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The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter
An engrossing biography of Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter that focuses on her relationship with her willful mother—a powerful and insightful look into two women of signifcant importance and infuence in world history.
Beatrice was the last child born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her father died when she was four and Victoria came to depend on her youngest daughter absolutely, and also demanded from her complete submission. Victoria was not above laying it down regally even with her own children. Beatrice succumbed to her mother’s obsessive love, so that by the time she was in her late teens she was her constant companion and running her mother’s office, which meant that when Victoria died her daughter became literary executor, a role she conducted with Teutonic thoroughness. And although Victoria tried to prevent Beatrice even so much as thinking of love, her guard slipped when Beatrice met Prince Henry of Battenberg. Sadly, Beatrice inherited from her mother the hemophilia gene, which she passed on to two of her four sons and which her daughter Victoria Eugenia, in marrying Alfonso XIII of Spain, in turn passed on to the Spanish royal family. This new examination will restore her to her proper prominence—as Queen Victoria’s second consort.
Beatrice was the last child born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her father died when she was four and Victoria came to depend on her youngest daughter absolutely, and also demanded from her complete submission. Victoria was not above laying it down regally even with her own children. Beatrice succumbed to her mother’s obsessive love, so that by the time she was in her late teens she was her constant companion and running her mother’s office, which meant that when Victoria died her daughter became literary executor, a role she conducted with Teutonic thoroughness. And although Victoria tried to prevent Beatrice even so much as thinking of love, her guard slipped when Beatrice met Prince Henry of Battenberg. Sadly, Beatrice inherited from her mother the hemophilia gene, which she passed on to two of her four sons and which her daughter Victoria Eugenia, in marrying Alfonso XIII of Spain, in turn passed on to the Spanish royal family. This new examination will restore her to her proper prominence—as Queen Victoria’s second consort.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 4, 2007
88 people are currently reading
2646 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Dennison
33 books64 followersMatthew Dennison is the author of five critically acclaimed works of non-fiction, including Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-West, a Book of the Year in The Times, Spectator, Independent and Observer. He is a contributor to Country Life and lives in the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
February 12, 2015
This is going to sound sexist--and perhaps it is. But long experience of reading biographies and history and even fiction has brought me to the conclusion that while women can get inside mens' heads, it's the rare male writer who can really bring female characters to life.
While Matthew Dennison can write well enough for a historian, and certainly he's done his research, Beatrice never springs to life here. He wants us to believe that she wasn't the dull little stay at home daughter in Queen Victoria's shadow, but his writing does nothing to change that image. She remains a two dimensional character.
Perhaps this is because there is a dearth of materials on Beatrice. But what then was Dennison trying to do here?
And yes, his way of abruptly announcing a major event and then going back and recounting what led to the event and doing so repeatedly is dreadfully annoying. And it's pretty poor storytelling....
While Matthew Dennison can write well enough for a historian, and certainly he's done his research, Beatrice never springs to life here. He wants us to believe that she wasn't the dull little stay at home daughter in Queen Victoria's shadow, but his writing does nothing to change that image. She remains a two dimensional character.
Perhaps this is because there is a dearth of materials on Beatrice. But what then was Dennison trying to do here?
And yes, his way of abruptly announcing a major event and then going back and recounting what led to the event and doing so repeatedly is dreadfully annoying. And it's pretty poor storytelling....
December 18, 2008
Princess Beatrice was, presumably, a very interesting figure. The youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, she was tapped to stay home and take care of dear old mom rather than go off and get married like her siblings.
The author makes a lot of assumptions about how Beatrice felt about this, none of them seemingly based on any direct evidence or primary sources. Beatrice was an intensely private person and spent a great deal of her later life editing and re-writing her mother's journals, writing out a lot of her own story in the process. Given the lack of personal evidence, I got annoyed with the author's assumption that "poor Beatrice" had a hard life. He also seemed to assume that her work for her mother made her a bad mother to her own children -- something any working mom today would dispute. In the end, I don't think her life was probably that different from many other wealthy, titled women's lives in her generation. And she did end up falling in love, getting married, and having a family of her own. She remained close to her children throughout her life, and built a network of friends within and without the royal family.
Instead of being pitied, Princess Beatrice should be respected for taking the family situation she was dealt and making it work.
