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
Statue of Queen Victoria, Bangalore Prince of Wales, George Frederick Ernest Albert (who later became King George V), unveiled the Statue of Queen Victoria, Bangalore Civil and Military Station, on 5 February 1906. In his speech, the Prince of Wales thanked the people of the Bangalore Civil and Military Station (who were British subjects), the Maharaja of Mysore and his native subjects, for helping raise the memorial statue (p. 75). The Prince of Wales during his travel in British India, and before Bangalore, already unveiled statues of the late Queen at Calcutta, Rangoon and also the Victoria Technical Institute at Madras. From Bangalore, the Prince