HRH The Duchess of York, Benita Stoney and photographer Robin Matthews set out on a royal adventure story, a journey back into the past, retracing Queen Victoria"s travels abroad. With the help of her diaries and sketchbooks and the bound volumes of watercolours of her journeys kept at Windsor Castle they have created their own itinerary, revisting palaces and forgotten castles. The text mingles Queen Victoria"s descriptions with the authors" impressions of place and period, while the illustrations juxtapose contemporary photographs and Victorian watercolours. Primarily the record of a modern adventure, the book also provides an insight into the Victorian past.