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
Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ("later Prince Consort") took place on 10 February 1840 at Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, in London. Though queen, as an unmarried young woman Victoria was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Sir John Conroy. Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to meet her. When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's