La reine Victoria intime Ouvrage illustré de 60 gravures d'après des photographies et des documents inédits

Born in the spring of 1819 within the austere walls of Kensington Palace, Victoria entered a world already bristling with political calculation. Her father, the Duke of Kent, a liberal‑minded but unpopular figure at court, had deliberately returned from Germany to secure an English birthplace for his heir, hoping the throne might one day pass to his daughter. The young princess was christened amid lavish ceremony, her name negotiated between “Elizabeth” and “Alexandrina,” before finally settling on the dual honor of Victoria Alexandrina—a compromise that already hinted at the tug‑of‑war between family pride and royal propriety.

From the moment she could walk, Victoria’s days were a blend of strict schooling and carefully staged courtly performances. She spent her early childhood at Claremont, where her mother, the Duchess of Kent, imposed a rigorous regimen to forge a robust constitution, while her father’s extravagant debts haunted the family’s finances. Even as a child, Victoria developed the habit of rising before dawn, a small rebellion that would later become a hallmark of her disciplined reign.