Using Queen Victoria's own diaries, and other first hand accounts of her visits, we discover the extraordinary preparations that were undertaken for a royal visit. Food historian and chef, Ivan Day, joins Rosemary to recreate some of the amazing dishes that would have been cooked for the Queen.

Tim reveals how Victoria was kept under 24 hour surveillance by her mother the Duchess of Kent - such was her paranoia that something untoward would happen to her. The sleeping arrangements while at Shugborough back this up. Victoria slept in the same bedroom as her mother, most likely in the sam...

Victoria visited Harewood House in Yorkshire in 1835, two years before she became Queen, and four years after having learnt that she would inherit the throne. The teenage Victoria appears to have become increasingly hard to please as she grew quite used to the royal high-life.

At the stunning Holkham Hall on the Norfolk coast we follow in the footsteps of so many royal visitors. Rosemary discovers that the kitchen was a sacred place and only those actually involved in the cooking would have been allowed to cross the threshold.

Tim shows us the extraordinary Chinese-style interior of the Royal Pavillion in Brighton and reveals how it was styled in this way thanks to one of Queen Victoria's predecessors. He also discovers that when Victoria wasn't in the mood for jolly times, or the garish interiors had got the better of...

The visit got off to a bad start when the royal carriage got stuck in the archway and chaos ensued. Tim tells the story of how one morning the royal lovebirds slipped out of the castle with their favourite dogs and set off along the beach for a walk. A sudden squall forced them to seek shelter w...

Queen Victoria visited Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire with Prince Albert in 1843. She was just 24 years old, but had already been Queen for 6 years. She writes in her diary that the crowds in Cambridge were awful.

Queen Victoria’s advisers - the spin doctors of the day - thought that the sight of her handsome husband on horseback, hunting heroically with the famous Belvoir hunt, might help boost his image. So this notionally private visit was designed to have a public impact and Tim discovers if it worked.

As a present for guarding her during her stay, Queen Victoria gave the Atholl Guards their own coat of arms, making them to this day the only private army in Europe. Oh, and she threw in a couple of canons for good measure.

Amazingly, the Marquess of Exeter had been planning this visit for four years. So it’s no wonder he wanted the royal autographs still seen in an amazing guest book that Tim discovers. And we see the sketches commissioned to accompany the story.

Confirmation of Victoria's visit reached the host just ten days before she arrived. Using the Queen's own diary and other first-hand accounts, Tim reveals the last-minute panic behind the scenes.

Tim talks to the current Earl of Carlisle, who reveals the lengths his ancestors went to host the Queen, and just what happened when 2000 vistors turned up to see where Her Majesty had slept.

An extraordinary journal, kept by the sister of the host, provides a detailed and funny insight into the visit, which included a huge banquet. Tim tells how the family coped when they realised they didn’t have a dining room that was big enough and - from Victoria’s own diary - the Queen’s reactio...

Over thirty dishes were prepared for Victoria and Albert’s feast including Mayonnaise de Homard: a lobster and mayonnaise salad that Rosemary cooks.

Food historian and chef Ivan Day helps Rosemary recreate an amazing, elaborate, feast of a dish: spit-roast beef with an elaborate garnish of truffles and crayfish. It was created by one of Victoria’s own chefs for grand occasions like this royal visit.

The first official public visit that Victoria made after the sad death of her beloved husband Prince Albert; she still felt his loss keenly. She writes that the feeling of "loneliness when I saw no room for my darling, and felt I was indeed alone and a widow, overcame me very sadly!"

Russia was at war with Turkey - putting at risk vital trade routes to India - and Victoria was having none of it! The cabinet was adjourned until two days after Victoria’s visit and when they did meet to decide the matter, not surprisingly Victoria’s backing paid off.

At the time of this visit to Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire in 1890, an elderly Queen Victoria was approaching her 71st birthday. She’d been on the throne for over half a century and was still in mourning for her beloved Albert more than 30 years after his death.

At every stop along the way, they've delved into Queen Victoria's diaries and other first-hand accounts to discover what really went on behind closed doors. In the final programme, they look back at what they've found out about Victoria and how she changed.