The author makes a lot of assumptions about how Beatrice felt about this, none of them seemingly based on any direct evidence or primary sources. Beatrice was an intensely private person and spent a great deal of her later life editing and re-writing her mother's journals, writing out a lot of her own story in the process. Given the lack of personal evidence, I got annoyed with the author's assumption that "poor Beatrice" had a hard life. He also seemed to assume that her work for her mother made her a bad mother to her own children -- something any working mom today would dispute. In the end, I don't think her life was probably that different from many other wealthy, titled women's lives in her generation. And she did end up falling in love, getting married, and having a family of her own. She remained close to her children throughout her life, and built a network of friends within and without the royal family.
Instead of being pitied, Princess Beatrice should be respected for taking the family situation she was dealt and making it work.
December 31, 2019
A thoroughly well written and satisfying biography about a princess who hasn’t, as far as I can tell, received much attention either during her life or after her death. The book does a good job of portraying her in an interesting and altogether sympathetic way.
April 22, 2018
I've looked at this one for several times thinking how to produce a review to do justice to the book, but frankly don't really know where to begin, mostly because Princess Beatrice quite frankly annoys the crap out of me!
In modern terms one can possibly argue that she suffered from some form of Stockholm Sindrome...i cant to this day even grasp how she butchered Queen Victoria's journals to such an extent that frankly leaves me nauseous....Kudos to QV for the successful brain washing of her youngest daughter?
She was baby, the youngest of all children, the one who never really had any time to build memories of her father Saint Albert..... warning I may be a bit heavy on the sarcasm with this one.
When Albert died QV was so histerical that she had to be heavily sedated to leave the room....which was when she proceeded to take her baby daughter to her bedroom, wrap her in a piece of Albert's clothing (a shirt?...can't remember) and fall asleep like that.....creepy I agree.
In this form and with the heavy mourning that followed was Beatrice transformed from a happy child to a miniature adult and, already in Victoria's mind apparently, an eternal spinster to look after mummy dearest....and the creepy factor keeps increasing.
Beatrice I think rebelled only once, when she met, fell in love and eventually was allowed to marry her own Prince Charming....and let me tell you, the way Victoria conducts that situation is nothing short of egotistical emotional blackmail where eventually Beatrice is the one who wields to her mother/sovereign's wishes.
The book is itself is a good easy read, especially if the topic is something you are familiar with - there are multiple other references that might make this boring for a first read into QV and her....ahem...unique offspring.
But like I said Beatrice isn't my favorite...at all! and I can't even write this down without a sudden urge to find her and slap some sense into her.
Don't know if Freud or Jung ever analized the Victorian Royal Family but I for one would be most curious to read their findings!
Happy Reading!
In modern terms one can possibly argue that she suffered from some form of Stockholm Sindrome...i cant to this day even grasp how she butchered Queen Victoria's journals to such an extent that frankly leaves me nauseous....Kudos to QV for the successful brain washing of her youngest daughter?
She was baby, the youngest of all children, the one who never really had any time to build memories of her father Saint Albert..... warning I may be a bit heavy on the sarcasm with this one.
When Albert died QV was so histerical that she had to be heavily sedated to leave the room....which was when she proceeded to take her baby daughter to her bedroom, wrap her in a piece of Albert's clothing (a shirt?...can't remember) and fall asleep like that.....creepy I agree.
In this form and with the heavy mourning that followed was Beatrice transformed from a happy child to a miniature adult and, already in Victoria's mind apparently, an eternal spinster to look after mummy dearest....and the creepy factor keeps increasing.
Beatrice I think rebelled only once, when she met, fell in love and eventually was allowed to marry her own Prince Charming....and let me tell you, the way Victoria conducts that situation is nothing short of egotistical emotional blackmail where eventually Beatrice is the one who wields to her mother/sovereign's wishes.
The book is itself is a good easy read, especially if the topic is something you are familiar with - there are multiple other references that might make this boring for a first read into QV and her....ahem...unique offspring.
But like I said Beatrice isn't my favorite...at all! and I can't even write this down without a sudden urge to find her and slap some sense into her.
Don't know if Freud or Jung ever analized the Victorian Royal Family but I for one would be most curious to read their findings!
Happy Reading!
July 26, 2009
This is a very strange book. It was well enough written that I finished it, but I'm annoyed more by what was missing than anything else.
It is pretty much a given that Queen Victoria went a little nuts after her husband died. From all reports it was a pretty good marriage and she enjoyed all the aspects of being a wife, but she never got over the fact that he had died relatively young leaving her alone. It is also pretty much a given that she could be pretty cold an cruel to her children. As one example she never forgave her oldest son for "causing" the death of his father. Although Albert did catch is last illness while visiting his son, Edward had nothing to do with the fact that his father got sick.
