Queen Victoria (She was the granddaughter of George III)

Biography:

Queen   Victoria was born      24  May    1819. She was the granddaughter of George III, and her father, Edward was fourth  in  line to  the          throne.    But   when the      prince   of Wales   died   early,   his brothers sought   to get          married  and   maintain     the         line   of succession.

queen-victoriaEdward  married       Princess Victoria  from  Germany,   and      the    couple had    just one child,   Alexandrina   Victoria, who  was born    at Kensington   Palace        in 1819.      As   a   young   girl,       Victorias father died,     followed    six      days         later     by    King George   III.   The         throne   then   passed    to King William        IV,  but,    he     too     died  early. This      left   Victoria to      be  crowned     at the age of    18,    in June 1837.  Queen  Victoria was to reign    until             her       death    on  22nd January 1901.

Queen Victoria       and    Nineteenth-Century Britain

The          19th         Century     was                a    time          of unprecedented    expansion     for  Britain   in term  of      both       of      industry      and   Empire. Although             her     popularity      ebbed            and flowed during  her  reign, towards the  end of her    crown,  she  had become a symbol of British imperialism and pride.

The          Victorian      period           also  witnessed great      advances               in            science                       and technology.             It    became    known as        the steam  age,  enabling      people                to  easily travel throughout the UK and the World.

Queen Victoria was      emblematic      of this period.             She               was       an              enthusiastic supporter   of      the          British          Empire.  She celebrated     at    Lord  Kitcheners victory  in the           Sudan;             she         supported            British involvement   in   the       Boer  War.      She  was also happy to preside over the expansion of        the   British             Empire,  which     was      to stretch  across   the globe.  In  1877 Queen Victoria was made Empress of India, in a move        instigated  by          the                    imperialist Disraeli.           Famously,  at  the      end        of    the Victorian period,   people could   say            ‘the sun never set on the British Empire.

Queen  Victoria      was conservative   in   her politics   and social    views.  This    led to  an unfortunate      episode. When      she     saw  a servant who       appeared      to   be   pregnant, Victoria     claimed       she      was     having         an affair.  The Queen actually made her  take a test  to prove   she was a virgin. The test was        positive     and           the     growth        in  her stomach was  actually a form   of    cancer; a few  months  later the servant died,  and Queen  Victoria suffered  a  decline  in    her popularity as a result of this episode.

In the early part of her reign, she became a close friend and confident  of the Prime Minister,                Lord    Melbourne.  She      spent many    hours talking to   him   and relied on his political advice.   Lord   Melbourne was a Whig,     with conservative     attitudes.   He tried   to     shield    Queen  Victoria    from  the extreme            poverty      that was endemic    in parts of the UK.

Queen  Victoria  was   also  highly    devoted to  her   husband,   Prince     Albert;    together they            had  nine    children.          When   Prince Albert  died        in  1861,  at            the  age   of  41, Queen  Victoria went  into deep  mourning and struggled to overcome this loss. She became     reclusive     and  was   reluctant to appear              in           public.               Parliament      and Benjamin           Disraeli      had  to    use  all   their persuasive    power    to       get    her  to          open parliament in 1866   and 1867. Her   hiding from   the          public   led     to             a     decline       in popularity. However,      by   the   end  of        her reign,    her   popularity was  restored.    This was partly due to the rise of Great Britain as the leading superpower of the era.

For  various          reasons,    several   attempts were made on the  life  of  Queen  Victoria. These     were  mostly between        1840   and 1882. She was always unharmed, but her courageous attitude helped to endear her to the public.