Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria, by Tony Rennell. St. Martin's Press, 2000

Covering the last month of Queen Victoria's life and the time until she was sealed into her tomb, this book gives us a close-up look at what went on, much of which was kept from the public at the time. Relying heavily on memoirs, diaries and letters for contemporary accounts, this book has details not available elsewhere.

Coming after 63 years of rule, Victoria's death shouldn't have been a surprise- she was in her 80s, after all. But she had been on the throne for so long that many people had never known a time when she was not there, and could not imagine a time when she wasn't. A beloved institution, she was the steady rock who had survived many prime ministers and many changes in the times. The British Empire was at the height of it's glory, and most thought it would continue that way.

The seriousness of her last illness was largely kept from the public, largely because her family refused to believe in it. Her private doctor warned them, but her children ignored him. He would tell them, to their faces, exactly how bad things were, and they would act like he had said nothing at all. When she did die, a frantic scramble ensued: Victoria had been on the throne for so long that no one knew what to do, what the protocol was, or how to deal with the succession and her funeral. There were searches for records to show them what to do, for the marble bust likeness of Victoria to go on her tomb (made when her beloved Albert died, to match his own likeness), for enough black cloth for mourning clothes for the entire nation, for enough purple crepe to drape houses and business- having lived in black for most of her life, her orders were strict- she was going to her grave in white, as a bride going to her husband, and the drapings were to be imperial purple. Her coffin didn't get made when it was supposed to. The funeral procession was delayed by technical difficulties more than once. Her coffin was nearly dropped on the steps of the church.