Queen Victoria

Balmoral - Victoria's home in the Scottish Highlands where her family often went for extended stays. The Queen adored Scottish ways and the romantic beauty of the Highlands, and Balmoral reflected her penchant for a more rustic way of living than most previous British monarchs had ever shown.

Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield - Conservative Prime Minister of Britain in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1980. A staunch imperialist and also notably open to democratic reforms in the government, Disraeli was Victoria's favorite prime minister. He pushed through the bill that made her Empress of India in 1876.

Edward, or Albert Edward, Prince of Wales - Born in late 1841, the eldest son of Victoria, and heir to the throne. He was crowned King of Great Britain and Ireland in 1901 upon his mother's death. As a young man he continually disappointed his mother's hopes, dropping out of college and showing little talent or judgment. He lived a fast, cosmopolitan life with gamblers, actresses, and similar people who Victoria disdained greatly.

John Brown - Scottish servant of Victoria's who, in the mid-1860s, also became the Queen's closest friend and confidante. Their relationship sparked many rumors and scandalized many in Britain, though it is unknown whether the relationship was sexual in nature. Brown's death in 1883 affected the Queen deeply, and she mourned him in a manner similar to the way she mourned her late husband, Prince Albert.

Leopold, King of the Belgians - Uncle and father figure of Queen Victoria, brother of Victoire of Saxe- Coburg. Leopold corresponded regularly with his royal niece, who depended upon his wise counsel in matters of state for many years.

Melbourne, William Lamb, Second Viscount - Victoria's first Prime Minister, member of the Whig party. Lord Melbourne was the Queen's most important adviser during her first several years on the throne. He was also her political mentor, teaching her many of the ins and outs of royal government while she was young and inexperienced as a ruler.

Osborne House - Built on the Isle of Wight in 1845, the Queen's favorite retreat home which she called "a place of our own" when writing to Prince Albert. It was modest for a royal residence, reflecting Victoria's taste for simplicity rather than grandeur.

Otto Von Bismarck - Prussian Chancellor and chief architect of the new, united German Empire constituted in 1870. Bismarck was one of the chief figures in European politics in the nineteenth century. Victoria's relations on the whole with Germany, the land of her mother's and husband's birth, were very friendly.

Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Third Viscount  - Foreign Secretary of Britain early in Victoria's reign and Whig Prime Minister in the mid-1850s and early 1860s. He was the chief architect of Victorian foreign policy, as well as a firm moderating influence on the liberal politics of his fellow Whigs in Parliament, before his death in 1865 .

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha - Husband and Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, and father of her nine children. He was German by birth, a cousin of the Queen's, and married her in 1840. Victoria and Albert were devoted to eachother, and Albert was her most important adviser on all matters until his untimely death at the age of forty-two in 1861. He was remembered especially for organizing the Great Exhibition of 1850.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent - Fourth son of King George III of Great Britain and Ireland, father of Queen Victoria. He led a disreputable life before marrying Victoire of Saxe-Coburg in 1818, and died only seven months after the birth of his only daughter, who was destined to be Queen.

Princess Royal Victoria - Born in late 1840, the firstborn of Victoria's nine children, and future bride of the German Emperor Friedrich III. Pretty, intelligent, and talented, she was very close to her mother and she may have been the Queen's favorite child, often outshining her younger brother Edward.

Sir John Conroy - Comptroller of Victoire of Saxe-Coburg's household at the palace of Kensington while the future Queen Victoria was growing up. He was alleged to be a lover of Victoire's, though the rumors were never substantiated. he is most known for attempting to make himself young Victoria's regent, or power behind the scenes, during her teen years, involving the household at Kensington in several feuds with that of King William IV's court. Victoria stood fast against his attempts to influence her, and shook off his power quickly upon succession to the throne.

Victoire of Saxe-Coburg - German princess, widow of Prince Charles Emich of Leiningen, later Duchess of Kent, and mother of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent in 1818, giving birth to Victoria, her third and last child in May 1819. Her relationship with her royal daughter was rocky; after Victoria's accession to the throne, Victoire exercised little if any influence over the young queen.

Victoria - Born April 29, 1819, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to her death in 1901. Named Empress of India in 1876, she came to transform the institution of the British monarchy into its modern form, came to be beloved by her people in the later decades of her reign, and was nicknamed the "Grandmother of Europe," in part because her nine children had married into many European royal families.

William Gladstone - Great Liberal Prime Minister from 1868 to 1874 and again from 1880 to 1885. Very democratic in his politics, he was responsible for the Third Reform Bill and also made many political enemies for supporting Home Rule for Ireland. Victoria disliked him with a passion.