LONDON: British actress Emily Blunt read diaries and letters of Queen Victoria to prepare for her role in The Young Victoria.

Blunt was allowed into Windsor Castle and was allowed to look at the queen’s personal notebooks and letters. She was moved by what she learned about the queen, reports contactmusic.com.

Blunt said, “I didn’t know anything about her as a younger woman, so I did a lot of research. I read everything I could — they even let us into Windsor Castle to read her diaries and letters. You can hear her voice when you see her writing — which is illegible, by the way. Everything is underlined, and she was a very emotional creature. As a young woman she loved ballet and singing, and would be up at four in the morning dancing while (her husband) Albert would be conked out by 11:00 pm. She really did like to have a good time.”