How To Write Historical Romance Novels

Victorian Era

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Though a constitutional monarch, privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading hemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. She died on the Isle of Wight in 1901. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Queen Victoria of England children are:

Name Birth Death Spouse and children

Victoria, Princess Royal 21 November

1840 5 August

1901 Married 1858, Frederick, later German Emperor and King of Prussia (1831–1888);

4 sons (including Wilhelm II, German Emperor), 4 daughters (including Queen Sophia of Greece)

Edward VII of the United Kingdom 9 November

1841 6 May

1910 Married 1863, Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925);

3 sons (including King George V of the United Kingdom), 3 daughters (including Queen Maud of Norway)

Princess Alice 25 April

1843 14 December

1878 Married 1862, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892);

2 sons, 5 daughters (including Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia)

Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 6 August

1844 31 July

ed.[204][206]

Events

The 1843 launch of the Great Britain, the revolutionary ship of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

First Opium War: British ships approaching Canton in May 1841

The last of the mail coaches at Newcastle upon Tyne, 1848

Governor-General of India Lord Canning meets Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, 1860

The defence of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879

Following the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1896, the British proclaimed a protectorate over the Ashanti Kingdom.

The author Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar Wilde, pictured with son Cyril, 1889

Daimler Wagonette, Ireland, c. 1899

British and Australian officers in South Africa during the Second Boer War

Workmen leaving Platt's Works, Oldham, 1900

1832

Passage of the first Reform Act.[210]