Queen Victoria: A Life of Contradictions

by Matthew Dennison

Overview

Queen Victoria is Britain's queen of contradictions. In her combination of deep sentimentality and bombast; cultural imperialism and imperial compassion; fear of intellectualism and excitement at technology; romanticism and prudishness, she became a spirit of the age to which she gave her name.

Victoria embraced photography, railway travel and modern art; she resisted compulsory education for the working classes, recommended for a leading women's rights campaigner ‘a good whipping' and detested smoking. She may or may not have been amused.

Meanwhile she reinvented the monarchy and wrestled with personal reinvention. She lived in the shadow of her mother and then under the tutelage of her husband; finally she embraced self-reliance during her long widowhood. Fresh, witty and accessible, Matthew Dennison's Queen Victoria is a compelling assessment of Victoria's mercurial character and impact, written with the irony, flourish and insight that this Queen and her rule so richly deserve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250072108
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/23/2015
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,167,587
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

MATTHEW DENNISON is the author of the critically acclaimed The Last Princess and Livia, Empress of Rome. As a journalist, he contributes to The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Country Life, and The Spectator. He is married and lives in London and North Wales.

Table of Contents

Queen Victoria's Family Tree: A Simplified Version x

List of Illustrations xiii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 'Pocket Hercules' 5

Chapter 2 'Fresh and innocent as the flowers in her own garden' 19

Chapter 3 'Constant amusements, flattery, excitements and mere politics' 31

Chapter 4 'Every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy' 45

Chapter 5 'The cares of Royalty pressed comparatively lightly' 57

Chapter 6 'The pain of parting' 75

Chapter 7 'Unavailing regrets' 89

Chapter 8 'A Highland Widow' 105

Chapter 9 'Wisest counsellors' 117

Chapter 10 'Mother of many nations' 131

Chapter 11 'All that magnificence' 145

Notes 155

Bibliography 169

Index 179

Editorial Reviews

Dennison constructs a remarkable portrait of the queen.” —Publishers Weekly

“A judicious but lively biography of the highly un-Victorian Queen Victoria...this is an insightful, short look at the life of an inmortal if only sometime-admirable queen” —Kirkus

From the Publisher

05/12/2014
In this brief yet thorough work, bestselling biographer Dennison (The Last Princess) examines the life of Britain’s longest reigning and arguably best-known royal. The contradictions in Victoria’s life are plentiful, particularly how her own emotional personality clashed with the accepted norms of the era she ruled and which bears her name. As Dennison notes, “Her education had been shaped by precepts which would become a mania as the century advanced: ‘the importance of regulating the passions, securing morality and establishing a sound religion.’ ” He also focuses heavily on the queen’s relationship with her husband, Prince Albert. Through the pair’s combined history, Dennison constructs a remarkable portrait of the queen. Victoria was enamored with Albert from the moment they met, but she was a stubborn woman and initially kept him out of her decision making. Albert proved himself resourceful, however, eventually mentoring his wife during political and military affairs, and she mourned his death the last 40 years of her life. Despite the book’s brevity, it may take readers some time to grow accustomed to Dennison’s language; his syntax and diction can prove frustrating at first, though he does find his rhythm. Readers’ confidence in Dennison will also grow as he illuminates the tribulations in the royal life of “the Grandmama of Europe.” (July)

Publishers Weekly

2014-04-10
A judicious but lively biography of the highly un-Victorian Queen Victoria (1819-1901), from journalist and historian Dennison (The Twelve Caesars: The Dramatic Lives of the Emperors of Rome, 2013, etc.)."Stubborn, hotblooded, and autocratic" is a solid description. Early-19th-century education emphasized the importance of "regulating the passions, securing morality, and establishing a sound religion." This, not the queen's temperament, defined the Victorian era. "As it happened, only Albert ever persuaded Victoria to regulate her passionate temper, in lessons that were painful to teacher and student," writes the author. "After his death, there would be signs of backsliding." Taking the throne at the age of 18, she dismissed her domineering mother (her father was long dead); however, she was certainly not a feminist and remained highly susceptible to the men in her life. Britain's constitutional monarch was supposed to be above politics, but Victoria made no secret of her affection for some leaders (Melbourne, Disraeli) and dislike of others (Peel, Gladstone). Above all, she cherished her husband, Albert, a minor German prince whom she loved at first sight and to whom she happily submitted. As a foreigner, Albert was never admired in Britain, but unlike the case with Victoria, his approval among historians has risen steadily, and Dennison concurs. His death in 1861 devastated the queen. Mourning obsessively, she went into seclusion for a decade, which greatly diminished her popularity. Although she lacked charisma and disliked public appearances, sheer longevity converted her final decades into an apotheosis of Britain's glory. At her death after a 63-year reign, everyone understood that a significant era had passed.Although Dennison often relies on secondary sources and rocks few boats, this is an insightful, short look at the life of an immortal if only sometimes-admirable queen.

Kirkus Reviews