In this unforgettable novel of Queen Victoria, Jean Plaidy re-creates a remarkable life filled with romance, triumph, and tragedy.At birth, Princess Victoria was fourth in line for the throne of England, the often-overlooked daughter of a prince who died shortly after her birth. She and her mother lived in genteel poverty for most of her childhood, exiled from court because of her mothers dislike of her uncles, George IV and William IV. A strong, willful child, Victoria was determined not to be stifled by her powerful uncles or her unpopular, controlling mother. Then one morning, at the age of eighteen, Princess Victoria awoke to the news of her uncle Williams death. The almost-forgotten princess was now Queen of England. Even better, she was finally free of her mothers iron hand and her uncles manipulations. Her first act as queen was to demand that she be given a roomand a bedof her own.Victorias marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, was a blissfully happy one that produced nine children. Albert was her constant companion and one of her most trusted advisors. Victorias grief after Prince Alberts untimely death was so shattering that for the rest of her lifenearly forty yearsshe dressed only in black. She survived several assassination attempts, and during her reign Englands empire expanded around the globe until it touched every continent in the world.Derided as a mere girl queen at her coronation, by the end of her sixty-four-year reign, Victoria embodied the glory of the British Empire. In this novel, written as a memoir by Victoria herself, she emerges as truthful, sentimental, and essentially humanboth a lovable woman and a great queen.