Queen Victoria was born May 24, 1819 in the Kensington Palace in London. She was the daughter of Edward, the Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria's father, Edward, died when she was only eight months old. After her father's death, her mother enacted a strict regimen that shunned the courts of Victoria's uncles, George IV and William IV. Victoria took the throne after the death of her Uncle William IV in 1837. Due to her secluded childhood, she displayed a personality marked by strong prejudices and a willful stubbornness.

When she was barely eighteen, she refused any further influence from her domineering mother and ruled in her own stead. Popular respect for the Crown was at a low point at her coronation, but the modest and straightforward young Queen won the heart of her subjects. She had no direct input in policy decisions, but she did like to know what was happening. She respected and worked well with Lord Melbourne (Prime minister in the early years of her reign) and England grew both socially and economically.

Only three years after taking the throne, on February 10th, 1840, she took her first vow and married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They had a relationship of great love and admiration. Together they bore nine children, four sons and five daughters. Their names were Victoria, Bertie, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold, and Beatrice. Prince Albert replaced Melbourne as the dominating male in her life. Victoria did nothing without the approval of her husband. In 1861, Albert died from typhoid fever. Victoria remained in self-imposed seclusion for ten years. This genuine, but not obsessive kept her occupied for the rest of her life and played an important role in the evolution of what would become the Victorian mentality.

Her popularity, was at its lowest by the 1870s, but after her death it steadily increased. In 1876, she was crowned Empress of India. In 1887,the Golden Jubilee was used to mark her 50th year as Queen. The Golden Jubilee brought her out of her shell and she once again embraced public life. Victoria's long reign witnessed an evolution in English politics and the expansion of the British Empire, as well as political and social reforms on the continent. France had known two dynasties and embraced Republicanism. After her death, she got known even more around the world.