Contents
Victoria 10
Timeline Milestones in Victoria’s life
14
Early Years Young Victoria’s Struggle to the Throne
14
Abused, isolated, threatened: Victoria’s hard route to royal power
28
The Coronation The Big Spectacle
The momentous day Victoria became queen
32
Love & Marriage Victoria’s Beloved Albert
32
How a German prince reinvented the British monarchy
54
Family Life Victoria’s Dysfunctional Dynasty How Victoria’s ‘ideal’ family was anything but
68
Relationships Four Friendships that Shaped Victoria
54
The men who won over the frosty monarch
76
Across the Globe The Warrior Queen
Victoria’s connection to the bloody wars that expanded her empire
5
Royal Family Tree
8
Introduction: Women of Power
48
Photo Album: Glorious Palaces
94
The parallels between Britain’s two ‘Diamond Queens’
Spectacular royal residences that have been close to both queens’ hearts
Looking Forward: The Next Windsors
How a new generation of royals will keep the monarchy relevant in the 21st century
48
Elizabeth
Timeline The Queen’s key moments
Early Years Elizabeth: Life Before the Throne
20
The Coronation A Groundbreaking Royal Broadcast
30
40
Love & Marriage Prince Philip: A Life of Duty
The challenging role of Elizabeth’s consort and husband
62
Family Life Duty vs Family
The personal cost of Queen Elizabeth’s dedication to her royal role
Relationships Elizabeth and Churchill
72
82
Across the Globe Elizabeth Around the World
The globe-trotting reign of the well-travelled monarch
Royal Fashion Dressing to Impress
88
20
How the world watched as Elizabeth took the throne
GETTY IMAGES/ALAMY
88
48
12
The early years of a princess who never expected to be queen
40
EIIR
How the Queen forged an unlikely bond with her first prime minister
82
Regal style from Elizabeth, Margaret and Diana to the present day
94
Early Years EIIR
TheYoung Elizabeth before she was
From her unconventional education and involvement in the war effort, to the crisis that brought her to the throne, we trace the early life of Elizabeth – a princess who never expected to be queen BY KATE WILLIAMS
35
GETTY IMAGES
Life Queen
1946: BEFORE THE CROWN
The 20-year-old Princess Elizabeth working at her desk in Buckingham Palace, five years before her father’s death made her queen
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Love & Marriage
Victoria’s
Disliked by the public, but passionately adored by Victoria – who never recovered from his early death – we trace how a minor German prince came to revolutionise the British monarchy BY ELLIE CAWTHORNE
37
1842: VICTORIAN VISIONARY For 21 years, the queen’s husband Albert worked tirelessly on a number of ambitious projects
BRIDGEMAN–ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST © HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 2018
Beloved Albert
 38
Photo Album Glorious Palaces
EIIR
Glorious Palaces
From historic castles and lavish mansions to idyllic rural sanctuaries, we tour the royal homes that held a special place in Victoria and Elizabeth’s hearts BY VICTORIA ARBITER
39
GETTY IMAGES
VICTORIA AND ELIZABETH’S ROYAL RESIDENCES
BALMORAL CASTLE
The 50,000-acre Balmoral estate in Scotland has been a beloved family retreat for generations of British royals ever since it was privately purchased by Prince Albert in 1852. The family, however, deemed the original house too small and commissioned a new design.
The castle as it exists today was completed in 1856. After Albert’s untimely death, Victoria often shut herself away at Balmoral, where she befriended the Scottish servant John Brown, who became one of her closest confidants. Today, Queen Elizabeth and her family spend their annual summer holiday at the estate.
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Family Life
Victoria and Albert presented the world with an image of a perfect royal family living in domestic bliss. But, to the queen’s bitter disappointment, the reality was a different story BY DENYS BLAKEWAY
ALAMY
Victoria’s Dysfunctional Dynasty
1846: DOMESTIC BLISS?
Victoria and Albert surrounded by their growing brood. While the royals may look the embodiment of a respectable and harmonious family, behind closed doors they were anything but
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A
t the time of the Queen’s accession on 6 February 1952, postwar Britain was a largely white, Christian country at the centre of a crumbling empire. Men dominated politics and industry, while the majority of women remained at home to raise their children. Since then, social changes in the country have been enormous. Today, the Queen rules over a culturally diverse nation where women are often the primary breadwinners, and multiple faiths live side by side. Over the course of her record-breaking reign, she has witnessed one of the most progressive and enlightened times in British history, but, much like her predecessor Victoria, she has also had to adapt and evolve in order to maintain the monarchy’s relevance in changing times.
Moving forward
A stickler for tradition and protocol, the Queen has at times found it difficult to bend – a prime example being the issue of whether or not to fly the Union Flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace during the week following Diana’s death in 1997. However, overall she has recognised the changing needs of the nation and, in many ways, she has been
unafraid to do away with unpopular outdated practices in order to help keep the monarchy up to date. In 1958 she put an end to the presentation of the debutantes at Buckingham Palace, which historically marked the start of the aristocratic social season. In doing so she paved the way for less formal events to take place and allowed a broader cross-section of society to visit the palace. She made meeting and greeting as many people as possible on ‘walkabouts’ the norm, recognising that, as she herself said: “I have to be seen to be believed.” She also opened Buckingham Palace to the paying public for a few months of the year and oversaw changes in the laws to succession (which allowed first-born daughters to take precedence over younger-born brothers) and permitted future heirs to marry Roman Catholics (even though they themselves may not convert to Catholicism). During
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Looking Forward The Next Windsors
2016: THREE KINGS The Queen with her family, including heirs Charles, William and George
2017: MODERN ROMANCE
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are keen to keep the royals’ image up to date
2005: NEXT IN LINE
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will be the next heads of the family
44
Elizabeth &Victoria Two queens who changed the world
Delve into the fascinating real history behind the smash hit royal dramas The Crown and Victoria, and discover more about Britain’s two greatest queens—Victoria and Elizabeth II—in this lavish new collector’s edition. Read about… ●
Their dramatic real-life romances
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The struggle of duty vs family
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Ancient castles and royal retreats
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ictoria and Elizabeth’s influence V on the world ow Kate Middleton and H Meghan Markle will shape the future of the royal family
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100 pages, full color, highly illustrated
Victoria and Elizabeth’s early lives and difficult paths to the throne
Queen Victoria’s passionate marriage and dysfunctional family
The secrets of Elizabeth’s long reign and the future of the royal family
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