An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm

by Hannah Pakula

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist

An epic story of wars and revolutions, of the rise and fall of royal families, and of the birth of modern Germany is brilliantly told through the lives of the couple in the eye of the storm: Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Crown Princess Vicky, and her handsome, idealistic husband, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia.

Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, this authoritative biography of a remarkable woman at war with the antidemocratic, antifeminist forces of her day captures all of the intrigues, deceptions, and betrayals that shaped the crucial period of European history between the revolutions of 1848 and the beginning of World War I in 1914.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, Germany, Historical, Biography Memoir

704 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Hannah Pakula is the author of "The Last Empress," which was a New York Times notable book, "The Last Romantic: A Biograpy of Queen Marie of Roumania," which was called by Graham Greene the best biography and one of the three best books of the year, and "An Uncommon Woman: Empress Frederick," which was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. Pakula has also written for magazines including Vanity Fair and book reviews for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. She lives in New York City.

Married to Robert L. Boorstin and widowed at thirty-five, she was married for twenty-five years to filmmaker Alan J. Pakula, who died in a freak car accident in 1998. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill medal in human rights.

Reviews

[Wealhtheow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly masterful book. Pakula pulls together everything from social theory to medical history to thousands of letters to create a portrait of the Empress Dowager Frederick. The first born and cleverest child of Queen Victoria, Vicky married the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick. Theirs was a truly loving marriage and a meeting of two idealistic, thoughtful minds. Unfortunately, Prussia (led by Frederick's conservative father Wilhelm I and the EVIL EVIL EVIL Chancellor Bismarck) was highly conservative and Anglophobic. Frederick was a talented soldier (papers released decades later made it clear he was a main reason Prussia won the Austro-Prussian War) and dedicated son. Unfortunately, by the time he took the throne he was dying of throat cancer, and only ruled a few months. His crazed son, Kaiser Wilhelm II, took the throne immediately.

Here's what I learned from this book: Vicky was super awesome. She dedicated herself to understanding world politics until the last weeks of her long, drawn out death by cancer (German doctors wouldn't give her more than tiny doses of morphine, so she died in incredible agony). Thanks to the state-owned press, which released constant propaganda against her and her husband, she never got to do the good she dreamt of. But even without official support or money, she spent her life nursing, spreading hygiene plans, and collecting for charities. She was shamefully treated by the Prussian court, most especially by her sociopathic eldest son, Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II was totes crazy. Bismark was an evil manipulative genius who was directly responsible for WWI and indirectly for WWII. His anti-semitic war mongering propaganda ruined the mindset of the German people for a generation.

If I could rewrite history, I would kill off Wilhelm I so Frederick could rule, and kill off Bismarck and WIlhelm II so they wouldn't frustrate Frederick and Vicky's liberal plans.
Of course, if I could *really* rewrite history, I would make Vicky the ruler. I loved her.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book lies. This is not, as one might think, a biography-This is three biographies and a history in one. Obstenisbly, this is a biography of Queen Victoria's eldest child, the Princess Royal of England and eventual Empress of Germany, Victoria, or "Vicky", as she is referred to throughout the book. However, this is also a biography of Otto von Bismarck- or as I've taken to calling him The Worst Jerk Who Ever Jerked In the History of Ever, as well as her son, the mad Kaiser Wilhelm II. And in necessary parallel to all three of these lives, we get the story of the unification of Germany and all the different influences that brought it about.

I think Pakula does a fairly good job of keeping the book as narrowly focused as possible, given the scope that she's set for herself. If anything, because her statements require the fullest possible knowledge of these people and everything they did, it seems like we do not get enough information. She does have a tendancy to also do things out of order, which can be somewhat confusing- for example, at times she has just finished explaining a major bill in the Reichstag, and then goes back three years to talk about the royal family's marriages. I understand that it is difficult to keep everything linear when it feels like you have to cover everything that happens with all the major figures that might shed any light on your main character, though.

