I n 1868 Queen Victoria was persuaded to release for public circulation her private journals of the happy times she had spent in Scotland with the Prince Consort. Throughout the Journal runs a gaiety and enthusiasm for the natural beauty around her that sweep the reader back into the exuberant life of the young Victoria.
Sixteen years later, the Queen published a second volume of extracts from her Highland journals, covering her travels from 1862 to 1882. Now a widow, her earlier zest for living has passed and its place is taken by a depth of feeling and experience of life that illuminate the accounts of the people she meets and the places she visits.
