to encourage , and the right to warn " . As Victoria ' s monarchy became more symbolic than political , it placed a strong emphasis on morality and family values , in contrast to the sexual , financial and personal scandals that had been associated with previous members of the House of Hanover and which had discredited the monarchy . The concept of the " family monarchy " , with which the burgeoning middle classes could identify , was solidified . Victoria ' s links with Europe ' s royal families earned her the nickname " the grandmother of Europe " . Victoria and Albert had 42 grandchildren , of whom 34 survived to adulthood . Their descendants include Elizabeth II , Prince Philip , Duke of Edinburgh , Harald V of Norway , Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden , Margrethe II of Denmark , Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain . Victoria ' s youngest son , Leopold , was affected by the blood - clotting disease haemophilia B and two of her five daughters , Alice and Beatrice , were carriers . Royal haemophiliacs descended from Victoria included her great - grandsons , Tsarevich Alexei of Russia , Alfonso , Prince of Asturias , and Infante Gonzalo of Spain . The presence of the disease in Victoria ' s descendants , but not in her ancestors , led to modern speculation that her true father was not the Duke of Kent but a haemophiliac . There is no documentary evidence of a haemophiliac in connection with Victoria ' s mother , and as male carriers always suffer the disease , even if such a man had existed he would have been seriously ill . It is more likely that the mutation arose spontaneously because Victoria ' s father was over 50 at the time of her conception and haemophilia arises more frequently in the children of older fathers . Spontaneous mutations account for about 30 % of cases . Around the world , places and memorials are dedicated to her , especially in the Commonwealth nations . Places named after her , include the capital of the Seychelles , Africa ' s largest lake , Victoria Falls , the capitals of British Columbia ( Victoria ) and Saskatchewan ( Regina ) , and two Australian states ( Victoria and Queensland ) . The Victoria Cross was introduced in 1856 to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War , and it remains the highest British , Canadian , Australian , and New Zealand award for bravery . Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday and a local public holiday in parts of Scotland celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May ( Queen Victoria ' s birthday ) . Titles , styles , and arms . Titles and styles . At the end of her reign , the Queen ' s full style and title were : " Her Majesty Victoria , by the Grace of God , of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen , Defender of the Faith , Empress of India . " Arms . As Sovereign , Victoria used the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom . Before her accession , she received no grant of arms . As she could not succeed to the throne of Hanover , her arms did not carry the Hanoverian symbols that were used by her immediate predecessors . Her arms have been borne by all of her successors on the throne , including the present Queen . Outside Scotland , the blazon for the shield — also used on the Royal Standard — is : Quarterly : I and IV , Gules , three lions passant guardant in pale Or ( for England ) ; II , Or , a lion rampant within a double tressure flory - counter - flory Gules ( for Scotland ) ; III , Azure , a harp Or stringed Argent ( for Ireland ) . In Scotland , the first and fourth quarters are occupied by the Scottish lion , and the second by the English lions . The crests , mottoes , and supporters also differ in and outside Scotland .