Key Stage 1 history · Significant individuals

KS1 Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria: a guide for parents

Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria are two of the best-known queens in our history. Both reigned for decades, and they lived more than two centuries apart. In Years 1 and 2, children learn some key facts about each queen and use them to compare life in two different periods. Schools choose which significant people to study, and this pairing is one of the curriculum’s suggestions.

Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, explained

The National Curriculum asks schools to teach about the lives of significant individuals who contributed to national and international achievements, and says that some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods. It gives Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria as one possible pairing, along with others such as Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. Not every school picks this one, but it is popular because both women reigned for a very long time and left plenty of evidence behind.

Elizabeth I was born in 1533 and became queen of England in 1558. She reigned until she died in 1603, a total of 44 years, in the period called Tudor times. Her reign is remembered for the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, when Spain sent a large fleet of ships to attack England, for explorers such as Francis Drake, and for the playwright William Shakespeare, whose plays were performed in London in her time. She never married and was known as the Virgin Queen. We know what she looked like from paintings, which were carefully arranged to make her look powerful. There were no photographs, no electricity and no trains, and most people lived in villages and worked on the land.

Victoria was born in 1819 and became queen in 1837 at the age of 18. She was queen of the United Kingdom, which by then included Scotland and Ireland as well as England and Wales, and she reigned for 63 years, until she died in January 1901. The period is called the Victorian age. She married Prince Albert and they had nine children. Her reign saw steam railways, factories, big new cities, the first postage stamps and photographs of the monarch. Victoria was queen at a time when Parliament had far more of a say in running the country than in Tudor times, so her role was different from Elizabeth’s. School became compulsory for children in the 1880s, so many children’s lives changed during her reign.

The comparison is the real point. Children are asked to put both queens on a timeline, work out which came first and notice how far apart they are: Victoria became queen more than 230 years after Elizabeth I died. Then they pick an aspect, such as transport, houses, clothing, schools or how we know about them, and say what is the same and what is different. Both were queens for a long time, both lived in palaces and both appeared in portraits. But the way people travelled, communicated and made things was very different.

Words your child will hear

Monarch: A king or queen who is the head of a country, usually for life.
Reign: The time when a monarch rules. Elizabeth I’s reign was 1558 to 1603.
Tudor: The period of English history when members of the Tudor family were monarchs, including Elizabeth I.
Victorian: Belonging to the time when Queen Victoria was on the throne, from 1837 to 1901.
Portrait: A painting, drawing or photograph of a person.
Compare: To look at two things and say how they are the same and different.
Era: A long period of history, such as the Tudor era or the Victorian era.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 1 says:

Pupils should be taught about the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements, some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods
Pupils should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
Pupils should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: comparing two queens

How was life different in the time of Elizabeth I and in the time of Queen Victoria?

Put them on a timeline. Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. Victoria came more than 230 years after Elizabeth, and both are long before today.
Choose one aspect: travel. In Elizabeth’s time people walked, rode horses or travelled by boat. In Victoria’s time steam trains carried people across the country, and steamships crossed the sea.
Choose another aspect: how we know what they looked like. For Elizabeth we have paintings. For Victoria we have paintings and photographs, because photography was invented during her lifetime.
Find a similarity. Both were queens for many years, both lived in palaces, and both had people who were loyal to them.
Write the comparison in full sentences using “but” and “because”, and make sure it says which queen came first.

Elizabeth I was queen first, in Tudor times, and Queen Victoria came more than 230 years later. In Elizabeth’s time people travelled on foot, by horse or by boat, but in Victoria’s time they could travel by steam train. We know what Elizabeth looked like from paintings, but we have photographs of Victoria because cameras had been invented. Both were queens for a very long time.

Common mistakes and how to help

Mixing up Elizabeth I with Queen Elizabeth II, or thinking the two queens were alive together

They share a name, and “the Queen” in the news for most of a child’s family memory was Elizabeth II. Children also assume that old queens belong in one big old time.

What helps: Elizabeth II reigned from 1952 until 2022, so many grandparents and great-grandparents remember her reign. Elizabeth I lived over 400 years ago. Put the three queens on a timeline with big gaps between them.

Thinking that Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, was king

Children assume the husband of a queen must be a king.

What helps: Victoria became queen because she inherited the throne, and Albert was a prince, her husband and adviser, not king. Ask your child what they think a queen’s husband should be called.

Believing that paintings show exactly what the monarch looked like

A portrait looks like a picture of the real person, but artists were often told to make the queen look strong and impressive.

What helps: Compare a portrait of Elizabeth I with a photograph of Victoria. Ask which is more likely to show the real face, and why a queen might want a painting to flatter her.

Thinking life was the same for everyone, queen and child alike

The stories we tell are mostly about kings and queens, so children assume everyone lived in palaces or that all the other people were poor.

What helps: Ask what life would have been like for a child of your age in each time. Many children in Tudor times did not go to school, while Victorian children were required to go from the 1880s.

How to help at home

Spot the monarch on coins and stamps. Look at the coins in your purse. Many show Elizabeth II and newer ones show King Charles III. Ask which way each head faces, and who might have been on coins 100 or 400 years ago.
Build a two-queen timeline. Draw a long line on paper, mark 1558 to 1603 and 1837 to 1901, and add today. Ask your child to put themselves, a grandparent and each queen on it, and notice the gaps.
Compare a painting with a photograph. Find a portrait of Elizabeth I and a photograph of Victoria in a library book. Ask what clues tell you how each was made, and what each can and can’t tell us.
Interview a queen. Take turns playing a queen. Ask each other questions such as “How do you travel?”, “What do you eat?” and “How do you send a message?”, answering as people did in that time.