A penetrating insight into the heart of the woman that defined an epoch.

Prepare for a revolutionary new look at one of historys giants, the Grandmother of Europe Queen Victoria. Through exclusive access to her personal diaries and letters, this fascinating BBC documentary uncovers the woman behind the infamous icon. Never before or since has a monarch so openly expressed themselves through the written word. For the first time, we hear Queen Victoria in her own words, as she opens a window on everything from the political turbulence of the age to her most intimate feelings. Over two episodes, renowned host A N Wilson, author of the definitive biography Victoria: A Life, takes us through exclusive archives to reveal a fatherless girl longing for emotional and physical closeness, to a passionate wife tormented by consecutive child-births to a widow revelling in new-found freedom With unprecedented access and penetrating insight from leading historians, this is an exhilarating journey to heart of the woman that defined an epoch. PART ONE: CONSTRAINT Examining the first half of Queen Victorias life, we go in search of a monarch too often misunderstood as the solid black-clad matron. We uncover a passionate and romantic woman who spent her years as a child and young Queen fighting the control of domineering men. Whilst much of Queen Victorias writing was destroyed after her death, what survives reveals a woman in stark contrast to her public image. PART TWO: LIBERATION The concluding part of this series shatters the well-known image of Victoria as the weeping widow after the death of her beloved Albert. Through her private writings, we discover a Victoria emerging for the first time from an oppressive marriage to a life of excitement and possibility. We unveil her closest personal relationships in the four decades after Price Alberts death. From the controversial friendship with her highland servant, John Brown, to her most unconventional favouring of her young Indian Servant, Abdul Karim, this is a woman who was anything but Victorian