Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Victorian age is something that gets a lot of attention when studying History as a subject. As a Monarch, Victoria ruled over a quarter of the globe at the beginning of the British Empire and commanded respect from Prime Ministers, the public and indeed her husband Prince Albert at all times.

However, there was a part of her life that didn’t seem to be in control, her relationship with her children, especially after the death of her Consort, which was fractious at best and as her children got older the more it seems they couldn’t wait to rebel against her and carve out lives for themselves. Such was the intriguing premise behind the B.B.C.’s three part series Victoria’s Children.

With contributions and beguiling insights spread over the three programmes from historians and authors such as Miranda Carter, Professor Kathryn Hughes, Doctor Matthew Sweet, Doctor Karina Urbach and Helen Rappaport, the history of Queen Victoria’s troublesome relationship with her children was finely discussed and intriguing.

As a young woman she was passionate, full of life and came to the throne at a very young age. Her life was wrapped in keeping the Monarchy embedded within British life and also in the one person she admired and loved beyond all others, that of her husband Prince Albert.

In a psychological assessment of the woman, she certainly gets a short shrift from some of the academics and authors during the three hour programme, in some parts it could be seen that the way she treated her children, especially that of her daughters, was verging on mind games and outward cruelty, always showing that nobody could be loved, or indeed needed love as much as she required. It was enough to drive wedges in her family that would be deep and long lasting.

This woman who it seems could hold a grudge for years, prone to spells of unreasoned thought and supremely difficult to get along with if you didn’t follow her, often deluded, rules of conduct, is more of an enigma and frighteningly fascinating Monarch now that she has been dead over a 100 years.  For many growing up and learning about the Victorian age at school, she may have seemed aloof and unfeeling thanks to the early photographers of the day capturing her sombre life, but beneath that lay a lady of extreme passion, even if it was sometimes misplaced.

A well made three part documentary by the B.B.C. which was perceptive and educational.

Ian D. Hall