She and her husband Albert were able to restore some of the lustre that had faded from the royal throne. Some argue that "Great Britain might have become a republic [rather than a monarchy] if Victoria and Albert had not regained that respect by the display of their domestic virtues and blameless private life" (Marshall, p. 94). Under the guidance of Victoria and her prime ministers, Britain developed its worldwide colonial empire. During Victoria's reign, the country increased its population by 50 percent and became, by some estimates, the richest nation in the world.
While Carroll's novel does not directly refer to England's reigning monarch, it does feature a prominent queen, the Queen of Hearts. She rules all of Wonderland, and her subjects bow to her wishes for fear of losing their heads. Like Queen Victoria, whose husband Prince Albert assisted her with royal duties, the king of Wonderland takes an active, if subservient, role with his queen. Carroll's Victorian audience would have been quite familiar and comfortable with this royal hierarchy.
Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell. Lewis Carroll is actually the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a professor of mathematics at Christ Church College in Oxford University.
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