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Lead book review

Queen Victoria was born to be a novelist — this book proves it

The Adventures of Alice Laselles reveals much about the future queen — including her dearest childhood wish to have a room of her own

6 June 2015

9:00 AM

6 June 2015

9:00 AM

The Adventures of Alice Laselles Alexandrina Victoria, aged 103/4

Royal Collection Trust, pp.64, £14.95, ISBN: 9781909741188

Few monarchs could become novelists. They wouldn’t be able to develop the practice, or possess the necessary temperament. No monarch could sit in the corner of a room observing, or walk the streets unnoticed. They don’t have much of a chance of a long morning working quietly, without interruption, or of seeing what ordinary people are like at their most natural and unselfconscious.

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