As a second example she rushed her oldest daughter into a very early marriage (engaged at 16 and married at barely 17). And kept her youngest daughter from marrying until she was 27.
The author obviously liked his subject, The Princess Beatrice, and hated the fact that she had been denied a childhood by her mother. But I would have liked to have seen more information about Beatrice as an adult. Both as a married woman and widow while still being her mother's primary caretaker, and also about her life after her mother died.
Although I know that the author thinks that Beatrice didn't take care of her children as well as she should have, I have no idea what the daily life of the five people in Beatrice's family was like while in attendance on the Queen. In another book, I saw a photo of the children and the Queen sharing lunch together. I don't know if it was unusual, or the way things generally went.
Even the information about Beatrice and her mother's diaries isn't as complete as I would have liked. How quickly did she go through them? Were they turned over to the Archives as they were completed? Or all together? I know that the originals were burned as they were copied. But I don't really know how Beatrice's contemporaries felt about the whole thing.
It is pretty much a given that Queen Victoria went a little nuts after her husband died. From all reports it was a pretty good marriage and she enjoyed all the aspects of being a wife, but she never got over the fact that he had died relatively young leaving her alone. It is also pretty much a given that she could be pretty cold an cruel to her children. As one example she never forgave her oldest son for "causing" the death of his father. Although Albert did catch is last illness while visiting his son, Edward had nothing to do with the fact that his father got sick.
As a second example she rushed her oldest daughter into a very early marriage (engaged at 16 and married at barely 17). And kept her youngest daughter from marrying until she was 27.
The author obviously liked his subject, The Princess Beatrice, and hated the fact that she had been denied a childhood by her mother. But I would have liked to have seen more information about Beatrice as an adult. Both as a married woman and widow while still being her mother's primary caretaker, and also about her life after her mother died.
Although I know that the author thinks that Beatrice didn't take care of her children as well as she should have, I have no idea what the daily life of the five people in Beatrice's family was like while in attendance on the Queen. In another book, I saw a photo of the children and the Queen sharing lunch together. I don't know if it was unusual, or the way things generally went.
Even the information about Beatrice and her mother's diaries isn't as complete as I would have liked. How quickly did she go through them? Were they turned over to the Archives as they were completed? Or all together? I know that the originals were burned as they were copied. But I don't really know how Beatrice's contemporaries felt about the whole thing.
June 29, 2008
This doesn't really count as "read", because I had to return it to the library unfinished.
The style was beginning to irk me: the author had a tendency to assume that the reader knew the basic life story of Princess Beatrice, and that he was just adding to a basic knowledge. This lead to - for example - the chapter on her husband's death beginning with an anecdote that occurred two years after his death, which depended on the reader knowing the cause of death for it to make sense. I had assumed illness - later in the chapter, it seemed that he'd been killed on an expedition against the Ashanti in Africa. In about the last three paragraphs of the chapter, the author finally revealed that the cause of death was illness: Malaria contracted while on the Ashanti "expedition". But it was all written as though one of course knew all this.
That said, it was unfortunate that I had to return it unfinished. I have a feeling that the most interesting period of Beatrice's life was yet to come.
The style was beginning to irk me: the author had a tendency to assume that the reader knew the basic life story of Princess Beatrice, and that he was just adding to a basic knowledge. This lead to - for example - the chapter on her husband's death beginning with an anecdote that occurred two years after his death, which depended on the reader knowing the cause of death for it to make sense. I had assumed illness - later in the chapter, it seemed that he'd been killed on an expedition against the Ashanti in Africa. In about the last three paragraphs of the chapter, the author finally revealed that the cause of death was illness: Malaria contracted while on the Ashanti "expedition". But it was all written as though one of course knew all this.
That said, it was unfortunate that I had to return it unfinished. I have a feeling that the most interesting period of Beatrice's life was yet to come.
June 20, 2016
This book was just okay. I was really interested in Beatrice, but I found that I was wanting for more information.
Beatrice was Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, the one destined to stay by her mother's side for her entire life. Victoria was so attached to Beatrice that she wouldn't let her get married initially, and when she finally did allow Beatrice to marry, it was on the condition that the couple continue living with the queen. Beatrice is the one who extensively edited her mother's diary and letters, so insight into her character was welcome.
