Subject

Reigned: 1837-1901, 64 years. Born Kensington Palace. Daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. Niece of her predecessor,King William IV. Her first name was Alexandrina and as a child she was called Drina, but she preferred Victoria and, as queen, one can insist on things like that. Prior to her reign the name was not a common one in Britain.

She was only a month past her 18th birthday when she became queen on 20 June 1837. Married Albert, her German first cousin, in 1840 in a white dress which was unusual at the time but was quickly taken up by the wealthy and then everyone else.

Victoria, reportedly, did not like children but did like sex. They had 9 children: Victoria, Albert, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice. Died at the royal holiday home, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

A statue of Queen Victoria stands in the Main Entrance of Imperial College, on Exhibition Road, which we may collect one day even though it is not really on public display.