Victoria Hanoverka (actually Alexandrine Victoria; May 24, 1819–22 January 1901) ruled for 63 years (in the entire history of Great Britain only Elizabeth II overtook her in terms of the length of her reign). The Queen's influence on the history of her own country and Europe was so great that the entire era was named after her - the Victorian one. During the baptism, the newborn girl was given - in accordance with the wishes of her grandfather, George III - the names of Aleksandryna Wiktoria. It was supposed to be a tribute to the most powerful monarch at the time - the Russian emperor Alexander I, who became the godfather of the newborn. Only after a few years, after the death of the father-in-law, the mother of the future ruler stopped using her daughter's first name.
The queen's mother - also Victoria - was a German princess from Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the queen's future husband was also from the same family - Prince Albert (her cousin, by the way). That is why both the monarchs and her children spoke German very well. Victoria always insisted that "the German element should always be present in our home" and supported Prussia in all war conflicts, e.g. in 1864, when Berlin and Copenhagen were arguing over Schleswig and Holstein, during the Austro-Prussian war for hegemony in Germany in 1866 or during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-1871.
The queen saw Russia as "our eternal enemy" and "a spoiled country". The source of this reluctance was the long-term rivalry between Saint Petersburg and London for domination in Europe and Asia. During the Crimean War, England and Russia found themselves in different camps. In the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Russia (including during the war of 1877–78, which resulted in the creation of independent Bulgaria), Great Britain has always supported Constantinople. In turn, during the Boer Wars, Russia sided with England's opponents.
Victoria and her husband Albert contributed to the growth of the authority of the royal family among their subjects. Her father's brothers behaved outrageously:they lived beyond their means, lived with lovers, begot illegitimate children. No wonder they were not respected and loved by the people. Wiktoria and Albert were an exemplary marriage:they were faithful to each other, thrifty, they personally supervised the education and upbringing of their descendants, and did not organize lavish parties. In this way, they not only erased the bad impression of their predecessors, but also showed how important and beautiful family life can be. Interestingly, Queen Victoria was not a prudish person and loved the pleasures of the body, but also believed that only spouses should have sex.
During the reign of Victoria, Great Britain made a huge civilization leap. The country's railroad network developed and the Queen was the first ruler in history to travel by train. England became a power in the seas and oceans, and its navy was the salt in the eye of Germany. The empire's position was strengthened in numerous colonies. The Queen herself was proclaimed Empress of India.
Although the English monarch - unlike the absolute rulers in Prussia and Russia - had limited power, she had an influence on foreign policy through a network of family and social contacts (every day she wrote several or a dozen letters to other crowned heads, members of their families and friends). It was thanks to her personal commitment that England warmed relations with France, and over time also gained an ally against a united Germany. The Queen was eager to use any scientific news, for example, she was one of the first women in history to use chloroform anesthesia during childbirth.
An interesting fact is that Wiktoria - although she was a powerful ruler herself - denied women the right to pursue politics and believed that their place was with her husband, who should be pampered, and with the children. She did not take a good view of the intellectual abilities of other representatives of her sex, and more than once said that she appreciated the opinion of the stupidest man more than the most educated woman.
The Queen had 9 children, 42 grandchildren and 87 great-grandchildren, for whom she found suitable spouses. Unfortunately, she was a carrier of hemophilia, a disease that prevents blood from clotting normally and leads to internal and external bleeding that can be fatal. Women do not show symptoms of the disease, only men develop it. Most likely the queen's genetic defect was the result of a spontaneous mutation. The son of the ruler, Leopold, suffered from hemophilia. Her daughters Alicja and Beatrycze - like their mother - were carriers. The first of them passed the defective gene to her daughter Alix, who in 1894 married Nicholas II. From this marriage, heir to the throne, Alexios, was born with hemophilia. Concern for her son's health pushed the Empress towards Rasputin who could inexplicably stop the child's bleeding.
Victoria Eugenia, daughter of Beatrice, who married King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and to whom she bore sons suffering from this disease, also turned out to be the carrier of hemophilia. This led to the breakdown of their marriage.
At present, there is probably no royal family in Europe who would not have Victoria's blood flowing through their veins. The descendants of the monarch are Elizabeth II and her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Alice, daughter of Victoria, married Prince Louis of Hesse, and their granddaughter - also Alicja - became the wife of Prince Andrzej of Greece and mother of Philip). King Charles Gustav of Sweden is a descendant of the queen's granddaughter - Margaret, Duchess of Connaught, wife of the Swedish heir to the throne. King Felipe VI of Spain is related to a powerful ruler on both his mother's and father's side (Queen Sophia is the great-great-granddaughter of the German Empress Victoria, the Queen's firstborn daughter, and King Juan Carlos is the grandson of the aforementioned Victoria Eugenia, carrier of hemophilia).