Queen Victoria careless and ministers were off to

and ministers were off to enjoy a long summer recess

Plate 259 from chapter 49 of Gleanings of natural history

following their investiture at Buckingham Palace

Punch is making the point that the only confession that should be permitted in Britain should be that of a wife to her husband

England hero Ian Botham celebrates taking an Australian wicket

Queen Victoria careless and ministers were off toQueen Victoria, 1859. Victoria (1819 1901) succeeded her uncle, William IV, to the throne in 1837. Her reign, the longest of any British monarch to date, saw the peak of the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the British Empire into the world's pre eminent power.