Her reign of 63 years and days—which was longer than those of any of her predecessors —constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom , and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In , the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in , 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. Victoria, a constitutional monarch , attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet " grandmother of Europe ".
After Albert's death in , 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. Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight , at the age of Princess Charlotte's death in precipitated a succession crisis that brought pressure on Prince Edward and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children.
Her brother Leopold was Princess Charlotte's widower and later the first king of Belgium. The Duke and Duchess of Kent's only child, Victoria was born at a. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina or Georgiana , Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Prince Regent. William married in , in a joint ceremony with his brother Edward, but both of William's legitimate daughters died as infants.
The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on 27 March , two months before Victoria was born. Victoria's father died in January , when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV.
