The ultimate matriarch, Queen Victoria was born 200 years ago today. With her children marrying into European and Russian royalty, the British Empire she built both colonially and ancestrally was to be dismantled by the First World War and subsequent modern era. The monarch’s impact on global history however, remains seismic. The British throne is still occupied by her direct royal line, now held by her great-great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. Swipe through our gallery here to trace her lineage and explore our extensive royal collections. Beginning with a formidable portrait of Victoria by one of her favoured photography studios, W. & D. Downey, who also took the next portrait of Edward VII, shown here as a vintage cabinet card. From there an early photograph of George V as a child, followed by his son; briefly Edward VIII, he is pictured with Wallis Simpson, the divorcee he abdicated the throne to marry. His brother, King George VI, is shown with the future Queen Elizabeth a...