Victoria: Her Life, Her People, Her Empire

by Deborah Jaffé

The only surviving legitimate heir to George III, his granddaughter Victoria came to the throne after the excess and instability of the reigns of her uncles, George and William. Not yet twenty years of age, she soon proved that she was not going to be the malleable ingenue some would have preferred, maturing to become a decisive and diplomatic ruler.

Victoria was not only mother of a vast Empire but had her own large family. Married to Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1839, the couple built up a prototype image of Victorian family life. Their nine progeny went on to marry into the royal houses of Europe, ensuring Victoria's lasting legacy and influence over the entire continent. Albert was crucial to her confidence in the first two decades of her reign and their relationship was always passionate and devoted. Victoria was to mourn him as equally as she had loved him as typhoid, one of the many endemic illnesses of the time, took him from her in 1861.

Albert's death plunged Victoria into a deep depression during which time the Republican cause came close to achieving its aims and the future of the monarchy seemed precarious. However, with the help of her Prime Minister of the time, Benjamin Disraeli, and her Highland ghillie, John Brown, Victoria roused herself to consolidate her reign and celebrated both her Gold and Diamond Jubilees, as well as becoming Empress of the jewel in her crown -- India. Her death at the age of eighty-one was mourned the world over.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not an in-depth, detailed accounting of Queen Victoria's life, yet it has more than enough information to totally satisfy!

[Lynne Stringer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and appreciated the information it gave and the photos and details it included. Enjoyable.