The creator of hit television series Victoria has described the idea the monarch was a bad mother as a “misogynist myth”.
Daisy Goodwin, who penned the forthcoming series of the ITV drama, said it was “wrong” to think Victoria had neglected her nine children.
Goodwin said Victoria had been a good mother according to the standards of the time, adding that she would “fight” any suggestion otherwise.
She said: “I think that’s a piece of total misogyny, actually.
“What makes a bad mother? She’s the queen, for God’s sake. It’s hard to be a queen and a mother.
“She was incredibly fond of her children. You see her incredible watercolours of them. You know that she loves them but she’s got nine of them.
“It’s hard to give nine the attention you would give two.
“And also, what made a good mum then is different. When you’re raising a future king, it’s perhaps a different thing.”
The third series begins as Victoria, heavily pregnant with her sixth child, watches the French Revolution from across the English Channel.
As the French king arrives at her door seeking aid, and she and Albert clash over the role of the monarchy, there are many factors to distract her from motherhood.
But Goodwin dismissed the idea a woman could not govern and also raise children, saying: “The bad mother thing, it’s just something people say. I think they’re wrong.
“She did her best. She was trying to prepare them for the world outside.
“She was selfish in that she wanted her youngest daughter to stay with her forever and look after her, and not get married.
“But then, when she did fall in love and get married, after six months of not speaking to them, she said, ‘oh OK’, and moves the son-in-law into the palace.
“So, yeah, that’s a misogynist myth and I would fight against that.”
Victoria begins on Sunday March 24 at 9pm on ITV.