An incisive tribute to one of Britain’s most powerful and influential monarchs ever.
Queen of Great Britain and sovereign of an empire on which the sun never set, Victoria ruled for an unprecedented 64 years—a record only surpassed by Queen Elizabeth in 2015. With more than 200 photographs, Victoria provides an illuminating overview of her life and reign, exploring her happy marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, her subsequent friendship with the ghillie John Brown, and her Gold and Diamond Jubilees. Deborah Jaffé looks at every aspect of a remarkable era, including its politics, art, science, and society, and shows why, over a century after her death, Victoria’s influence endures today.
There are very few people who don’t know who Queen Victoria is and she has been the subjects of many books. I suspect many more books will be written about her. “Victoria: A Celebration of a Queen and her Glorious Reign” is rather thin for a full biography on the Queen. It starts off well enough, but it’s all rather superficial. However, the design and layout of the book is gorgeous, though perhaps a bit more attention could have spent on the text around photos as the layout sometimes leads to unnecessary spacing in the text. Furthermore, I have found several mistakes in the text, such as “Rumania” (Romania), “Prince Adolphus of Schauraburg-Lippe” (Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe) and “Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont” (Helena). Queen Victoria’s daughter is described as marrying Crown Prince Frederick William Prussia, but her husband did not become Crown Prince until three years after their wedding. Also, a certain Sandro (Prince Alexander of Battenberg) apparently fell in love with “the Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Vicky’s daughter”. I must have read that sentence ten times, but I think they mean Princess Viktoria of Prussia, who was the daughter of the then Crown Princess of Prussia.
All in all, I think there are much better books on Queen Victoria out there. “Victoria: A Celebration of a Queen and her Glorious Reign” is available now in both the UK and the US.
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