Queen Victoria, From her Birth to the Death of the Prince Consort

by Cecil Woodham-Smith

Queen Victoria. Her Life and Times Volume One 1819 - 1861

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, Victorian, British Literature, Historical

495 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith (née Fitzgerald) was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era.

Reviews

[Dagmar1927 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this on my grandparents' bookshelf six years ago and had a look at the pictures. Nothing happened for a year and then curiosity got the better of me and I started to read. I think that this was one of the best decisions I made in my life. This may seem a little exaggerated, but this was the first book I ever read about Queen Victoria and it sparked an interest in her that has lasted five years and gives me an interest that we are never taught at school, but I know more about than I ever will about Tacitus or respiration.

I loved Cecil Woodham-Smith's surprisingly easy to read style, especially as I was a little too young at first to appreciate good old-fashioned language and continue to do so to this day. Her handing of Victoria gives a well-rounded (quite literally come to think of it...) character, who is both endearing and exasperating. I return to this biography again and again and it remains my favourite to this day.

I was distraught when I read that Cecil Woodham-Smith died before she could write the second volume of this wonderful book but, who knows, maybe I could do it for her one day! Not only do I love this book because of it's terrific content and excellent writing, Cecil Woodham-Smith was also a woman. Called Cecil. I presume that's a pseudonym, but if it isn't, then my life is all but complete.

A terrific book by a terrific author and anyone and everyone should read it at whatever level of history they are at.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding material. Written in a literary style and solid on the facts of the case. The author has a strong feel for personality and makes the people and events come alive as if they were a remarkably good movie. I'm VERY hard to please with biographies so you can be assured this book is as good as they come.
There's only one complaint I have to make. The author stated an opinion that Prince Albert showed signs of mental decline when he wrote an angry letter to his son after his son had been involved in an illicit affair. I disagree that objecting to such behavior is an indication of mental deterioration, and no arguments about how " it was different in those olden days" will hold water with me. Irresponsible behavior is always irresponsible behavior, and individual people will continue thinking so regardless of the age in which they live. :)
But other than that this is a terrific book and well worth reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will write a longer review later, finished this book a couple of weeks ago. This was an excellent read. Came by the book via my Grandmother's book collection. It is non-fiction that reads as fiction, long before that was de rigueur. The author is at historian and delves deeply into the facts and the details of everyday life, the surroundings and people. For some this may just be to much minutia, I found it fascinating as this was my first real scholarly delve in the Victorian era. This book covers Queen Victoria's life from birth until Prince Albert's death. I understand that it was meant to be written in two parts, but the author sadly died before she could write the second part of the book.

[BJ Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This surprised me by being a very enjoyably-readable tome of the life and times of Queen Victoria. The author succeeded (with me) in making this a very well-documented accounting of Victoria the person and woman as well as Victoria the queen. We see her as a girl, trained and manipulated for potential political gain by others. We see her relationships with her mother, with her half-sister Feodora (who she loved devotedly all her life), and especially with her husband Albert, the absolute love of her life (and the devastation his death brings to her).

In the course of telling all these personal details of Victoria's life, the author covers the political happenings, the wars, the people who served in British government - much of it told through excerpts from letters, diaries, & other documents. I was especially enthralled with the letters between Victoria & Albert, which put me in mind of the correspondence of John & Abigail Adams - in both cases showing personal love along with total participation in political/national life.

[Jenny Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn't easy to find (or cheap on Amazon) but it was so worth it! I am obsessed with Queen Victoria lately, thanks to the film Young Victoria. This book helped to sort out was real and what was fiction in that movie. I love Woodham-Smith's narrative style that makes all the historical and political context easy to understand. Now I am hungry for Victoria's life after Albert dies!! I also plan to find Woodham-Smith's biography of Florence Nightingale.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine biography, regrettably left uncompleted by the author's death. She offers many insights into Victoria's early life and paints a sympathetic picture of someone who in later life became a monstre sacre of selfishness.

[Jamie]

Read thru about half -- then ended up watching the A&E miniseries -- put it down and moved on.....good, but very very detailed

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soo political and slow going. If you're interested in the personal and family life of Queen Victoria, skip this one.

