How will these resources help you?

Like Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria was a Queen regnant – and a woman. Victoria is one of the most studied women in history – over 500 books have been written about her – yet most of the literature has centred on Victoria’s personal life. This has meant that the Queen’s determined attempts to influence domestic and foreign policy have received less attention. Victoria was the first Queen in Britain to be a monarch, a wife and mother. As a woman, she had to be above moral reproach. Queen Victoria may have enjoyed less constitutional power than her predecessors but her influence was pervasive and far-reaching. Victoria used her femininity in judicious ways, playing on the chivalry of her ministers. In foreign affairs, she rarely distinguished between the interests of her large family and those of her country. After the death of her husband Albert, Victoria became a recluse, refusing to engage in public ceremonial events. Nonetheless, she regularly tested her constitutional power and constantly intervened in government business, often playing on her widow’s grief to get her own way.