Victoria comes to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – having revitalised the throne’s public image and become ‘grandmother of Europe’. The show is a saga of interlocking circles – the circuits of power in Buckingham Palace and Westminster, the intermarrying royal houses of Europe and the scandals of the below-stairs palace staff. At the centre stands the new Queen – a spirited, passionate woman who must, somehow, become an enduring icon of stability and strength.