'Oh, if only I were at Nice, I should recover," said Queen Victoria as she was dying. As it is, this is the centenary of her death, and so it seems appropriate to follow in her footsteps across the region in which stayed nine times.
The Riviera wrought a transformation on the last two decades of Queen Victoria's life. Whenever she arrived on French soil her face lit up, she became exuberant and girlish and she shed many of the inhibitions of her life in England.
She spent much of her time there with her dour Scottish gillie John Brown, and her troublesome Indian secretary, the Munshi, Abdul Karim. John Brown, who did not like the Riveria and who thought Irish revolutionaries were plotting to assassinate the Queen there, amazed the locals by wearing a kilt together with a topee. Guests included the reprobate Leopold II, King of the Belgians, who on his death-bed married a former prostitute.
Make Nice your base and rent a car. Stay at the Hotel La Pérouse, which is a little gem. It is built into the rock below the castle, overlooks the Baie des Anges, has lovely terraces, a swimming pool and an outdoor restaurant. Try to get a room with a terrace overlooking the sea and enjoy the view that inspired the painter Raoul Dufy. (Hotel La Pérouse, 11 quai Rausa-Capéu, 06300 Nice; tel: 00 33 4 93 62 34 63. Rooms Ffr1,020-2,350.)
The Queen-Empress stayed in Menton (with an excursion to the wicked Monte Carlo), Cannes, Grasse, Hyères and finally for five visits in Cimiez above Nice. Take them in any order or combination, for full day or half-day excursions. Buy the yellow Michelin map No 84 (Ffr17) and the Green Michelin Guide French Riviera Cte d'Azur (Ffr83). The town plans Bleu et Or (Ffr32.50) are good, but a cheaper alternative is to pick up a free map at the local tourist office.
Here are the towns the Queen stayed at in chronological order:
1882 Menton
On her first visit to the Riviera, Queen Victoria stayed in the cosy Swiss-style Chalet des Rosiers, which has been converted into six apartments. Part of the garden has been incorporated into the Exotic Botanical Garden of Val Rahmeh, which are open to visitors.
She visited the magnificent, exotic Hanbury Gardens, which are 4km from Menton, over the border in Italy, and are open to visitors.
The Queen took a drive to Monte Carlo one afternoon, but did not, of course, visit the casino, of which she disapproved. Her comments in her journal were: "One saw very nasty disreputable looking people walking about at Monte Carlo, though many respectable people go there also for their health. The harm this attractive gambling establishment does, cannot be over-estimated."
On April 10,1939, a statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled in Menton on the Place Victoria. When the Italians seized Menton in the second world war they threw the statue into the sea. It was replaced in 1960.
Restaurant: Le Darkoum, 23 rue Saint-Michel; tel: 04 93 35 44 88. Delicious Moroccan cuisine - try one of the eight kinds of couscous. Closed Tuesdays out of season and Mondays. Menu Ffr90-128.
1887 Cannes
The visit to Cannes was to mourn her youngest son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. She wanted to see the Church of St George, built in his memory, and the Villa Nevada, where he had died from a fall in the yacht club in 1884.
The Queen only stayed in Cannes for four nights. She disapproved of what she considered were the immoral activities there of the Prince of Wales.
The memorial to Leopold - a fountain topped by a statue of St George, by Paul Liénard - had been funded by subscription from the residents of Cannes. The previous year, the Prince of Wales had laid a foundation stone for St George's Church, the other memorial. In 1974, St George's was sold to the Catholic Church and it flourishes today.
The Villa Edelweiss, where the Queen stayed and the Villa Nevada and the Memorial Fountain to Prince Leopold are on the Boulevard des Pins, Californie.
Restaurant: Neat, 11 Square Mérimée; tel: 04 93 99 29 19. The most distinguished restaurant on the Riviera, run by an Englishman. Richard Neat trained under the Roux brothers in London. French cuisine. Closed November 18 to December 16, Sundays, lunch in July and August and Sundays. Menus Ffr220-690. One Michelin star.
1891 Grasse
A prime reason for the visit to Grasse was to see the vast gardens of Alice de Rothschild.
As tradition demanded, the Queen planted a tree in the Rothschild gardens. Everything went according to plan when suddenly, in order to look more closely at a rare plant, the Queen stepped across a flowerbed, inadvertently crushing several plants. Alice de Rothschild could not contain herself and roughly told the sovereign in effect to "Get out". Thereafter the Queen always referred to her as "The All-Powerful One".
The Queen went to the English church of St John (65 Avenue Victoria), built like a Tudor cottage, for the Good Friday service. She considered it very pretty. The singing was not bad, she thought, but the way the lady played the harmonium left a lot to be desired. The church, which contains three stained-glass windows given by the Queen, is now also called the Chapelle Anglaise or the Chapelle Victoria. In 1970, the owners gave it to the French Reformed Church.
