“Queen Victoria’s Other World: Illustrated Edition” by Peter Underwood
"There have been many books about Queen Victoria but there has never been one that has explored her 'other world' – the world of the strange and unusual, the world of death and her fascination for it, and the world of the unseen and the paranormal that she could never resist.
During his research Peter Underwood gained the distinct impression that there was something of a conspiracy of silence around her interest in the paranormal. however, there is overwhelming evidence that as a fatherless and bewildered princess, as a quickly matured queen, and then as a widowed and often lonely woman, Victoria showed a considerable interest in death and its draperies.
This book covers Victoria's youthful encounters with the occult; her visits to haunted properties, her friends and acquaintances with similar interests and experiences; her alleged involvement with Robert Lees, the medium; her undoubted interest in the Jack-the-Ripper murders; her obsession with omens and superstitions and her fascination with death.
Not long before his death the Prince Consort told the Queen, 'We don't know in what state we shall meet again, but that we shall recognise each other and be together in eternity I am perfectly certain'. Through forty years of widowhood Queen Victoria believed utterly that this would be so."
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