Because her uncle, William IV, didn�t have any legitimate children, Victoria became heir to the British throne in 1830 when her Uncle became King. Before Victoria was queen, she was highly protected and guarded because her mom and others were afraid that some person might try to kill her for the reason that she would become the next Queen. Victoria became queen when she was 18 years old; and the first thing she did after her coronation was to remove her bed from her mother�s room. She was Queen of Great Britain for 64 years. Her reign was the longest of any monarch in British history, and it came to be known as the Victorian Era. She ruled from 1837 to 1901. But Victoria was not only the queen of Great Britain; she was also the queen of the growing British Empire, which included Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, and big parts of Africa. Because of the reform act of 1832, the power rested upon the House of Commons and the House of Lords, not the Monarchy. Queen Victoria worked with Lord Melbourne. She couldn't make any decisions without his approval first.
In 1840, Victoria married Prince Albert, who was German. Because she married Albert, now he had power, not Melbourne. Most of Albert�s new countrymen respected him, although he was not loved. Some disrespected him because he was a foreigner; his German accent didn�t help. Queen Victoria bore him nine children. When he died at the age of 42, Victoria wept for 25 or 10 years (I�m uncertain). During these years, she did not make any public appearances until the celebration of the golden jubilee in 1887, which was the celebration of her 15th year on the throne. Queen Victoria�s main role as queen was informing new members of the government what was going on and where the old government people left off.
Her favorite pets were Collies and she owned domesticated ferrets. Queen Victoria was nicknamed Grandmother of Europe when all her Children started having kids.
During the Victorian Era, legislation passed quite a few Acts. Some of them include the mines act (1842), Education act (1870), Public health and Artisan�s dwelling acts (1875), and the Reform Acts (1867 and 1884). The following is a list of some of the things these acts stated or made:
*No female was to be employed underground
* No boy under the age of 10 was to be employed underground
* Women between the ages of 10-18, who were already working at the mines before this act was passed, could continue to work there
Education act of 1870:
* Each country was to be divided into about 2,500 school districts
* School boards were to be elected by ratepayers in each district
Public Health act of 1875:
* Made much clearer laws and regulations for health matters
* Street lighting
* Lodging houses
* Water supply
* Sewage
* Provision of pure food
* Public parks
* New rules for housing
* Public toilets
Artisan�s Dwelling act of 1875:
* House owners were responsible for keeping their house in good order
* Local authorities had the right to buy and demolish slum houses if they were not improved
Reform act of 1867:
* Added just short under a million voters; many of them were working men
Reform act of 1884:
* Tripled the electorate, giving the vote to most agricultural laborers
During Victoria�s reign, the British Empire doubled in size!