The popular image of Queen Victoria today is that of a thoroughly regal figure but also a unsmiling matron, haughty and austere. In her favour, she is acknowledged as a Queen who brought stability to the institution of monarchy in troubled times, with the support of her German husband Prince Albert. But on a personal level, Victoria is remembered as a monarch to be respected rather than loved.

The real Victoria was very different. She was a romantic, headstrong woman with a lust for life. She was prone to wild tantrums and uncontrolled outbursts of passion. Above all else, she was a woman who loved men, and needed to be loved by them in return, not as a Queen, but as a woman in her own right.

This film reveals how Victoria’s passions led her into one the great romances in history with Prince Albert; entangled her in scandalous relationships with her Prime Ministers and her servants; and set her on a collision course with her Royal court, her family and her public.