Lucy Worsley described the elderly Queen Victoria as a black-clad potato and wonders why she became fascinated with the stodgy icon. Worsley takes 24 days (or, rather, 24 events surrounding specific days) in Victoria's life to flesh out a woman who's often portrayed as a caricature or, conversely, a flat character. Victoria wasn't particularly deep and her upbringing in The System (although not quite as harsh as previously believed) didn't prepare her particularly well to rule a country or lead any semblance of a normal life yet she led Great Britain for 63 years and created the idea of a Royal Family.
Although not academic or (probably) particularly intelligent, Victoria was quite media savvy. She knew that her predecessors messy personal lives as well as the revolutionary tendencies of the 19th Century had put her position at risk. Her wedding was a spectacularly successful PR event and the uniform of her widowhood made her a recognizable symbol around whom the country could rally. The deep domesticity she and Albert projected both created and followed the evolving fashion of the rising middle class (although I found myself angry at Albert for using Victoria's repeated pregnancy confinements and ensuing bouts of post-natal depression to make himself more important to the running of the country). The most interesting chapters, though, involved her meetings with individuals. She admired Florence Nightengale who in turn was disappointed by the rather passive monarch, and Worsley devotes a chapter each to John Brown and Abdul Karim. The day that will stay with me, though, is 21-24 August, 1854, which chronicles the visit of the deposed 15-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh. A boy himself, he's treated as a bit of a pet to the Queen and shown the Koh-i-Noor diamond, once his and now cut and polished to European tastes.
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