Queen Victoria and the royal family in 1897. A family tree of portraits commemorating Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Victoria (May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Her reign is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, the fourth son of King George III. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". She died in 1901 at the age of 81. With a reign of 63 years, seven months and two days, Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II surpassed her on September 9, 2015.