On 22 January 1901 Queen Victoria, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, died at the age of 81; she had been on the throne for 62 years. Just 19 when she acceded, she had lived through a period of remarkable change, in which industrialization took hold and Britain consolidated her vast empire. It was an era of discovery and invention, art and debate, reform and religion at the centre of which was an oft beloved, but sometimes unpopular figurehead: Victoria. Accompanied by lavish illustrations, Deborah Jaffe explores the reign of Victoria, looking at the social and political history of the time, interweaving it with the story of Victoria herself: her life, loves and family.