Queen Victoria 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. Privately, Victoria attempted 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 nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled "His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales" from birth. He was christened "Albert Victor Christian Edward" in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 10 March 1864 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley, but was known informally as "Eddy". His godparents were Queen Victoria (his paternal grandmother), King Christian IX of Denmark (his maternal grandfather, represented by his brother Prince John of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), King Leopold I of Belgium (his great great-uncle), the Dowager Duchess of