Historian Lucy Worsley on Royal Weddings, Queen Victoria and the ‘Big Mistake’ People Make About the Past

Lucy Worsley enjoyed history when she was at school, but her father had other ideas. "He is a scientist, and he really wanted me to be one too," the British historian tells TIME, ahead of the U.S. publication of her new biography, Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life. "He said that if you do a history degree, you will be cleaning toilets for a living."

Of course, this discouragement only made her more determined.

Lucy Worsley enjoyed history when she was at school, but her father had other ideas. "He is a scientist, and he really wanted me to be one too," the British historian tells TIME, ahead of the U.S. publication of her new biography, Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life. "He said that if you do a history degree, you will be cleaning toilets for a living." Of course, this discouragement only made her more determined.