The queen of a vast empire comparable only to ancient Rome, the grandmother of all Europe, the ruler under whom the industrial revolution took place, was a sensual woman who loved handsome men, military men in uniform, Scots in kilts and Indians in turbans. The best dancer in the kingdom, she adored balls that ended only at dawn, she diluted her tea with whiskey and learned Italian in bel canto lessons. She preferred her servants, simple and kind, to high-born lords. The people called her the “Republican Queen.” Having fallen in love with the flowers and bright colors of the Mediterranean, she made holidays on the Cote d'Azur fashionable A passionate nature, she loved her Albert almost madly and, widowed at forty-two, until her death she blindly followed the Lutheran principles of her German prince. This biographical narrative tells without any embellishment about the ardent and frantic Victoria.

Translation was carried out according to the publication: Alexandre F., de L'Aulnoi BLa Derniere Reine. Victoria 1819—1901.Paris: Robert Laffont, 2000