Regarded as one of the most famous of British royalty, Queen Victoria ruled Britain during the heydays of the British Empire when the sun never set. Alexandrina Victoria Saxe-Coburg Hanover was born on 24th May 1819 and became Queen at the age of 18 upon the demise of her uncle William IV.

Fact 1.  Queen Victoria became Empress of India after the government of India was passed from the East India Company to the Crown in 1857.

Fact  2.Queen Victoria is the longest ruling British monarch having ruled Britain from 1837 to 1901.

Fact 3. Queen Victoria proclaimed Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada but she herself personally never visited Canada.

Fact 4. We are not amused’ is an oft quoted phrase associated with Queen Victoria. Another quote akin to ‘˜failure is not an option’ was the famous phrase quoted by Queen Victoria ‘We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.’

Fact 5.  Queen Victoria did not favourably view women’s right. Although a woman herself, she showed considerable disdain for women’s  rights movements.  She was of the opinion that God created men and women differently and it should remain as such.

Fact 6.  Queen Victoria spoke and understood Hindustani and Urdu well, a task she took upon herself seriously upon becoming the Empress of India.

Fact 7. The Victorian Era, an era defined by high moral standards aligned towards prudishness and conservatism in Great Britain was also the period when there were vast changes within the British economic landscape with the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the British Empire.

Fact 8.  Queen Victoria proposed to Prince Albert in accordance with British royal protocol.

Fact 9. The white wedding dress was a fashion sense popularised by Queen Victoria and it became de rigueur for Christian weddings.

Fact 10.  The resolute desk in the Oval Office used by US presidents is a gift from Queen Victoria.