I did have difficulty finishing the book- but that's not a reflection of its quality- it was very well written, informative without being dry. It was just so so hard watching a constant series of clusterfucks form and knowing it was heading, incredibly unnecssarily and unintentionally, to WWI. Not even the evil people who set up the climates of chauvanism, militarism, and suspicion in Germany would have wanted it to end where it was going. Not even Bismarck- Jerky Jerk Jerkface. On the plus side, I thought this book was probably the best argument against absolute monarchy I've ever read (not that thats a hard argument to make)- Wilhelm II's "Willy's" utter insanity and the inability of anyone to stop him, despite the obvious evidence of his ridiculousness, cruelty (sometimes utterly chilling) and general ludicrous unsuitablity to lead a country.

Vicky, on the other hand, comes off as a liberal, open minded woman who was constantly constantly constantly put upon in the most vicious ways possible- her husband as well. If occasionally they gave into the establishment, and eventually gave up hope of reform- well, the book definitely shows you why, and stamps out any questions you might have about why the way Germany was the way it was at the time and why there was no revolution and no change, long after pretty much every other country had moved on. I felt so painfully bad for her-her unbelievable patience in the face of being constantly maligned for things she could not help, ie, being born English, or you know, not believing that the King was a God on Earth. It is an interesting what if to contemplate- what if her liberal, reform minded husband had survived long enough to make his rule felt.

Yeah, mostly I just felt like a five year old screaming 'BUT ITS NOT FAIR!!' in my corner most of this book.

Sometimes life really sucks and then you die. That's about what I got out of this book.

[Jenni Wiltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely has a book made me wonder "what if..." quite this much. The research that went into this biography of Queen Victoria's oldest daughter is amazing. Not only do you get an enjoyable read about an interesting royal personage, you get a detailed look at Bismarck and the creation of the German empire. Without getting too far into the politics of it all, let's just say the world would have been a very different place if Fritz (Vicky's husband and heir to the Prussian throne) hadn't died when he did. It's not a stretch to say that one, if not two, world wars might have been averted.

This book also got me thinking about choices and fate. How much of our destinies do we really control? One reviewer called Vicky's life a "tragedy," and at first, I was hesitant to accept that word. She wasn't assassinated, like Empress Elizabeth of Austria. She didn't lose her crown or her life in a revolution, like the Romanovs. But the tragedy here isn't kinetic, like it was for Elizabeth or Nicholas II. It's potential. Vicky's life - and Fritz's, too - reminded me of the Henry James novella "The Beast in the Jungle." If you've read it, you know what I mean.

Pakula is a balanced writer - she'll tell you when Vicky was right and she'll tell you when Vicky couldn't see the forest for the trees. You'll probably want to shake Vicky for doing so little to combat the vicious rumor-mongering that pretty much destroyed her reputation. Pakula does a good job of ferreting out the times when Bismarck was telling the truth versus the seemingly incalculable number of times he lied to Vicky. He may have accomplished great things, but he sacrificed Fritz and Vicky to do it. They were too earnest to fight fire with fire. Part of me wonders what might have happened if they did.

I wish Pakula had included a little more detail on Vicky's kids. When she dies, the book ends abruptly. We get a few wrap-up sentences that encapsulate Wilhelm's role in World War I, and simple notations on what happened to the rest of the kids after the war. But since so many of her kids seemed like jerks, I think there's a lot of room for analysis: why? Did any of their behavior change after her death? How did two compassionate, loving, and intelligent people end up with kids like Wilhelm, Charlotte, and Henry?

There's more to this story, I think, but since the book is already 600+ pages, that's probably a question for a different book entirely.

Highly recommended.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I picked up this book, I knew almost nothing about Vicky aka the Empress Frederick. I never intended to read the entire book, but it was so well-written and compelling that I could not stop myself. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert raised their firstborn child to play a role that she was never allowed to perform. She was brilliant and well educated--a woman of many gifts. Raised to admire the British values of a constitutional monarchy and the rule of law, Vicky was expected to transmit those values to Germany and the next generation. Vicky's royal parents arranged her marriage to a future German monarch while she was still a child. From the beginning, Vicky and Prince Frederick Wilhelm had a loving and companionable marriage which seemed to be unusual, and even suspect, in the German royal court. Other members of the royal family were suspicious of the "die Englanderin" and her foreign values. Chancellor Bismarck cruelly used this xenophobia for his own nefarious purposes, though Vicky was often too trusting and lacking in guile to perceive it.
Related to virtually every royal family member in Europe, Vicky and her family were at the center of many of the great events of the day. This book includes both the sweep of the history of the age and many fascinating anecdotes as well. Vicky and Frederick's firstborn son, Wilhelm II, was a very troubled individual and probably not fit to rule a nation. He was forced to abdicate at the end of the first world war.