But I didn't get it. Beatrice either left very few of her own thoughts on her life, or they just weren't included, but the vast majority of the book, I wasn't able to understand what she was thinking, just how other people saw her. And her marriage and children were left neglected. It barely touches on WWI and WWII, and never mentions what Beatrice thought of those events or things like the Russian Revolution (all of which affected her because her relatives were everywhere). Beatrice's thoughts on being what amounted to minor royalty were interesting, and I wanted more information like that.
This book provided more good insight into Victoria and her children in general, but other than that, I wanted a lot more from this book.
Beatrice was Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, the one destined to stay by her mother's side for her entire life. Victoria was so attached to Beatrice that she wouldn't let her get married initially, and when she finally did allow Beatrice to marry, it was on the condition that the couple continue living with the queen. Beatrice is the one who extensively edited her mother's diary and letters, so insight into her character was welcome.
But I didn't get it. Beatrice either left very few of her own thoughts on her life, or they just weren't included, but the vast majority of the book, I wasn't able to understand what she was thinking, just how other people saw her. And her marriage and children were left neglected. It barely touches on WWI and WWII, and never mentions what Beatrice thought of those events or things like the Russian Revolution (all of which affected her because her relatives were everywhere). Beatrice's thoughts on being what amounted to minor royalty were interesting, and I wanted more information like that.
This book provided more good insight into Victoria and her children in general, but other than that, I wanted a lot more from this book.
November 28, 2009
It was a very interesting biography, but I feel like Dennison failed in the same spot as most authors I've read who have written about any of Queen Victoria's children: the story stops when she dies. I felt like there was so much to be told about Beatrice after her mother died - her relationship with her children, grandchildren, surviving siblings, nephews and nieces; her work in England; her reactions to both World Wars and the Russian Revolution, and yet the focus was completely on Beatrice's editing of Queen Victoria's writings. It also bothered me that no matter what happened, the author always came back to the same Beatrice-was-her-mother's-"slave" note.
But still, it was very well written, with a lot of interesting information and it's nice to see a biography on a 'forgotten' Princess like Princess Beatrice.
But still, it was very well written, with a lot of interesting information and it's nice to see a biography on a 'forgotten' Princess like Princess Beatrice.
May 7, 2008
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What an interesting read (overall), and how frustrated I became with the selfishness of Queen Victoria. A mother who loves you this much? Estrangement doesn't seem so bad in light of the ridiculous amount of control the Queen asserted over her youngest child. Princess Beatrice seems to have had an enormous amount of personal talent, and it is interesting to contemplate how she might have affected the World had her light not been hidden under a bushel for so long.
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What an interesting read (overall), and how frustrated I became with the selfishness of Queen Victoria. A mother who loves you this much? Estrangement doesn't seem so bad in light of the ridiculous amount of control the Queen asserted over her youngest child. Princess Beatrice seems to have had an enormous amount of personal talent, and it is interesting to contemplate how she might have affected the World had her light not been hidden under a bushel for so long.
December 28, 2018
I think the most interesting part of the book was Queen Victoria’s mourning. I also enjoyed the mechanics of the marriages. It was a good insight into Victoria but I guess I wasn’t overly interested in Princess Beatrice. And on that note, poor Beatrice. :(
Want to read
February 22, 2010Queen Victoria's youngest of 9 kids. Sounds interesting
August 7, 2019
Wonderfully written; she had a very sad life.
January 22, 2020
All of Victoria's daughters led miserable lives by modern standards, but Beatrice seems to have been especially victimized. The Queen sucked her entire life out, vampire style.
November 23, 2021
Male writers often don't seem to do female biography subjects justice, and this is no exception. So many assumptions are made about Queen Victoria and her relationship with her youngest daughter Beatrice. Supposedly, Victoria's "selfishness" made Beatrice stay with her and not marry until a relatively old age, and then continue to revolve her life around her mother. I didn't really see evidence of this, and I felt like the author was hyper-focused on this relationship. Beatrice herself seems to have been a private person and didn't leave a whole lot of her personal thoughts on paper (she's the one who edited Victoria's journals, by the way) so I guess the author had to fill in the blanks somehow. Interesting yet disappointing.
