I do not care for the name Alexandria. Now that I am Queen, I have decided I shall call myself by my middle name, Victoria. It is my own.
In June 1837, the eighteen-year-old Victoria wakes up to find that she is Queen of the most powerful nation in the world. But will she be Queen in her own right, or a puppet controlled by her mother and the sinister Sir John Conroy? Can this tiny girl prevail against the men like her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, who believe that women are too hysterical to rule?
Everyone wants her to get married, but Victoria had no intention of entering into a marriage of convenience with her cousin Albert. She would much rather reign alone with a little help from her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. He may be old enough to be her father but he is the only man who believes that she will be a great Queen, and he knows how to make her laugh. A husband would only get in the way.
‘Goodwin demonstrates her admirable ability to fuse wide-ranging knowledge of the period with lively storytelling skills’ The Sunday Times
