Sam Kelly explains how Queen Victoria became a huge fan of drugs—and how she brought China to its knees because of it.

The railway station was built by the British to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, in 1887. It was a time of grandiose colonial statements and no expense was spared.

On the same day in May 1856 that Queen Victoria held a review in Hyde Park at which she distributed the first Victoria Crosses, earned in the Crimea, she learned of the likelihood that many more ...