August 13, 2020
A fascinating biography on Princess Beatrice, the last daughter of Queen Victoria who spent most of her life being a companion to the depressed Queen. Beatrice was four when Victoria was widowed, and spent most of her childhood aiding her bereaved mother. She found a bit of happiness and freedom later when she wed, but this too was only allowed if Beatrice and her husband would live with the Queen. If British history interests you, this is a biography not to be missed.
March 14, 2018
I didn't know much about Victoria's later years, after Prince Albert died. Her youngest daughter, Beatrice, was only 4 years old when her father died. The Queen went into a deep depression and took mourning to a new level. She was determined to keep her youngest child with her always, as a helper and companion, and was incredibly selfish.
This book is not a light biographical read. It is written from a historical perspective, and students of history or especially British history would appreciate it more than a light reader would. Even so, I was frustrated by the way the writer jumped back and forth in the chronology. Maybe he was trying to do some foreshadowing or something, but it just made things confusing.
Beatrice's life was pieced together from the many letters sent to and from Victoria (and to and from Beatrice), and everything is well documented. Beatrice spent much of her later years "editing" Victoria's journals (over 100 !!). She actually copied them and burned the originals, so we don't know what was changed or omitted entirely. She was completely devoted to Victoria, so it is likely what was left out was overly personal entries, things that might have been embarrassing to be made public or (hopefully) mundane things of no interest to anyone, "what I had for dinner" type things. But ... we'll never know...
This book is not a light biographical read. It is written from a historical perspective, and students of history or especially British history would appreciate it more than a light reader would. Even so, I was frustrated by the way the writer jumped back and forth in the chronology. Maybe he was trying to do some foreshadowing or something, but it just made things confusing.
Beatrice's life was pieced together from the many letters sent to and from Victoria (and to and from Beatrice), and everything is well documented. Beatrice spent much of her later years "editing" Victoria's journals (over 100 !!). She actually copied them and burned the originals, so we don't know what was changed or omitted entirely. She was completely devoted to Victoria, so it is likely what was left out was overly personal entries, things that might have been embarrassing to be made public or (hopefully) mundane things of no interest to anyone, "what I had for dinner" type things. But ... we'll never know...
August 11, 2009
Beatrice was the youngest of Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert's nine children, and only four years old when her father died and her mother embarked upon a long life-time of mourning. As her older children married and formed ties with royalty from throughout Europe, the Queen was determined to keep at least one of her daughters at home to serve as her constant companion and secretary. Too young at the beginning, the role passed through older sisters, until Beatrice, or "Baby," the monikor by which she would be known into adulthood, was old enough to fill in.
Growing up in a house of mourning, Beatrice didn't enjoy many childhood activities, and neither did she have playmates or the company of young people her own age. Her only rebellion against her mother was to fall in love and insist on marrying Prince Henry "Liko" of Battenberg, but even then, Victoria only gave her permission if the pair agreed to make their home with her. While this arrangement was suitable for Beatrice, who had known nothing else, and Prince Henry agreed to it in order to marry Beatrice, he was soon restless, setting off on hunting and sailing jaunts for weeks or even months at a time. Ultimately this was his downfall, as he decided it was his duty to go to Africa to fight the Ashanti, where he caught malaria, and died on his way home.
More interesting in many ways than Beatrice, the ever-devoted and self-subsuming daughter, was the portrait of the Queen who came across as dependent on husband and then children, spoiled, sometimes helpless, and not the imperious monarch who one thought ruled her country with an iron hand, other than within her own family. More reading is needed to understand Victoria within the context of her family and the era.
Growing up in a house of mourning, Beatrice didn't enjoy many childhood activities, and neither did she have playmates or the company of young people her own age. Her only rebellion against her mother was to fall in love and insist on marrying Prince Henry "Liko" of Battenberg, but even then, Victoria only gave her permission if the pair agreed to make their home with her. While this arrangement was suitable for Beatrice, who had known nothing else, and Prince Henry agreed to it in order to marry Beatrice, he was soon restless, setting off on hunting and sailing jaunts for weeks or even months at a time. Ultimately this was his downfall, as he decided it was his duty to go to Africa to fight the Ashanti, where he caught malaria, and died on his way home.
More interesting in many ways than Beatrice, the ever-devoted and self-subsuming daughter, was the portrait of the Queen who came across as dependent on husband and then children, spoiled, sometimes helpless, and not the imperious monarch who one thought ruled her country with an iron hand, other than within her own family. More reading is needed to understand Victoria within the context of her family and the era.
