1837    Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.

1838    Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom.

1840    Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1851    Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.

1856    Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.

1857    Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.

1858    The ''Wedding March'' by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.

1858    U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.

1861    American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.

1867    Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.

1877    Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.

1894    The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.

1896    Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.

1900    Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.

1901    Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

1901    Funeral of Queen Victoria.