She ruled the British Empire for 63 years—a reign only surpassed by her great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth II. Author Terry Deary imagines what HRH Queen Victoria would decree if she still ruled the world…
The world would be united. If I ruled the world? Excuse me. I practically do. More than a quarter of the world’s population call me “Empress” and with a bit of a push, the other three-quarters could be mine. I always say that the sun never sets on the British Empire…Oh, very well, that phrase was dreamed up by a Scottish writer, John Wilson. But Mr Wilson won’t mind me borrowing it. Not if he values his sporran.
I’d hang ’em high. I’m loved, (nay adored), by my dear under classes. Yet, (it’s an oft-forgotten fact) there have been eight assassination attempts on my frail body. EIGHT! Why? Because, despite my insistence to the contrary, my police-plodding PM, Mr Peel, refused to have the perpetrators punished by hanging. I said the gallows would be a deterrent. He muttered about “making martyrs”. And then, THEN, that pompous (but popular) prattler Charles Dickens campaigned against public hanging, and got his way. No noose is bad noose, I say.
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