Alice de Rothschild's gaunt and forbidding Villa Victoria, now called the Palais Provençal, is at 46 Avenue Victoria. The teahouse of the gardens is now 198 Boulevard Président Kennedy in Super Grasse. The majestic Grand Hôtel, where the Queen stayed, is at 26 Avenue Victoria and is now called La Résidence du Grand Palais. Both the Villa Victoria and the Grand Htel are now appartments.
Restaurant: La Bastide Saint-Antoine, 48 av Henri-Dunant; tel: 04 93 70 94 94. The most elegant restaurant on the Riviera, well matched by the cuisine of the renowned chef, Jacques Chibois. Menus Ffr260-750. Two Michelin stars.
1892 Hyères
The Queen visited Hyères in March 1892, but overhanging her visit was deep mourning. Prince Albert Victor, known in the family as Eddy, elder son of the Prince of Wales, and eventual heir to the throne, had died on January 14 of influenza and pneumonia.
Hyères was the oldest winter resort on the Riviera and had for some centuries been the resort of French kings. She stayed at the Hôtel Costebelle, which was bombed during the second world war and no longer exists.
The church the Queen attended was the small All Saints in Costebelle. The Times correspondent described it as a pretty little building of iron covered with lattice work, with a thatched roof. It is on the Boulevard Félix Descroix near the Catholic Church of Notre Dame de Consolation, is now in private hands and is derelict, but can still be seen from a clearing in the woods. She paid a visit to Notre Dame de Consolation, which was famous for its collection of gifts and pictorial decorations. It was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt between 1953 and 1955. It is now famous for its stunning stained-glass windows and its starkly modern statues.
Restaurant: Les Jardins de Bacchus, 32 av Gambetta; tel: 04 94 65 77 63. A pretty restaurant, the walls painted as a gentle Bacchanalian orgy. Imaginative French cuisine. Closed June 25 to July 8, January 3 to 14 , Sunday dinner in winter, Saturday lunch in July and August and Mondays. Menus Ffr118-310.
1895-1899 Nice
On her first two visits to Nice in 1895 and 1896 the Queen stayed in the Grand Htel in Cimiez above Nice. On her next three visits, she stayed in the Excelsior Htel Regina, Cimiez, which had been built with her needs in mind. She travelled with a staff of 100 and took over the whole west wing.
A highlight of her visits was the Battle of the Flowers on the Promenade des Anglais where she loved to throw flowers at the young army officers.
In the afternoons, the Queen usually drove out from Cimiez in her carriage and among the places visited were Villefranche and Beaulieu. The Queen always gave alms to beggars and especially to the old one-legged beggar, Charles Alberique, who got around on a cart drawn by two dogs, who tried to keep up with the royal carriage.
Church services were usually held in a chapel in the hotel, but on her first visit she attended the Holy Trinity Church in Nice. Her coat-of-arms hangs inside the church. It is at 11 Rue de la Buffa and is still an active Anglican church.
The Grand Hôtel and the Excelsior Htel Regina are at the top of the Boulevard de Cimiez. The Grand Hotel was turned into a hospital and the Excelsior appartments. The splendid belle-epoque Excelsior building can be seen well from the outside. In front of the Excelsior is a statue of the Queen erected in 1912. It was defaced during the second world war, but later restored.
Restaurant: Merenda, 4 rue Terrasse. No telephone. Book ahead in person. The chef-owner, Dominique le Stanc, is the former head chef of the two-star Chantecler at the Hotel Negresco. He tired of the glories of the gastronomic world and started a new life doing family cooking in this tiny restaurant where you sit on stools cheek by jowl with fellow diners. Closed April 8 to 15, July 29 to August 12, October 28 to November 4, December 23 to January 3, Saturdays and Sundays. Cash only. Menus à la carte Ffr170-220.
The entries in the Queen's journal of May 1 1899 might have been written by many a tourist on the Riviera today, as the holiday draws to a close: "Alas! My last charming drive in this paradise of nature, which I grieve to leave, as I get more attached to it every year. I shall mind returning to the sunless north, but I am so grateful for all I have enjoyed here."
Queen Victoria left the Riviera on May 2 1899. She was never to return.
For more UK hotel reviews, visit theguardian.com/travel
Michael Nelson's book Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera is published by IB Tauris at £25. His website is michaelnelsonbooks.com
Way to go
Easyjet (easyjet.com, 0870 6000000) flies to Nice from Luton from £82.90 return. Go (go-fly.net) flies from Stansted from £60 return. BA (british-airways.com, 0845 7733377) flies from Heathrow from £99.10 inc tax.