Monarch and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. Her more than sixty-three years on the throne remains unmatched in the history of Great Britain and places her among the longest-reigning monarchs of any nation in modern times. The unprecedented growth and prosperity of the British Empire under her rule—as well as a strangely prescient public fascination with the queen and her family—made her one of the most celebrated public figures of her day, and her name would become synonymous with an entire age. ALS signed “VR,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, Buckingham Palace mourning letterhead, March 5, 1869. Victoria writes to Lady De LaWare. In part: “I little thought when I wrote to you a very short while ago, that I should have to express to you my deepest, warmest & most heartfelt sympathy on a … severe blow … [and] loss—that of your beloved partner in life!… I cannot express adequately my sense of your sorrow—your irreparable loss!… May God support & comfort you as He alone can & may the blessed thought of his happiness & of the future reunion where there are now tears or partings sustain you!” Faint marginal paperclip stain to one page and slight offsetting of printed heading touching a few words of text, otherwise fine, bright condition. R&R COA.
