My England
The popular historian, author and TV presenter shares her thoughts on her native land with us.
Historian Lucy Worsley shares her thoughts
My favourite English monarch is Queen Victoria, because I’ve spent much of the last three years in her company writing my book, laughing at her quirks but also admiring her staying power. The most surprising thing about Queen Victoria was the fact that she asked Albert to marry her. In fact, as she put it to a third party, “Hadn’t I better tell Albert of my decision?” I like the idea of her taking matters into her own hands like that. If I were to sum up England in three words, I’d say history, eccentricity and rain. For me, the best thing about this country is the psychodrama of our national story. It’s so long, so contrasting: the dynasties, the clashes, the knitting and the unravelling. A perfect day for me would involve sitting quietly on a sunny window ledge in a beautiful seventeenthcentury stone house reading a book.
If I were PM for the day, I’d reopen all the libraries and museums that have closed in the last decade.
Not many people know that I enjoy cross-country running, and used to represent my county. If I could make a place an Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty, I’d pick the parks around Hampton Court, because they are peaceful, lovely and protected by the bend in the river. They’re also a vital green lung for trafficky, flight-pathy West London. A place that I could never tire of is Windsor Castle, because it’s the most romantic fortress in Britain. Of course, I should really pick the Tower of London, but the craggy site of Windsor is incomparable. I’d call home anywhere that I can get good broadband and boil a kettle for tea.
If I lived on a desert island, the thing I’d miss most about England is walking in an English garden and listening to blackbirds. In my view, Jane Austen should be compulsory reading as all human life is there: wit, tragedy, layers of meaning, fabulous female voices, conjured up by a genius who changed the way people lived and loved. Our greatest national treasure is that we’ve got so much history, everywhere. Not just national museums and stately homes, also parish churches, and terraced houses. Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire should be our most treasured country house because it’s a brilliantly bonkers recreation of a gothic, chivalric, romantic recreation of a medieval castle – a sort of seventeenth-century fairy-tale fantasy. If I could invite anyone to dinner from history, it would be Florence Nightingale because she was admirable and prickly, too. I like that combination. The person who most inspired me to become a historian was the historical novelist, Jean Plaidy. She wrote fiction for young readers which first sucked me into the world of the Tudors. I still have my copy of a book of hers called The Young Elizabeth, which has a picture of Hampton Court on its cover: the very place I’ve ended up coming to for work every day.
The life of a historian is marvellous because it’s your job to learn new things all the time. It’s constantly surprising and exciting. My favourite programme on TV has to be Strictly Come Dancing. But sadly, because of a pre-nuptial agreement my husband made me sign, I can never appear on it myself as a contestant!
What I’m most nostalgic for is going back to school in the autumn, and having a sharp pencil and a new exercise book and life ahead of me. Lucy’s new biography, Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow is available to buy from all good bookshops. Historic Royal Palaces open two exhibitions about Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace on May 24, 2019, to celebrate 200 years since the monarch’s birth.