she had private lessons in many subjects from half-past nine in the morning to six in the evening she loved singing and dancing at the age of 12 victorias said I see I am nearer the throne than I supposed on that day she made a promise I will be good when victoria was 13 her mother decided that she must see Britain and that the British people must see her the young princess travelled to wales the midlands Yorkshire and the south coast she was welcomed with enthusiasm everywhere these journeys were not a holiday
but a part of her education victoria wrote about her journey in her diary she did not know that thousands of poor children worked in factories and mills in terrible conditions they never went to school and often died at a young age she also learned that working people lived in small dark houses and were often hungry on victoria's 17th birthday her german cousin prince Albert came to visit her victoria liked him immediately her mother thought prince Albert was the ideal husband and victoria agreed at five in the morning on the 20th of June
1837 victoria received the news king William iv died that night and she was now the queen she was only 18 and knew very little about government or politics at half-past 11 that morning she went to meet her advisers the privy counsellors she spoke and calmly and everyone admired her the young queen now lived at Buckingham palace away from the strict control of her mother victoria enjoyed going to the opera and the ballet and began horse riding since she was short
she felt taller on a horse lord Melbourne the prime minister was the most important person in victoria's early years as queen he was a kind and loyal friend he gave her advice and helped her understand politics and government in 1839 victoria's cousin Albert visited her again this is what she wrote in her diary Albert really is quite charming and so excessively handsome my heart is quite going victoria loved Albert and proposed to him Albert could not propose because he was of lower rank they have married in 1840 victoria and Albert loved each other very much
she called him an angel however Albert was a foreigner and not everyone liked him parliament did not give Albert a title and many Londoners said rude things about him Albert was intelligent well educated and responsible he was very interested in science music and the arts victoria learned from Albert to be a dedicated monarch the queen asked for his help on government affairs and they always work together in November 1840 the queen had the first child victoria she was very clever and was the queen's favourite child in 1841 Albert Edward prince of wales was born between 1840 and 1857 victoria and Albert had nine children four sons and five daughters victoria was a strict mother
the children's food and clothing were always very simple victoria and Albert were devoted parents and spent a lot of time with their children family values and morality were very important to the royal couple they became an example for their people most Victorians had large families in the late 1800s the average family had five or six children Albert introduced the first Christmas tree to the royal family since it was a german custom soon it was popular all over Britain Victoria was very fond of Christmas and its traditions
the first public railway opened in 1825 and attracted a lot of attention bit was built by George Stevenson an engineer in 1830 the Liverpool to Manchester railway opened and soon transported 1 200 passengers every day with the railway people and goods travelled cheaply and quickly railways spread rapidly all over England Scotland and wales people started going to the seaside and seaside towns developed by 1848 there were no more stagecoaches almost everyone travelled by train
in 1842 victoria and Albert took their first train ride the queen liked the speed comfort and privacy of the train soon the royal family travelled by royal train a specially designed carriage in 1840 the first national postal system was created and the penny black became the first adhesive postage stamp victoria's profile appeared on it cost only one penny to send a letter anywhere in great Britain today the red victorian letterboxes are still used victoria had three royal houses but she didn't like any of them she wanted a private remote family home she and Albert bought a large estate called Osborne on the isle of wight victoria loved Osborne and was very happy there in 1847 the royal couple bought a house in Scotland balmoral castle it was surrounded by green hills and forests victoria liked the fresh clean air and Albert liked hunting and fishing
poverty was a big problem in the 19th century Britain working people had a very difficult life adults and children worked long hours in factories in dangerous conditions they were usually hungry and often ill squalid houses unclean water and dirty streets caused many diseases the air was full of smoke and fog people did not live long in these conditions people without work lived on the streets they were beggars or thieves others lived in workhouses some Victorians tried to help the poor dr Barnardo opened a home for orphans in London
Charles Dickens wrote about these social problems in his novels for example in Oliver Twist and David Copperfield social reforms were seriously needed in 1847 the 10-hour act limited the working day of women and children to 10 hours a day in 1848 parliament passed laws to make towns and cities cleaner but progress was very slow the middle and upper classes had clean comfortable houses far from the industrial centres in green areas called suburbs their children received a good education under victoria's reign Britain became the richest commercial nation
it produced machines textiles ships and other goods and sold them to other countries Albert wanted to show Britain's products inventions and machines to the world he decided to open an international exhibition for two years he worked intensely on this complex project the British began to appreciate Albert's qualities on the 1st of may 1851 queen victoria opened the great exhibition in the crystal palace in London she called it the most beautiful spectacle ever seen the crystal palace was truly a spectacle
it was made of iron and glass and was as big as four football fields there were over seven thousand exhibitors from Britain and six thousand from other countries it was an enormous success with over six million visitors in 140 days during the 1850s there were wars and revolts in Europe and Asia British soldiers fought in several of them the most important was the Crimean War on the black sea Russia wanted to expand its empire and perhaps block the Mediterranean and overland routes to India so Britain and France decided to help turkey fight Russia
