Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne - On this day in history

On this day, 1837: Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne aged 18, beginning the long reign of 63 years, 7 months and 2 days that we now know as the Victorian era. Luckily for family historians, this was less than 2 weeks before civil registration began in England and Wales, followed by the taking of the first modern census in 1841, which allow us to trace many of our ancestors through Victoria’s reign.

Victoria is our second longest-reigning monarch (surpassed only by her 2x great-granddaughter, HM Queen Elizabeth II) and died on 22 January 1901. She famously went into mourning after her beloved husband Prince Albert’s death in 1861 and was known as the ‘grandmother of Europe’ after their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent.