'Excellent and deserves to be widely read ... Fluent, accomplished, pleasantly written, lit by flashes of wit.' The Sunday Times

Described by her contemporary Charles Greville as 'the most interesting mind and character in the world', Queen Victoria remains a fascinating, often contradictory figure. Giles St Aubyn's masterly and critically acclaimed biography is above all a study of her personality, focusing on her family life, her relations with Ministers and servants, her tastes, beliefs and character traits, to give a fresh understanding of a remarkable woman and a great monarch.

'Long, thorough and penetrating ... a wise, witty, insightful, detached perspective on the whole period ...as much a triumph of organisation as it is of erudition.' Financial Times

'A meticulously accurate biographer ... those who are already experts on Queen Victoria will still find much in this book to interest them.' The Times

'Passes the three tests all biographies have to meet: it is well-written, scholarly, and it is psychologically penetrating.' Glasgow Herald