"When Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria, fell in love and married Prince Frederick, the heir to the Prussian throne, many Prussians regarded the alien Princess Royal as a British agent - when she was only being loyal to her beloved family. This absorbing book, mainly based on papers in the royal archives at Windsor Castle, shows for the first time how Queen Victoria ran an unmatched network of intelligence through her daughter's marriage and her relations in every court in Europe. The Queen and Bismarck both wanted Germany to be united, but their methods of achieveing this were opposed, and their struggle led to isolation and anguish for 'Vicky' and 'Fritz'. The author opens a spyhole on the secret history of the last century and reveals the story of a royal love that turned to royal tragedy - the tale of a princess who had to divide her loyalty between her homeland and her adopted country."