[James Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms Woodham-Smith did a great job on giving us a look into the character and life of the queen and life in Victorian England. We also experienced what the politics was like between nations in Europe in the 1800's, and how royal marriages effected nations and their alliances and policies. During Queen Victoria's reign 1800's was a precursor of events that lead to WW I. European alliances and Europe were in the process of being powder keg of unstableness and European Royal houses were being overthrown and being replaced was the main cause of this. During the Queens Reign, England was still adjusting to the power struggle between the Queen and English parliament, which is the reason and the blue print of that relationship that we see in Egland today. What I liked most about the book is the fact that we got to see the Queen as a person and how she handled everyday life as an ordinary woman, birthing and raising 9 children, and extraordinary love affair that she shared with Prince Albert. Prince Alberts place in her life was not previously defined in English tradition, but through his own abilities and character he was able make a great impact on the future of England's prince consorts. You get to see the Queen and her triumphs and struggles of everyday life. Queen Victoria and Prince Alberts love story is amazing, but it wasn't a fairy tale life, their struggles and obstacles to overcome and in the tragedy with the death of her beloved.

[Susan Lorenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in conjunction with watching the PBS series about the Queen. Glad I did as it helped me understand all the characters and their motivations. That said this book is very dry in many spots. I'm sure it is absolutely factual but the writer's style is not particularly interesting or compelling. You might want to look around at other biographies of Victoria, of which I'm sure there are many.

[Luce Cronin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this work of non-fiction. For some readers it may seem dry and longish because it is really packed with information re lineage, Victorian politics, etc. But it gave me a better idea of the woman that was Queen Victoria. Although I am by no means a royalist, I was fascinated at the details of her personal as well as political life , and found myself looking at her and family with much more compassionate eyes.

[Ieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed to book and look forward to reading more about Queen Victoria after her husband died. I am wondering a bit why the author stopped the biography with the husbands death. Victoria was only 44 and had 9 children, only one or two of which were married at the time. So there had to be much more!
I found the book to be very well written and organized.

[Foxwine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I was going to read a biography of Queen Victoria, however it turned out that what I had was a biography of Prince Albert's wife. The author really should have written the biography of Prince Albert that they very obviously would have preferred to do.

[Pat Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved learning about the Queen and her government, family life, and marriage to Albert.

[Jane Mendelsohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of Queen Victoria and the politics in Europe during her life.

[Amanda mcguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[June J. McInerney · Rating 5 out of 5]

