-Victoria was the queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1837 until her death; she was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and she also used the additional title of Empress of India.
-She inherited the throne at the age of 18 with a constitutional monarchy. Victoria seemed to reflect the general opinion of her subjects and was keen to appear liberal in her attitudes.
-Her reign was longer than any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history.
-She earned the title of "Grandmother of Europe" because Albert and Victoria had nine children and some of them got married to many of European’s royal families, as did their descendants. Many of today’s European royals can trace their family line straight back to one of their children.
-The period when Victoria reigned is called the Victorian era and it was characterized by an industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. Famously, at the end of the Victorian period, people could say 'the sun never set on the British Empire'.
-She became a national icon and she was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
-It has been suggested that “a woman on the throne seems to be meaningful during a century in which women were discouraged from taking part in the public life of the country”.
Victoria was very god to her household staff but on the other hand, she treated some members of her government Ministers dreadfully. It means that she had trouble to remember that she was a Constitutional Monarch and not an absolutist.
Some people took a drastic dislike to the Queen. In 1840, Edward Oxford fired a gun at Victoria while she was in a mall. But generally she was a monarch who felt the affections of her people and she was respected by the majority.
When she got married with Albert, she started the tradition of wearing white as a bride ( this colour represents fidelity and purity). Before her weeding, all the brides used to wear black and dark colours. It was also in her weeding when a figure shoped as a bride and a groom, was used for the first time as a decoration for a cake.
When Victoria died on 22nd January 1901, tg¡he nation seemed to be numbed by the loss of a queen whose reign had felt almost eternital. The popular reaction was that her passing was a personal tragedy.
In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato famine that over four years cost the lives of over one million Irish people and saw the emigration of another million. In response to what came to be called the Irish Potato Famine, the queen personally donated £5000 and was involved in various charities. To extreme republicans Victoria came to be called the "Famine Queen", with mythical stories of her donating as little as £5 to famine.
Prince Albert died of typhoid fever and Victoria continued to carry out her constitutional duties such as reading all diplomatic dispatches. However, she completely withdrew from public view and now spent most of her time in the Scottish Highlands. She even refused requests from her government to open Parliament in person so politicians began to question whether Victoria was earning the money that the State paid her. When her husband Albert died in 1861, Victoria donned window’s mourning clothes and wore them for the rest of her life. This display had a profound effect on the nation’s attitude to mourning-lavish funerals and strictly dictated mourning clothes and etiquette became the fashion until the end of the century.