the Crimean war was the first war that was photographed for the first time newspapers showed photographs of a war a painful tragic spectacle Victoria was very unhappy because the soldiers suffered she sent the mittens and scarves and visited the wounded soldiers in British hospitals she wrote letters to the soldier's widows Albert wrote hundreds of letters to members of parliament to ask them to send more help to the soldier's victoria helped Florence nightingale who went to Crimea with 38 nurses she courageously set up a hospital for wounded soldiers and saved many lives after the war Florence nightingale opened the first school for nurses in London this was the beginning of modern nursing and improved hygienic conditions in hospitals
when the Crimean war ended in 1856 victoria presented a special medal for the courage to many soldiers this medal was called the victoria cross and it was made of captured Russian cannon at this time India was controlled by the British East India Company a trading company set up in India in 1857 there was a rebellion against the British who lived in India it was called the Indian mutiny thousands of people were killed after this rebellion India became part of the British empire and was controlled by the British government victoria was very healthy and was rarely ill
she did not like hot rooms and always kept windows open even in winter Albert was usually cold and was not as healthy as victoria he worked too much and rarely rested he was also worried about his son the prince of wales the prince's adventures with women and gambling shocked Albert who was very upright Albert became very tired and weak in November 1861 he caught typhoid fever but he continued working until he died on the 14th of December victoria was devastated it was the greatest agony of her life she was lost without Albert she was convinced that her son the prince of wales was responsible for Albert's death
she did not permit the prince of wales to help her with government work victoria visited Albert's impressive tomb at Frogmore near Windsor regularly she wanted everyone to remember him the Albert memorial and the Royal Albert hall near the Kensington Gardens in London was built to honour her beloved husband in her sadness and misery victoria became a recluse for 13 years she refused to appear in public and go to privy council meetings however she continued studying government papers privately and never lost contact with her kingdom she spent a lot of time at balmoral castle far from London a Scottish servant called john brown became her loyal friend during this period victoria and the monarchy became very unpopular and some politicians wanted to abolish it and create a republic
in 1866 victoria opened parliament for the first time after Albert's death she was dressed in black the colour of the morning which she wore for the rest of her life transportation became a big problem in London because roads were always crowded in 1863 the first underground railway in the world opened in London today it is called the tube this was a period of social reforms in 1870 the education act was passed it introduced the first state schools for all children between the ages of 5 and 13. factory reforms new laws for the poor and new hospitals improved people's lives
in 1875 many slums were destroyed and better homes were built however poverty was still a big problem in 1878 the American inventor alexander bell showed the queen his invention the telephone victoria was astonished she was even more astonished to learn about the invention of a new means of transport the automobile this was a period of revolutionary change at this time victoria's favourite prime minister was benjamin Disraeli a witty intelligent man he got along well with the queen and encouraged her to return to public life Disraeli wanted to expand the British empire his political rival William Gladstone wanted to limit it victoria did not like Gladstone he complained about the cost of the Albert memorial victoria liked Israel's idea of a bigger and stronger British empire
in 1869 the Suez canal built by the french opened and created an important trade route to India and east great Britain bore chairs in the canal to secure Britain's power in east India was an important colony with its production of tea silk and cotton victoria was fascinated by India and was delighted to become empress of India in 1876 the British empire expanded rapidly with the addition of Borneo Burma and new guinea David Livingston was a British missionary and a great explorer in the 1850s he travelled extensively in Africa and made the first maps of central Africa he discovered six lakes rivers mountains and the biggest waterfall in the world called victoria falls in honour of the queen Henry Morton Stanley explored lake transgenic and the congo river
in the 1880s Britain took control of large parts of Africa Egypt Nigeria Kenya and Uganda in 1883 there was a war in Sudan and rebels destroyed the British command in Khartoum from its African colonies Britain got cocoa coffee and diamonds on the 20th of June 1887 victoria celebrated her 50 years as queen the following day she rode through London in an open carriage for the spectacular golden jubilee celebrations the streets were full of cheering people a procession of royal guests from all over the world rode in front of victoria there were kings and queens from Europe the crown prince of Prussia and princes from India japan and siam Victoria was very fond of music and liked singing arias from the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan the mikado the pirates of Penzance and his pinafore are their most famous operas however it was the famous British composer Edward Elgar who wrote music for the great celebration ut victoria felt sad and lonely
i sat alone she wrote oh without my beloved husband all of her children married into royal families in different parts of Europe when victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1897 there was another gigantic procession with 50 000 troops from all over the British empire on that day victoria pressed a button to send a telegraph message around the empire from my heart i thank my beloved people
may god bless them in 1899 the British empire was the biggest empire in the world it covered one-fifth of the earth's land area with 370 million people victoria was now an old woman and suffered from rheumatism she could not walk well but was still active she worked from half-past seven in the morning until late at night studying government papers she loved her people and her empire at the beginning of 1901 the queen was very weak on the 22nd of January 1901 victoria died at the age of 82 at Osborne house thousands of people wept during her funeral procession she was considered the mother of the British empire she was buried beside her beloved Albert at Frogmore near Windsor
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