You just gotta love PBS/BBC’s Masterpiece. It’s the only show on television (I am addicted to all things Netflix) that I consistently watch and one of the only presentations on broadcast media that has inspired me to read about history. "Downton Abbey" sent me on a quest to learn more about British life in the early 1900s (now one of my favorite eras of, um, all time). "The Durell’s in Corfu" had me searching for works by Lawrence Durell, noted British novelist and travel writer. And "Victoria", whose first episode of Season One aired just this past Sunday evening, now has me engrossed in Cecil Woodham-Smith’s** seminal biography, "Queen Victoria: From Her Birth to the Death of Prince Consort".
I found my copy of Woodham-Smith’s opus on a high shelf in my basement library. It is a 1974 Book Club edition purchased when I was living in Louisville and I’ve schlepped it along with me for these nearly 43 years, barely opening its pages except to insert a receipt for watch repair from the jeweler who designed the Kentucky Derby trophy and an old Ash Wednesday service leaflet dated February 27, 1974. (Boy, did those bring back memories!) It wasn’t until Monday afternoon, thoroughly intrigued by the Queen’s life portrayed in the PBS presentation, when I finally began reading the biography in earnest.
The one thing about watching Masterpiece and then reading the book(s) the period piece might have been based upon is that you can readily picture the characters as you read. Jenna Coleman as the Queen kept on flashing in and out of my mind; the voice Catherine Flemming as her mother rang from the faded pages; Paul Rhys as the self-serving, selfishly manipulative Sir John Conroy was as annoying as all get out. All of these brought what could have been deadly-dull history to vivid life. It is – as I am only a third through the book (I will once again be sequestered with it this afternoon, as I was all day yesterday) – like reading a very well-researched historical novel; rich in details of court intrigue, mores, mannerisms, and dress; replete with political intricacies, betrayals, and secrets; laced with romance; and chuck full of finely-wrought aspects of the life of young Alexandrina Victoria Kent as she matures into her role as Queen, wife, and mother.
This is – along with Elizabeth Longford’s Queen Victoria, first published 1964 – is the perfect intellectually challenging companion piece to Masterpiece’s visual, often fictionalized, account which was severely romanticized in a November 2016 novel. To be honest, I’d rather read pure history about the subjects the show tackles than a novel. There is enough fiction in "based-upom-the-life-of" television scripts to readily skew realities. When I want to learn about an historical figure, especially one as important as Queen Victoria, I don’t need it to be watered down by sometimes unguarded, misleading conjectures.
That being said… If you haven’t seen the first episode on PBS, I hardily suggest that you do. You can catch it on PBS.org/Masterpiece. Watch it and subsequent one, and search for a copy of Woodham-Smith’s biography. While unfortunately out of print, there are a few copies out there for sale amongst the more than 100 pages on Amazon listing books about the Queen. However, "Queen Victoria: From Her Birth to the Death of Prince Consort" seems to be one of the first written and, in my humble opinion, the most reliably comprehensive read of them all.
Enjoy!
** Cecil Woodham-Smith, born Cecil Blanche Fitzgerald in Wales in 1896, possessed a love of and talent for historical writing. But, as most married women did back then, she deferred following her passion until her two children by her beloved husband, George Ivon Woodham-Smith, a distinguished London solicitor, had entered boarding school. It wasn’t until 1950 when the publication of her first historical endeavor, Florence Nightingale, shot her to the top of her profession. This was followed in 1962 by The Great Hunger: Ireland:1845-1849 and then by The Reason Why, about the charge of the Light Brigade, in 1963. In 1965, she began her greatest, seminal work – a two-volume comprehensive biography of England’s Queen Victoria who reigned for 64 years (1837 to 1901). It was to be entitled Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times. Started relatively late in life, Woodham-Smith was only able to complete the first volume, Queen Victoria: From Her Birth to the Death of Prince Consort. published in 1972. The author died in 1977 at the age of 80.

[Francine Apollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very thorough book on the life of Queen Victoria. No one who influenced her life or to whom she spoke is left out. This is a book more for the researcher than the reader looking for a little more on the Queen's life.

Thorough Notes and Index.

Recommended with limitations.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it for the insight it gives me for Victoria on PBS. Well written, balancing personal moments with political context. However, often dialogue in foreign languages is not translated, so keep Google translator handy. Also, it's a pity the author died before completing her second volume on Victoria, for she leaves us with a cliff-hanger of who Queen Victoria would become after the death of the Prince Consort. While history has given us the answer, it would have been nice to be able to have read Cecil Woodham-Smith's account of the rest of Queen Victoria's life.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very engaging and well-researched biography with a great deal of detail (every so often too much). It provides a thorough and sensitive portrayal of Queen Victoria's difficult childhood and adolescence. The ending, although expected, feels like a cliff-hanger and leaves one wanting more of the story.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! This was a very intricate look at the Queen and how she lived up till the death of her husband. The author has done a wonderful job of including the politics of the time with some of the gossip and intrique.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally read this book
when I was about 15.

I found it quite interesting and
entertaining.

I would certainly say it is one
of the best biographies that I
have ever read.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be too much book for most, but I found it a fascinating read of Queen Victoria's early life -- up until the death of Prince Albert. It had just the right amount of depth, so it was a quick read and one that I looked forward to reading every day.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely work of scholarship that tells a fascinating story. It is hard not to come away admiring both Victoria and Albert a great deal. As far as the story goes, there were times when I thought I was reading a fantasy novel!

[Cws]

941.081

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read 3 times. First read 11/1975

[Sharon Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very in-depth autobiography of the woman I most admire.

[Robin Reynolds]

I gave up 56 pages in. Too much recitation, too little character insight. I think I just prefer a biography written as a narrative. Practically every paragraph was peppered with quotes taken from other sources, journals, letters, etc. Too dry for me.