Sarah Kante

Image © M.W. Ridley illustration, Public domain.

Queen Victoria was born in 1819 in London and died in 1901.

She was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1837 to 1901) and Empress of India (from 1876 to 1901). Queen Victoria's reign was the longest as serving monarch until 2017, when Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee, which means Queen Elizabeth II spent 65 years on the throne.

Queen Victoria's reign gave her name to a time period, the Victorian Age. Victoria was the last monarch of the House of Hanover. She married Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the couple went on to have nine children. When Albert died, she went into mourning and wore black until the end of her days.

The Queen acceded to the throne at 18, in 1837, when her uncle, William IV died. Queen Victoria's reign lasted 63 years. William IV reigned for seven years.

Queen Victoria has the unusual nickname of “Grandmother of Europe.” Her descendants went on to marry within many different European Royal families, making them all somehow related.  

Queen Victoria died on the Isle of Wight, England, in 1901 and her eldest son, Albert, succeeded her on the throne.

Photo by Liliya Grek on Unsplash.

As part of the KS2 History curriculum, children explore British History, from the Stone Age to the struggle for power between the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons.

The Vikings were a people from the South of Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) who raided and traded all over Europe from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries.

In Britain, the first invasion was in AD 793 and the last in 1066. The Battle of Hastings put a stop to Vikings’ raids, but the Vikings had won! The Normans (Norsemen) conquered the British Isles in 1066. Coming from Normandy in Northern France, the Normans were descended from the Scandinavian Vikings and changed Britain forever.

Image © pxfuel.

Constructed by the Romans, Hadrian’s Wall is a stone structure in the north of England.

The Romans annexed what is now England and Wales in AD 43. The British tribes were quickly conquered, but going any further north was going to be an issue.

When the Romans tried to invade Caledonia (Scotland), the Pictish tribes held their own and whilst they were defeated in many battles, they won the war. When emperor Hadrian came to Britain in AD 122, he ordered the construction of a wall, Hadrian’s Wall, to keep the Scots out.

The Roman Empire invaded most of Western Europe (France, Greece, Spain, Germany...) as well as the Middle East and North Africa.

As part of the KS2 History curriculum, the Romans are a great subject to get stuck in. Looking at facts about Hadrian's Wall will help your kids learn about the fascinating history of Roman Britain and the great construction of the Empire.

Londinium (modern day London) was the capital of the British part of the Empire, and there is still a lot of Roman history to be discovered all over Britain.

Image © Paolo Ghedini from Needpix.

The Vikings are included in the KS2 history curriculum and are a fascinating topic for children.

Invading the British Isles between the late 8th and the late 11th centuries, the Vikings were a Scandinavian people who raided and traded their ways through Europe. In Britain, the Vikings clashed with the Anglo-Saxons and won through their descendants, the Normans, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Life in the Viking age was not easy, with everything being made by hand and the entire family working to make a living.

Farmers tended their crops and livestocks, traders travelled all over the world to bring back goods to sell and barter with, explorers went as far away from home as their boats allowed and craft people created beautiful and useful wares for the entire community.

To help your kids understand Viking life, why not have a look at the main jobs they did and what their settlements were like?