Product Description

Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, had nine children who despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the story of their lives in terms of world impact, but also of personal achievements in their own right, individual contributions to public life in Britain and overseas, and as the children of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #415137 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
John Van der Kiste has written many historical biographies for Sutton, including George V's Children, Edward VII's Children and the Romanovs. He lives in Devon.

Customer Reviews

A moving account of power, love and sadness.
John Van Der Kiste should be congratulated on this thoughtful and well written biography of Victoria and her children.

The book appears to be written emphatically and really conveys the heartbroken Queen Victoria as a deeply sad widow but at the same time sees her as a defiant politician during a turbulent time in history as well as being a proud, loving and protective Mother.

The pace of Van Der Kiste's book is perfect, dealing with each child in turn and allowing the reader to embrace each child's character, life and mainly the relationship with their mother.

A brilliant book that i read within days of buying it.

Entertaining portrait
After reading Jerrold Packard's book about the Queen's daughters, I was glad to be able to buy an updated edition of John Van der Kiste's work about all nine children. Daphne Bennett wrote one with the same title in 1980, but it only covered them until their marriages. This one covers the whole story from the birth of the Princess Royal in 1840 (with a prologue on the early life of Victoria and Albert) to the death of Beatrice in 1944. The spotlight falls individually on each in turn, in a way which I don't think anyone has attempted before. It's good to see the younger siblings getting some attention as well as their better-known elders - there can't be much more to say about the Empress Frederick or Edward VII. It's an entertaining portrait, written with warmth, sympathy, and soundly researched - and a book I for one will certainly treasure on my royalty bookshelves.

An Interesting Book
The Victorian era was probably one of the most extraordinary in British History. The country went through enormous changes due to the impact of Industrialisation and Politic and Economic change. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert produced nine children and most of them had an impact not only on British History, but European History as well since many of them married into European Families such as the Hohenzollerns which had such an effect on the growing militarism leading to World War 1 in 1914. It must not be forgotten that Victoria's children were human, and they experienced the triumphs and tragedies which befall so many families. Indeed she outlived at least three of them, Alice, Leopold and Alfred who all died tragically young. And of course, her eldest son Bertie, Prince of Wales, whom she kept frustrated throughout most of his adult life by denying him a more important role in British and European affairs, became acknowledged as the Uncle of Europe and the Peacemaker of Europe. A fascinating volume, not an academic study though, very easy to read which will appeal to many readers who wish to find out more about the Victorian family. Supplemented with many good photographs too.