Story of Queen Victoria

Victoria, born on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace, was named Alexandrina Victoria. Her mother called her 'Drina'. Her father Edward, Duke of Kent, was a son of King George III; both men died within a week of each other in 1820, when she was just seven months old. .

On the death of her uncle George IV in 1830, Victoria became heiress presumptive to her last surviving uncle, William IV. If he had died before Victoria’s 18th birthday, her mother the Duchess of Kent would have ruled as regent until she reached majority. .

She was married to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in February 1840 at St. James’ Palace. Victoria wore a white dress of silk and lace, unusual at the time, and has been credited with popularising white wedding dresses. .

Despite expressing a distaste of pregnancy, Victoria bore nine children, the majority of whom would marry into other European royal families. This would earn her the nickname “the Grandmother of Europe”. .

When Albert died, Victoria fell into deep mourning, wearing black and avoiding public appearances for the rest of her life. She became deeply reliant upon, and attached to, her Scottish manservant John Brown, whom she had met at Balmoral. .

Victoria’s obvious affection for Brown would lead to rumours about the nature of their relationship, even within the royal family. A film about the relationship, Mrs Brown, was released in 1997 starring Judi Dench and Billy Connolly. .

The Queen left very specific instructions on how she was to be buried. She requested a military funeral, with white horses and a white pall over her coffin, after Lord Tennyson had given her the idea of a ‘white funeral’.. .

On her instructions, numerous items were placed in the coffin with her body; Albert’s dressing gown and a plaster cast of his hand; her wedding veil, jewellery and photographs, as well as a picture of John Brown and a lock of his hair.