Victoria was the only child of Prince Edward (Duke of Kent) and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Prince Edward (1767-1820) was the fourth son of King George lll.

Find out more about Victoria's family tree.

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Both Queen Elizabeth, the Queen today, and her consort (as her husband is known), the Duke of Edinburgh, are great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.

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Queen Victoria's family nickname was 'Drina'.

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Victoria was part of a family of Germans, mainly called George, who came from Hanover.

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Victoria's first language was German. At three years old she learnt to speak English and French. Later she learnt to speak Hindustani because she was ruler of India as well.

Victoria didn't go to school. She was taught at home. As well as learning languages, Victoria studied history, geography, and the Bible. She was taught how to play the piano and learned how to paint, a hobby that she enjoyed into her 60s.

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Queen Victoria came to the throne when she was only 18 years of age on June 20, 1837. Her coronation was a year later on 28 June 1838.

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Victoria had nine children, 40 grand-children and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered all over Europe. Most of Queen Victoria's children married into other royal families of Europe.

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Queen Victoria reigned for exactly sixty-three years, seven months, and two days (June 20, 1837 - January 22, 1901). Queen Victoria is our longest ever serving monarch.

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Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace.

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Victoria was known as the "Grandmother of Europe" because many of her children and grandchildren married into the royal families of other European countries.

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Queen Victoria loved singing and she enjoyed painting and drawing. She loved going to the opera.

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Britain became the most powerful country in the world, with the largest empire that had ever existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population.

The number of people living in Britain more than doubled, causing a huge demand for food, clothes and housing.

Factories and machines were built to meet this demand and new towns grew up, changing the landscape and the ways people lived and worked.

Railways, originally built to transport goods, meant people could travel easily around the country for the first time.

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Queen Victoria survived seven assassination attempts

Queen Victoria died on 22 January, 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She was 81.

Queen Victoria was survived by 6 children, 40 grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren, including four future sovereigns of England: Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI. 

She is buried in a mausoleum at Frogmore, Windsor.

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See our timeline of Kings and Queens of England

How many children did Queen Victoria have?

Queen Victoria had 9 children.
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