QUEEN VICTORIA

Location: Queen Victoria Building Plaza, Sydney
Artist: John Hughes

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) 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 was longer than that of any previous British Monarch and is known as 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.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe- Coburg- Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe” and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. Victoria died aged 81 in 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wright. The last British Monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

“The important thing is not what they think of me but what I think of them” – Queen Victoria.

Standing 3 meters high, this bronze statue depicts Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 1819-1901) seated on a sandstone throne, atop a tall triangular sandstone pedestal. Sculptor John Hughes (1865-1941), was born in Dublin where the statue was originally located. The statue was installed outside the front of the Queen Victoria Building during restorations in the 1980s.

She is seated in a low chair rather than an elaborate throne, allowing the artist to contain the figure within a sphere rather than as a towering pillar. Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death. The statue provides a focal point for the Queen Victoria Square and also serves as a meeting place.