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A note at the front says that the diaries of Mrs Flora Porter were found under the floorboards at Hampton Court during recent building work.
Flora was the same age as Queen Victoria. She was, first of all, her laundry maid, and, later, her wardrobe maid. Her diary is written in a chatty, colloquial style and gives a comprehensive picture of Queen Victoria's reign in all its various aspects.
Firstly Flora goes into detail about the Queen's underclothes and how she has to wash them. Later fashions such as the crinoline and the bustle are described.
Politics are also covered - the coming and going of the various prime ministers, the Crimea, India and the Sudan.
Then of course there is the Queen's private life - the births of her children, one under chloroform, Windsor, Osborne, Balmoral, her mourning for Prince Albert, and of course her friendship with John Brown.
The nineteenth century was a century of great invention, as shown in the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace and Flora never ceases to wonder at all these new devices - the photograph, the sewing machine, the glider, margarine, and motor cars to name but a few. Roller skates must not be forgotten. And it was in the nineteenth century that professional football was first introduced.
This "diary" is written in a modern twentieth century style. There are jokes and it is illustrated throughout with cartoon-type black and white pictures. But, for the most part, it is devoid of the puns, witticisms and deliberate anachronisms of many of the books in this series.
There is a note at the back about the various prime ministers of Queen Victoria's reign.
Deceptively informative.
10+