Victorian's Undone by Catherine Hughes

There is this sort of tension I think throughout Victoria's life between on the one hand her steely sense of you know I am going to be Queen. But then we have to add to that something else which is that Victoria herself is very much aware of the importance of projecting an image. So right from the beginning of her reign in 1837 Victoria tries to put across a view of what her monarchy stands for and what she is all about. That was the image but in fact the reality during these early years of her reign was very different.