Killing Victoria

A gripping historical true crime narrative of the seven assassination attempts on Queen Victoria and their aftermath, from history professor and 19th-century expert Dr Bob Nicholson. The sound of the gunshot thundered out over Constitution Hill. Suddenly the air was filled with powder smoke and cries of confusion... History tends to look back on Queen Victoria’s 63-year reign as the remarkably successful monarchy of a woman who defied the expectations and often the conventions of her age to become a respected sovereign. Yet it was not only her triumphs that shaped the society we live in today. Seven shocking days between 1840 and 1880 and their far-reaching consequences had an equally critical impact on the birth of modern Britain and our obsession with celebrity, as seven would-be assassins came within seconds of changing history. Using newly unearthed sources and extensive archival research, historian Dr Bob Nicholson presents a fresh perspective on the Victorian era each of these crisis points, uncovering a largely forgotten but crucial component of Victoria’s story. Killing Victoria takes a deep dive into cultural and political responses to the assassination attempts and how they resonated throughout the decades, offering us a new way to understand the reforms and reactionary change across policing, monarchy, celebrity, and mass media that characterised the Victorian era and created twentieth-century Britain. Drawing on all-new sources, including crime scene sketches, private letters, and police notebooks, Killing Victoria transports you back in time, and will change how you see the Victorians forever.