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Lead book review

‘Enough to kill any man’: the trials of serving Queen Victoria

Of all the Queen’s prime ministers, Gladstone suffered the most from her wilfulness, but while he opposed her policies he did much to popularise her monarchy

23 March 2024

9:00 AM

23 March 2024

9:00 AM

Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers Anne Somerset

William Collins, pp.576, 30

Monarchy was as characteristic of the 19th century as nationalism and revolution. The Almanach de Gotha was a better guide to power than the Communist Manifesto. Constitutional monarchy, in particular, was considered the panacea of the age. On the first morning of her reign, Queen Victoria announced: ‘I have promised to respect and love the constitution of my native country.’

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