Queen Victoria dies at Osborne

January 22, 1901

After sixty-three years on the throne, the small widow in black finally closed her eyes at her island retreat on the Isle of Wight, surrounded by children and grandchildren who sat on the thrones of Europe. An age ended with her. The empire she left stretched across a quarter of the globe and seemed eternal. Her great-grandchildren would preside over its dismantling within fifty years.