Queen Victoria, former ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, is recognized for being the longest ruling monarch in British history. Her reign of sixty-three years seven months came to be known as the Victorian era. Queen Victoria was not only the ruler of the United Kingdom, but also the British Empire, which included Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and significant parts of Africa.
Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819, and christened Alexandrina Victoria, in Kensington Palace, London. She was the only child of Victoria Maria Louisa, daughter of the Duke of the German principality of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathern. Her mother was the sister of King Leopold of Prussia and her father was the fourth son of George III. That winter Princess Victoria's father caught a cold, which turned into pneumonia and he died when Victoria was only eight months old.
English: Prince Albert, Queen Victoria and their n...
English: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1854
Queen Victoria's statue at Kensington (When Prince...Her mother raised her in Kensington Palace with the help of private English tutors, German governesses, and Princess Victoria's uncle, Prince Leopold.
Princess Victoria would become heir to the throne upon the death of her uncle King William IV because he had no legitimate children. On June 20, 1837, Princess Victoria became queen. On June 28, 1838, just over a month after her nineteenth birthday, her coronation took place. Queen Victoria saw no complications in becoming a ruling monarch; her grandfather and two of her uncles had been kings of England, one of whom was her Uncle Leopold. Many of her relations ruled over independent principalities in Europe.
Immediately after becoming Queen, Victoria refused any further influence from her domineering mother and decided to rule on her own. She wished to be more informed of political matters, although she had no direct input in...