She never said “We are not amused”, and her family maintained that she had an excellent sense of humour.

On the throne for 63 years and 7 months, she ruled longer than any other female monarch in history.

Although she and her husband (and first cousin), Albert, had nine children, she hated being pregnant, viewed breast-feeding with disgust, and thought newborn babies were ugly. She confided:”I positively think that those ladies who are always enceinte are quite disgusting; it is more like a rabbit or a guinea pig than anything else and really it is not very nice.”

Victoria was an accomplished artist and produced many paintings and sketches.

The term “Victorian” has become synonymous with the notion of sexual repression; that, however, was not reflective of Victoria’s attitudes, but those of Albert. According to the Duke of Wellington, Albert was “extremely straitlaced and a great stickler for morality. She was rather the other way.” One wonders exactly what “the other way” meant.