October 4, 2013
The pendulum of public opinion seems to have swung as far as it will go with regard to Queen Victoria and her reign. Or should that be, with disregard? Perhaps it is time for the return swing.
This book about Princess Beatrice, the youngest of the Queen's children, is a dense read, solidly researched and the author makes a good attempt at presenting all the sides of an argument, or ways of seeing an action or decision, often using quotes from letters or personal reports to do so. If you know little of Princess Beatrice this book is an excellent read, interesting and clearly written in plain English.
But, (there had to be a but didn't there?) Mr. Dennison assumes that Queen Victoria's selfishness - 'monumental selfishness' - in keeping Beatrice a child for as long as possible and in expecting her not to marry, but stay at home to look after her, is the monstrous Queen's selfishness alone. Mr. Dennison is a young journalist. Do the new historians who study Victoria's reign believe this too? Those of us born in the 1920s, '30s and '40s will remember spinster aunts and bachelor uncles, or great aunts and great uncles, whose duty had been to remain at home to look after their parents.
There are Victorian books of sermons on that issue and the topic of duty. Perhaps Beatrice was not so much a product of upbringing by a uniquely selfish woman, as Dennison believes, but more the typical product of her age?
October 24, 2016
A fun read on a subject I love, European royalty, particularly the golden age of European royalty, the era of Queen Victoria and her off-spring.
This book centers on Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's ninth and final child. She is often the over-looked child, as her eldest brother became Queen and her eldest sister, the Empress of Germany, both major power players in the lead up to WWI.
While at times the book is bogged down in pointless details or repeats itself (the funeral feeling that hung over Beatrice's early childhood when Queen Victoria became a widow), I did learn some new things, gained insight into the dynamics of Queen Victoria's extensive family - such as the fact that Leopold, Beatrice's older brother next in age to her, didn't like her much, that Beatrice was not very maternal, that the other siblings didn't mind having Beatrice stand in as baby-sitter and life long companion to their mother but didn't like that with this came the inevitable fondness of Queen Victoria to Beatrice over other siblings (can't have your cake and eat it too).
I would have liked a bit more into the dynamics between Beatrice and her husband, how did they even fall in love, what did Liko see in her?
Yet, for those of us who are die-hard fans of this era and English royalty/Queen Victoria, this is a good addition to the library.
I would recommend to royalty aficionados, children doing a school report on the subject or for a fun beach read.
This book centers on Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's ninth and final child. She is often the over-looked child, as her eldest brother became Queen and her eldest sister, the Empress of Germany, both major power players in the lead up to WWI.
While at times the book is bogged down in pointless details or repeats itself (the funeral feeling that hung over Beatrice's early childhood when Queen Victoria became a widow), I did learn some new things, gained insight into the dynamics of Queen Victoria's extensive family - such as the fact that Leopold, Beatrice's older brother next in age to her, didn't like her much, that Beatrice was not very maternal, that the other siblings didn't mind having Beatrice stand in as baby-sitter and life long companion to their mother but didn't like that with this came the inevitable fondness of Queen Victoria to Beatrice over other siblings (can't have your cake and eat it too).
I would have liked a bit more into the dynamics between Beatrice and her husband, how did they even fall in love, what did Liko see in her?
Yet, for those of us who are die-hard fans of this era and English royalty/Queen Victoria, this is a good addition to the library.
I would recommend to royalty aficionados, children doing a school report on the subject or for a fun beach read.
January 20, 2009
Princess Beatrice was the perfectly devoted daughter of Queen Victoria. She grew up in the role of total dedication in all things to the Queen that most of her personal life revolved around taking care of the Queen or the Queen's business. Beatrice did find love and happily married, had children, was widowed early in life, and still served in total devotion to the Queen. I felt a great deal of sympathy for Beatrice because she didn't really have a life of her own with her own interests, never had a home of her own, (always lived in the same palaces as the Queen.) She loved her children, but they were always in the care of others - nannies, tutors, etc., so Beatrice did not develop motherly relationships with any of her children. One positive was that she did not demand the same level of devotion and time from her own children as she had always lived with under her mother's authority. The history given in this book is greatly interesting and overwhelming. So many details I'd never heard before about Victoria & Albert. Now the many diaries and letters and records that were painstakingly put on paper have been made available. Beatrice re-wrote her mother's life story (her journals), so there are some things Beatrice knew that no one else did and maybe never will. Totally engrossing book.
