ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the different perspectives on patriotism from the left and right and on the ‘Englishness’ or otherwise of the monarchy in the reign of Victoria. Historians concerned with patriotism, nationalism and imperialism and those who have written on the monarchy all concur that the Crown became a symbol of nation and empire in the last quarter of the nineteenth century as Britain’s standing and role in the world became a major preoccupation. The language of patriotism was natural mode of expression for radicals in the eighteenth century. An important element in the new nationalism was an increased preoccupation with the British Empire. The Victorian period had not been ‘anti-imperialist’ and statements of pride in the empire can be found in the 1840s and 1850s. The final phase of the reign marked the culmination of the identification of the monarchy with nationalism and imperialism and the attainment of a near monopoly on the currency of patriotism by the right.
