Royal Family

The hidden crown governing the shadows beneath Victorian society.

The Royal Family in Black Butler is headed by Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, under whose direct control the Phantomhive family works as a secret executive agency, the "Queen's Watchdogs". She is very fond of Ciel Phantomhive, calling him 'dear boy', and has him investigate cases she deems threatening to England. Her staff includes her servant and personal bodyguard John Brown and the "Double Charles", Charles Grey and Charles Phipps, two of her private secretaries and butlers.

Quick Facts

Key figure: Queen Victoria

Lore & Background

After the death of her husband and consort Prince Albert, Queen Victoria does not appear in public often and cries hysterically whenever he is mentioned; she keeps a stuffed puppet of Albert, with whom she talks when she is troubled. In the manga she is seen as an intelligent and cunning woman: the banquet Ciel hosted for the German banker Georg von Siemens, a distant relative of hers, was a plot she set to dispose of him and weaken Germany's political power, and Charles Grey killed him at her command. When Derrick Arden, the son of her cousin Duke Clemens, was murdered at Weston College, the Queen covered up the truth behind the deaths to avoid a scandal.

Reader's Guide

In the first anime adaptation the Queen plays a villainous role: she is the one who ordered the destruction of the Phantomhive family, and the angel Ash, introduced as her butler, delivered her requests to Ciel. Ash gave her youth and attached part of her husband's body to her; she later dies and a look-alike is placed on the throne.