March 3, 2011
I'm in two minds about this book. It did give me some interesting information to flesh out my rather shaky image of Princess Beatrice and made me understand why she edited her mother's journals - something that had previously made me vilify her somewhat - and completed my increased research into Queen Victoria's children.
However, I got the impression that Dennison didn't really like his subject. While he told us of Beatrice being a wonderfully talented pianist and translator, he always very quickly races back to the point that she couldn't express her full talent because of her mother. I'm pretty certain that he has a vendetta against Queen Victoria as well from the way that she is portrayed as all but Evil with a capital E. However, there were other sides to her character, which were admittedly diminished where bringing up and corresponding with her children were concerned, that are sadly neglected here.
This book does prompt me to inadvertently add a slightly patronising 'poor' to Beatrice's name, like many a Wales sister, but Beatrice was certainly never always like that. Take her behaviour as a child for instance, and her stubbornness to marry. After reading more about her, I've gained a more unbiased view of Beatrice's life, but this book was certainly a good start.
However, I got the impression that Dennison didn't really like his subject. While he told us of Beatrice being a wonderfully talented pianist and translator, he always very quickly races back to the point that she couldn't express her full talent because of her mother. I'm pretty certain that he has a vendetta against Queen Victoria as well from the way that she is portrayed as all but Evil with a capital E. However, there were other sides to her character, which were admittedly diminished where bringing up and corresponding with her children were concerned, that are sadly neglected here.
This book does prompt me to inadvertently add a slightly patronising 'poor' to Beatrice's name, like many a Wales sister, but Beatrice was certainly never always like that. Take her behaviour as a child for instance, and her stubbornness to marry. After reading more about her, I've gained a more unbiased view of Beatrice's life, but this book was certainly a good start.
April 18, 2013
Enjoyed The Last Princess very much. Here is the youngest child of Queen Victoria. That was so long ago. Yet she died shortly before I was born. So she's like of my time, too. She doesn't remember her dad, the beloved Prince Albert. She is her mother's little charmer in this world of her mother's emptiness. And when her older sibblings grow up, marry, and go away, young Beatrice is her mother's all purpose everything. The youngest daughters weren't supposed to marry. They were supposed to stay home and care for their aging parents whether they were queens or not. And Beatrice did. And Mother Victoria insured it to be so by undermining her daughter's confidence which was already low, and not allowing her to socialize with eligible men.
But Beatrice did marry, late for the times, and had 4 children, and her husband died of malaria in his late 30s. Beatrice had never left her mother's side during this time. That was a condition of her marriage. And for the rest of her life, until her 1940 death, 30 years after her mother died, Beatrice edited her journals and correspondence and condinued to live her mother's life.
This might not be a book for those who have not read Queen Victoria's bio or the bios of her children. But it's a fabulous companion piece to those books.
But Beatrice did marry, late for the times, and had 4 children, and her husband died of malaria in his late 30s. Beatrice had never left her mother's side during this time. That was a condition of her marriage. And for the rest of her life, until her 1940 death, 30 years after her mother died, Beatrice edited her journals and correspondence and condinued to live her mother's life.
This might not be a book for those who have not read Queen Victoria's bio or the bios of her children. But it's a fabulous companion piece to those books.
September 26, 2016
Very well written biography that wasn't too dry though didn't talk about all the interesting aspects. The Journals that she edited were one of the main reasons I was so interested in her as there seems to be very little information on the extent of her editing. Though the author does talk about it, he doesn't address it enough for my personal liking. Yes, it was intriguing to see her role as her mother's wall to the world, but that topic has nearly been beaten to death by any biography of Queen Victoria or her children. It seems the majority of the book focused on the first 44 years of her life ignoring the other 44. Next to zero is given on the children, not even the customary epilogue about her descendants today. He also seems to assume we know about certain events (her husband's death particularly) so that chapter mostly deals with how Liko got on to that Ashanti voyage and some anecdotes about the years after his death. It was great to read a biography of royals that didn't mention and list every little thing they did with every little charity, down to the details, though I suspect that as because Beatrice only was active in the charities close to her. Overall not bad though could have been better
December 23, 2008
An excellent biography of Victoria's youngest child who devoted her life (willingly or no) to taking care of her mother during life and her journals after her death.
