An expansive biography of Britain’s greatest monarch reveals a passionate and humorous woman beneath the stiff exterior
Queen Victoria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1842 Photo: Bridgeman
As Hamlet is to actors, Victoria is to writers. The Queen Empress is the ultimate biographical challenge, a role to be taken on only at the apex of a literary career. Ninety-five years ago, the standard was set by Lytton Strachey’s lucid and moving Queen Victoria, but A N Wilson has now raised the bar.
Everything about Victoria, apart from her height (4ft 11in), is vast. In addition to her nine children, 42 grandchildren, and the phenomenal influence, at home and abroad, of her power and personality, there is her correspondence to consider, which amounts to around 60 million words. When Disraeli used the phrase, “We authors ma’am,” he was not just currying favour; Victoria, argues Wilson, was an author and Victoria: a Life might well be called a literary biography. Wilson, who quotes generously from the royal archives, hears the queen’s unadorned and nerve-rackingly unpredictable voice, and responds in kind. She was frequently amused and he is frequently amusing. “What a pity she never met Proust!” he exclaims on page 544. And what a pity she never met A N Wilson: she shines in his company.
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