Power, pageantry, and pride Queen Victoria ruled the most powerful empire the world has ever seen, covering one fourth of the earth's land surface, reigning over subjects on every continent, and exercising undisputed mastery of the oceans in between. She was the "Grandmother of Europe," with descendants occupying the thrones of half a dozen nations, and more to come. The very era in which she lived already bore her name. In June 1897, her proud and prosperous nation marked her sixtieth year on the throne of England with the most lavish display of pomp, circumstance, wealth, and affection in its history. Twilight of Splendor  presents a breathtaking portrait of a sovereign and her empire at the height of their global power. Focusing on the spectacle of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, it combines a thrilling account of that massive celebration with an intimate exploration of Victoria's world—her splendid palaces and possessions, the grand banquets and balls she hosted, her immense wealth, the politicians and courtiers who did her bidding, her confidence and assertiveness as a ruler, her surprising personal humility, and her perpetual state of mourning for her beloved husband, Prince Albert. Based on hundreds of published and unpublished sources from the period, including Queen Victoria's private correspondence and personal journals,  Twilight of Splendor  is must reading for Anglophiles, Victorian-history buffs, and anyone interested in the golden age of monarchy. The first book to portray the queen and her court in the last years of her reign - Contrasts the queen's private and public images in her efforts to solidify the monarchy - Exposes the queen's difficult relations with her children - Explores the queen's relationship with her extended European royal relatives - Draws together for the first time hundreds of disparate sources - Includes a number of rare photographs complementing the text In 1897, Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years of her occupancy of the British throne. It was a cause for Britain and the British Empire to pay fond respect to the longest reigning of British monarchs. Biographies of Victoria are plentiful, but King's special approach, his limited focus, certainly makes this new one far from redundant. He takes the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee to appraise the queen in the last years of her long life and test the atmosphere within the confines of the royal household in the queen's declining days. By this point in her life and reign, the queen had her routines down to an exact science. King explains the household's structure in luxurious detail and chronicles how Her Majesty ordinarily spent the day in her various residences. She had a large family, and how she got along with all her children and their spouses is revisited, and the kind of meals usually served at court is matched by a peek at how the servants led their existences below stairs. Hooper, Brad Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved To offer a new approach to Queen Victoria, King (The Court of the Last Tsar) focuses on one important year in her reign-the 1897 Diamond Jubilee. Although he initially establishes context by focusing on the changes that occurred during Victoria's life, he spends perhaps too much time describing the minutiae of the royal household's daily workings. Thankfully, humorous anecdotes from primary sources, such as those describing courtiers' lack of love for Balmoral Castle, the queen's beloved Scottish home, enlighten the accounting. The queen's callous treatment of her sons, selfish demands on her daughters, and relationships with servants-not to mention coverage of family scandals and the lives of other royals-does seem inevitably comparable to the present royal family. Photos show the various royal domiciles, as well as family members; a brief appendix names various members of the royal household. For libraries with large English history collections. (Index not seen.) —B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Lib., Sag Harbor, NY ( Library Journal , May 15, 2007) ""Greg King leads you on a tour into the heart of history’s last and greatest royal empire."" ( Majesty , Volume 28/10) Queen Victoria wore a somber gown of black silk, enlivened with delicate embroidery of sparkling jet and offset by layers of contrasting white lace. On her gray head a veil of Honiton lace, carefully arranged in cascades to frame her wrinkled face and sagging shoulders, was held in place by a small crown of 1,300 diamonds. The faint hint of her favorite orange-scented perfume hovered in the air as her lady in waiting adorned her widow's weeds with the blue silk moiré sash and diamond star of the Order of the Garter; large diamond drop earrings and a matching collet necklace of twenty-eight immense, gleaming stones; and a diamond-fringe brooch. Her pudgy wrists and fingers glistened with gold and diamond bracelets and an array of precious rings. On the eve of her Diamon