Dennison is clearly not enamored with Victoria's behavior towards her children. The Queen appears both fragile and tyrannical, but always self-centered. I do appreciate the parallels he drew between mother and daughter as they were both raised as lonely children. However, his almost rancor towards Victoria comes on a somewhat too strong at times. I'm not sure that it's necessarily fueled by the historical record (of which there is little, and Dennison does well with what he has), but perhaps by his own pity and feelings for Beatrice. This is certainly how I felt throughout the book, but I became more frustrated with the author for not teasing things out more. His style of jumping back and forth in the record and the already complicated nature of Victoria's extended family doesn't help either.
Otherwise, a fast and engaging read on a snowy day.
Dennison is clearly not enamored with Victoria's behavior towards her children. The Queen appears both fragile and tyrannical, but always self-centered. I do appreciate the parallels he drew between mother and daughter as they were both raised as lonely children. However, his almost rancor towards Victoria comes on a somewhat too strong at times. I'm not sure that it's necessarily fueled by the historical record (of which there is little, and Dennison does well with what he has), but perhaps by his own pity and feelings for Beatrice. This is certainly how I felt throughout the book, but I became more frustrated with the author for not teasing things out more. His style of jumping back and forth in the record and the already complicated nature of Victoria's extended family doesn't help either.
Otherwise, a fast and engaging read on a snowy day.
December 1, 2008
In this biography, the author portrays Princess Beatrice as a passive, dutiful daughter to her widow mother, Queen Victoria of England. In addition, he describes Queen Victoria as a widow who is so overwhelmed with grief over the death of her husband, that she cannot function and has to rely on her daughter to help her carry out her royal duties. This book contradicts everything I've previously read about Queen Victoria who has always been characterized as a strong-willed woman (anyone who has read Born to Rule will know she is anything BUT weak) so I'm not sure what to make of the author's perspective. I also thought the writing could have been better--it was very "formal" and dry. Not one of the bettter books I've read on the English monarchy.
November 18, 2008
Some of this book was contained in Born to Rule as Victoria's last daughter, Princess Beatrice was the mother of Queen Ena of Spain. So I have already read about the granddaughter and now have the book about the mother.
Upon completion of this book, the story of Princess Beatrice is really remarkable. This woman totally immursed herself in service to her aging and morning mother, Queen Victoria. It is not only a story about the life of the Princess but a closer look at the life of a very self absorbed mother.
Beatrice is the great grandmother to Spain current King Juan Carlos so the ties between the past and the present are very close.
Upon completion of this book, the story of Princess Beatrice is really remarkable. This woman totally immursed herself in service to her aging and morning mother, Queen Victoria. It is not only a story about the life of the Princess but a closer look at the life of a very self absorbed mother.
Beatrice is the great grandmother to Spain current King Juan Carlos so the ties between the past and the present are very close.
October 10, 2015
I love to read books about Queen Victoria and her children, and this one was about a daughter I've read less about than the others, Beatrice. It was a fairly interesting book, but it had a strange flaw---an EXTREME case of staying on topic. The topic was that Queen Victoria didn't let Beatrice have a life of her own, mostly because of her extended grief over Albert's death. This was certainly the case, but it's mentioned one way or another in just about literally EVERY PARAGRAPH. After a while, I was mentally screaming "You don't have to keep saying it! We get the point!" It was a truly odd quirk in an otherwise pretty good book.
April 22, 2008
This book was obviously painstakingly researched. I can only imagine the breadth of documents the author must have sifted through. Unfortunately, this book is so dry that it would probably serve better as reference material. The various characters were referred to by their first names, sometimes nicknames, and other times their official royal titles, which became confusing. There were nuggets of very interesting information that I gleaned from the book, but for the most part I found the author's prose to be more banausic than stimulating.
July 20, 2009
I'm really into the Royal family at the moment, so when my sister went to the Isle of Wight she bought me this book on Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Beatrice. To start I found it quite tough going as I wasn't too keen on the author's style of writing. Also because I had just finished a book about Queen Victoria the first part of this book just repeated info that I had already read. But by the end I did enjoy the book more. I think I got used to the style of writing because it didn't seem to bother me so much and I was interested in the content too.
July 20, 2012
I really didn't care for this book. It looks at the life of Queen Victoria's youngest child, Princess Beatrice and her "servitude" to her mother after the death of the Prince Consort. That "servitude" began when the child was four years old and continued throughout her mother's lifetime. There is so much repetition in the narrative that it had me skipping pages. It went on and on about the Queen's complete domination of her favorite daughter that I began to dislike both the Queen and Princess Beatrice. I am probably the minority opinion on this book but frankly, it bored me.
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