Queen Victoria

Paula Bartley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780415720915
• eBook ISBN: 9781317281979
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Paula Bartley's Queen Victoria examines Victorian Britain from the perspective of the Queen. Victoria's personal and political actions are discussed in relation to contemporary shifts in Britain's society, politics and culture, examining to what extent they did – or did not – influence events throughout her reign.

Drawing from contemporary sources, including Queen Victoria's own diaries, as well as the most recent scholarship, the book contextualises Victoria historically by placing her in the centre of an unparalleled period of innovation and reform, in which the social and political landscape of Britain, and its growing empire, was transformed. Balancing Victoria's private and public roles, it will examine the cultural paradox of the Queen's rule in relation to the changing role of women: she was a devoted wife, prolific mother and obsessive widow, who was also Queen of a large Empire and Empress of India.

Marrying cultural history, gender history and other histories 'from below' with high politics, war and diplomacy, this is a concise and accessible introduction to Queen Victoria's life for students of Victorian Britain and the British Empire.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Chronology
• Introduction
• 1 Becoming Victoria: 1819–1837
• 2 The young queen: 1837–1840
• 3 Leisure, love and family: 1837–1844
• 4 Revolutionary times: 1840–1851
• 5 Victoria and motherhood: 1842–1861
• 6 Queen Victoria, Palmerston and political interference: 1850–1860
• 7 Life after Albert: 1861–1868
• 8 Victoria, Gladstone and Disraeli: 1868–1880
• 9 Trading places – Victoria, Gladstone and Salisbury: 1880–1892
• 10 The last years: 1892–1901
• Conclusion
• Select bibliography
• Index