Have you ever kept a diary? A diary, sometimes called a journal, is a book in which you keep a daily record of events and experiences. It can also be a place to record your thoughts or feelings. Diaries can be interesting to look back on because they remind you of events in your life that you may have forgotten. Most people who keep diaries write in them at the end of the day, just before they go to bed.

Did you know that Queen Victoria kept a journal for most of her life? She wrote her first diary entry in 1832, aged thirteen. She continued for nearly sixty-nine years, writing her final entry shortly before she died in 1901, aged eighty-one. In total, 141 volumes of her diary survive, numbering 43,765 pages!

Queen Victoria’s diary is available online. An amazing window into Victorian Britain, it covers all the key events of the Queen’s life, including her Coronation, her wedding to Prince Albert and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations to mark her 60 years on the throne in 1897. What makes these diary entries particularly special is that the Queen’s words are accompanied by many colourful illustrations, as well as interesting items she inserted into the pages. Look here to see Queen Victoria’s drawings.