Although we often associate Victorians with seriousness, such gravitas is only half the story. This post traces what happened on the 28th birthday of Prime Minister Gladstone's daughter, showing how she thrilled to the gorgeousness of music by request played at Magdalen College, Oxford; her reaction to the new Keble College Chapel; the house party that she attended at Ashridge; and the birthday thank you letter that she wrote to her father. At the end, it briefly considers Gladstone's connections to Pre-Raphaelite art.
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