Dearest Affie: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's Second Son

by John van der Kiste

Queen Victoria's second son Prince Alfred ('Affie'), Duke of Edinburgh, a gifted and capable officer in the Royal Navy, led a life of adventure perhaps unrivalled by any other European prince of the time. At the age of eighteen he was elected King of Greece, though unable to accept the crown for political reasons, and during a voyage round the world five years later he was almost assassinated in Australia by an Irish republican sympathiser. His marriage to Grand Duchess Marie, daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, was controversial as became evident when Anglo-Russian antagonism nearly led to a war in which the Duke would have had to serve against his wife's country. Equally problematical was his succession to the duchy of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, when his English loyalties were questioned by the political climate of imperial Germany under his nephew Emperor William II, in a period when the Anglo-German rivalry leading to the outbreak of the First World War, which the Duke did not live to see, could later be traced.

This first biography of a curiously neglected royal prince was originally published in 1984, and has been extensively revised and expanded with the addition of further material.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1984

About the author

John Van der Kiste, British author, was born in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, on September 15, 1954, son of Wing Commander Guy Van der Kiste (1912–99). He was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, where he briefly formed a rock band Cobweb with fellow pupil Miles Tredinnick, later vocalist with new wave band London and subsequently playwright and scriptwriter, and read Librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the librarians’ student magazine.
He has worked for several years in public and academic libraries, but is best known as a writer. His first book, Frederick III, appeared in 1981, and since then he has published over twenty historical biographies, as well as books on local history, true crime, rock music, a novel and a play. He is also a contributor to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Guinness Rockopaedia, and has produced articles on historical, musical and art subjects in national and local journals, including Illustrated London News, Royalty Digest, European Royal History Journal, Best of British, BBC History Magazine, Record Collector, Antique Collector, This England, The Independent, and Gibbons Stamp Monthly. He has reviewed books and records for the press, written CD booklet notes, and between 1991 and 1996 edited the 70s rock fanzine Keep on Rockin.
In 2002 he was a consultant for the BBC TV documentary 'The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar', first screened in January 2003.
He married professional musician and teacher Kim Graham (née Geldard) in 2003 and lives in Devon.

Reviews

[Diana Cheal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started off really enjoying this but then it whizzed through his final years and I whizzed through too. I wish there was more detail and there must be more letters and more diaries and things.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edition read was a Kindle edition, revised and released in 2012. Original book was published in 1984.

"Dearest Affie" is a biography of Queen Victoria's second son and third child Alfred. This 2012 e-book is a revised edition of the book first published in 1984. The book is difficult to find and expensive. I had biographies of six of Victoria's nine children, so when I saw this e-book, I snapped it up. There are many typographical errors which is just unacceptable to me. Whoever edited this e-book did not do his/her job. While there is much information on Affie, as he was called in the family, for me the naval information was not that interesting and I did skim most of those parts. While I appreciate the information in the book, I found it somewhat of a pedestrian read.