Queen Victoria's Children

While outwardly, Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert seemed regal and serene, behind closed doors the royal couple were far more tempestuous. Using letters, diaries, memoirs and journals, this history documentary on BBC Select gets under the skin of this complicated royal couple. How did their efforts to modernize the image of the royal family affect their children's upbringing?

After Albert's death, Queen Victoria focused her attention on her daughters, She clung to them, bullied them and arranged their marriages. But, as this BBC Select history documentary reveals, the princesses fought back, becoming independent women determined to find love and fresh purpose. The daughters attempted to become champions of women for a new era. But would Victoria allow it?

Queen Victoria's difficult relationship with her sons is explored, as this history documentary for BBC Select concludes. Leopold was physically weak but determined to break free from his mother's control. While Bertie, soon to be King, was blamed for Albert's death, with the Queen believing his sexual indiscretions had fatally weakened her husband. Would the Princes ultimately conform or rebel?