Coronation of Queen Victoria
The coronation of Victoria as Queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, just over a year after she succeeded to the throne of the United Kingdom at the age of 18. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey after a public procession through the streets from Buckingham Palace, to which the Queen returned later as part of a second procession.
Sir George Hayter's coronation portrait of the Queen
An illustration from the children's book Peter Parley's Visit to London, During the Coronation of Queen Victoria (1839)
Part of the procession, from a long "tableau" print, by Robert Tyas, the carriages of the queen's uncles, the royal dukes of Sussex and Cambridge
Another part of the procession, from a long "tableau" print, by Robert Tyas, the Turkish representative
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days—which was longer than those of any of her predecessors—constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.
Portrait by Alexander Bassano, 1882
Victoria as a child with her mother, after William Beechey
Portrait by Stephen Poyntz Denning, 1823
Portrait with her spaniel Dash by George Hayter, 1833