I would like to thank all my Historic Royal Palaces colleagues at Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria’s childhood home, for our many conversations about her over the years. A.N. Wilson’s excellent Victoria: A Life (2014), especially the chapter in which he speculates on Conroy’s motives, set off a train of thought that led to my counter-factual approach. Other people to whom I’m extremely grateful are Catherine Clarke, Hilary Van Dusen and Hannah Sheppard, as well as Helen Vick, Helen Szirtes, Katie Everson, Jenny Beer, Lizz Skelly, Charlotte Armstrong and everyone else at Bloomsbury. Most of all, though, I’m indebted to Zoe Griffiths and Hannah Sandford.