Queen Victoria

We only see the Queen from Arthur's point of view

Queen Victoria is an important character in the short story “Jubilee” by Carys Davies. At the time of the narrative, the Queen is celebrating her jubilee. The story reveals that she has lost her husband, Prince Albert. During the celebration of her jubilee, she is accompanied by one of her sons, the Prince of Wales (l. 79). 

According to Arthur, “her mouth seemed locked by its downturned corners into the deepest and most immovable frown” (ll. 54-55). She is also compared to a tortoise that Arthur once saw in Calcutta: “He’d known to expect something miserable and grim-looking, and with her short neck and her pouchy eyes and her sad downturned mouth she’d reminded him (…) of a hundred-year-old tortoise” (ll. 8-11). However, it is likely that Arthur’s description of the Queen’s expression is influenced by his (mista...