Queen Victoria(1819-1901)

• Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for 63 years. It was the longest reign in England’s history.

Who were Victoria's parents?

• She was born in Kensington Palace in London on May 24th, 1819. Victoria was the only child of Prince Edward (Duke of Kent) and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

The House of HanovariansA German Family

• King George I 1714 - 1727 (Queen Victoria's Great Great Great Grandad) George never learned English so the conduct of national policy was left to the government of the time. Sir Robert Walpole became England's first Prime Minister.

• King George II 1727 - 1760 (Queen Victoria's Great Great Grandad)

Son of George IPreferred Germany to England, but learned to speak English, unlike his father.

King George III 1760 - 1820 (Queen Victoria's Grandad)

• Son of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and grandson of George II. He ruled for 50 years and fathered 15 children. Australia was colonised. His reign was the age of some of the greatest names in English literature - Jane Austen, Byron, Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth. It was also the time of great statesmen like Pitt and Fox and great captains like Wellington and Nelson.

• In 1773 the 'Boston Tea Party' was the first sign of the troubles that were to come in America. The American Colonies proclaimed their independence on July 4th 1776.

• The 1790s saw the French Revolution. The wars with France continued until Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

Childhood and School

• Victoria's first language was German. At three years old she learnt to speak English and French. Later she learnt to speak Hindustani because she was ruler of India as well.

• Victoria didn't go to school. She was taught at home. As well as learning languages, Victoria studied history, geography, and the Bible. She was taught how to play the piano and learned how to paint, a hobby that she enjoyed into her 60s.

When did Victoria become Queen?

• Queen Victoria came to the throne when she was only 18 years of age on June 20, 1837. Her coronation was a year later on 28 June 1838.

Who did Queen Victoria marry?

• At the age of 21, Victoria married her cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, a German Prince.

How many children did Queen Victoria have?

• Victoria had nine children, 40 grand-children and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered all over Europe. Most of Queen Victoria's children married into other royal families of Europe.

Why did Queen Victoria wear black?

• Her husband Albert died in 1861 at the young age of 42. She mourned his death for almost 10 years. For the rest of her reign she wore black.

How did Britain change whilst Victoria was Queen?

• Whilst Victoria was Queen there was a tremendous change in the lives of British people: The number of people living in Britain more than doubled, causing a huge demand for food, clothes and housing.

Britain became the most powerful country in the world, with the largest empire that had ever

existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population.

The Victorian city of London was a city of startling contrasts. New building and affluent development went hand in hand with horribly overcrowded slums where people lived in the worst conditions imaginable. The population surged during the 19th century, from about 1 million in 1800 to over 6 million a century later. This growth far exceeded London's ability to look after the basic needs of its citizens. Fonte: http://www.ourwardfamily.com/victorian_london.htm

Factories and machines were built to meet this demand and new towns grew up, changing the landscape and the ways people lived and

worked.

Railways, originally built to transport goods, meant people could travel easily around the country for the first time.

When did Queen Victoria die?

• Queen Victoria died in 1901 on the Isle of Wight. She was 81. She is buried at Frogmore, Windsor.

The entrance to Frogmore Mausoleum in August 2002