Queen Victoria's Men
Opinion
We asked a number of the guest presenters in the 'Queen Victoria's Men' programme for their thoughts on Queen Victoria. This is what they told us…
Juliet Gardiner
When she died aged 81 in 1901, Victoria had been queen for 64 years, the longest reign – so far – in British history. To most people, the tea-cosy shaped old woman, dressed entirely in black, was the face of the age. Even today the image of Queen Victoria still shapes our conceptions – and misconceptions – of those decades.
It was during her reign that the role of a constitutional monarch was settled, the vast bulk of the British Empire was acquired, and Britain still enjoyed its prosperous status as the 'workshop of the world'. It's easy therefore to forget Victoria as a young girl, as a woman in a male world, both devoted to her national duty and a fierce politician, but also a passionate wife and a mother of nine children. She also experienced a lack intimacy in her early life and as a result sought male guidance, support, protection and flattery for the rest of her long life.
Victoria was the embodiment of Victorian values in public, but privately she defied conventions in consorting with whom she liked, how she liked.
When she died aged 81 in 1901, Victoria had been queen for 64 years, the longest reign – so far – in British history. To most people, the tea-cosy shaped old woman, dressed entirely in black, was the face of the age. Even today the image of Queen Victoria still shapes our conceptions – and misconceptions – of those decades.
It was during her reign that the role of a constitutional monarch was settled, the vast bulk of the British Empire was acquired, and Britain still enjoyed its prosperous status as the 'workshop of the world'. It's easy therefore to forget Victoria as a young girl, as a woman in a male world, both devoted to her national duty and a fierce politician, but also a passionate wife and a mother of nine children. She also experienced a lack intimacy in her early life and as a result sought male guidance, support, protection and flattery for the rest of her long life.
Victoria was the embodiment of Victorian values in public, but privately she defied conventions in consorting with whom she liked, how she liked.
About
Juliet Gardiner is a historian and author. She was editor of History Today and has been an academic, publisher and is now a full time writer whose books include biographies of Queen Victoria, Oscar Wilde and the Brontës, the Penguin Dictionary of British History, The 1940s House, Wartime: Britain 1939–1945, and The Children's War. She is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television, and was the historical advisor to the film of Atonement. She is currently writing a 'biography' of the 1930s to be published in 2009.
Juliet Gardiner is a historian and author. She was editor of History Today and has been an academic, publisher and is now a full time writer whose books include biographies of Queen Victoria, Oscar Wilde and the Brontës, the Penguin Dictionary of British History, The 1940s House, Wartime: Britain 1939–1945, and The Children's War. She is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television, and was the historical advisor to the film of Atonement. She is currently writing a 'biography' of the 1930s to be published in 2009.
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