Queen Victoria was monarch of Great Britain from 1837 until her death in 1901. This period is often called the Victorian Age. Queen Victoria was a stern and serious woman. One reason she was so serious was that she had suffered a  great loss. When she was twenty years old, she married a German prince named Albert. Victoria and Albert were deeply in love, and their marriage was extremely happy. In 1861, after they had been married for twenty-one years, Albert died, leaving Queen Victoria heartbroken. For the rest of her life, the lonely Victoria mourned his loss. It was customary in those days for a widow to dress in black for a short time after the death of her husband. But Queen Victoria dressed in black for forty years. And for forty years, as another sigh of her grief, she wrote her letters white paper edged in black. Even before Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria was known as a very serious woman. She had a strong sense of duty and worked very hard at all her tasks. In her diary she wrote, "I love to be employed; I hate to be idle." She never forgot that she was Britain's queen and always acted with great dignity. Victoria had high ideals and moral standards that sometimes made her seem stuffy. She was also very sure of herself. She always thought that she was right, and she expected everyone to agree with her. Queen Victoria wrote her letters on white paper edged in black because  _
she was a very serious woman. black was her favorite color. that was one way to show her feeling of sadness. it was a custom among monarchs of Great Britain.