Victoria Regina

Patricia Routledge delivers a career-defining portrayal of Queen Victoria in a 1964 series of plays adapted from Laurence Housman’s celebrated drama collection. The self-willed, obstinate, imperious and passionate monarch is presented in a satirical tribute that marks a decisive break with the era’s uncritical historical portrait. Victoria Regina, a Broadway hit deemed too disrespectful for public performance in Britain until the late 1930s, offers a candid depiction of an extraordinarily complex woman, tracing her arc from royal teenager to inconsolable widow at the helm of a vast empire, complete with her contradictions, prejudices and unconstitutional behavior.