[Stephanie Duhon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book with a lot of detail. It was time consuming because of the incredible amount of historical information. I enjoyed a different angle of the unification of Germany by seeing it through Vicky's eyes. Victoria was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of England who married the heir to the Prussian throne at the age of 17. She was the mother of Kaiser Wilhem II.

[Bookslut · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel I've come through a great trial with an old friend. This very long, very detailed book captivated me at the start--I'd never read about the monarchy before!--lost and punished me through 350 pages of German politics, and then held me for the last 200 pages, throughout which I was mostly rapt as the Crown Prince (*spoiler*) dies and leaves the Empress Dowager behind. Except where we lapsed back into Bismarck-speak, and then I'd hate it. I gather he was a pretty important player, but man, what a meaningless read in his sections, and not related in a direct way to the "biography" we are promised. It's like the author's schtick is to write about famous women, but what she really pines to do is write elaborate histories, so she cloaks one within the other. I could've eliminated most of the book and substituted it with a couple paragraphs letting me know Bismarck and the Empress did not get along. Additionally, much of the history read in a very unclear way, even though I was really paying attention. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the way she wrote in those sections. However, the beginning and the end of the book were redeeming, and I was moved by her story. The love affair between Vicky and Fritz was very inspiring. What a man, and what a master of words he was--swoon! I've never gone in much for proclamations of love and admiration, but maybe that's because Crown Prince Friedrich wasn't wooing me. He sure loved his wife.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you envision the life of a princess as something from fairy tales, the biography of Vicky, the firstborn of England's Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg will dispel any such notions. Vicky was a serious, intelligent girl, tutored in principles of liberal governance by her father. At 17, she married a man she loved and admired, the similarly-principled Frederick, in line for the throne of Prussia. But various forces of history conspired to thwart Vicky's ideals and her happiness. At 18, she nearly died giving birth to her first child, Wilhelm, whose arm was badly damaged as the doctors apparently mangled a breach birth. One of her 7 subsequent children died at a young age, and when Vicky herself was barely 21, she lost her beloved father, Albert, who might have been her guide through the tumultuous political developments then underway that led to the unification of the German Empire in 1871. As it was, Vicky and Frederick found themselves marginalized as Frederick's father, Wilhelm I, lived to a very old age and remained under the sway of chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, whose views were quite different from theirs, and who used his powers with the press and government to turn public sentiment against them. When Frederick finally ascended to the throne of Germany in 1888, he was already in the advanced stages of throat cancer, another medical catastrophe badly bungled by conflicts between English and German doctors. He died in agony after only 99 days as emperor, leaving the throne to Wilhelm II, their impetuous and seemingly unstable 29-year-old son. Wilhelm shunned his mother and did little to enhance her public image or her comfort in life. In 1901, at the age of 60, Vicky died an agonizing death from breast cancer that spread to her spine. But before she died, she managed to have her decades of letters to her mother (which had been returned to her upon Victoria's death a few months earlier) safely taken back to England. Vicky had written to her mother as frequently as 3 times per week over the course of 43 years, insightful letters that recounted political events as well as family ones. As Hannah Pakula recounts about Wilhelm II and Vicky:

The Kaisers's efforts to hide the real facts of his mother's life came out in a conversation that took place shortly after her death, when [Frederick] Ponsonby, who had spirited her letters out of Germany a few months earlier, returned with Edward VII for the funeral.

One evening after dinner, the King's secretary was approached by Count August zu Eulenburg, head of the Kaiser's household. Eulenburg said that no letters or papers had been found when the Dowager Empress died, although a "thorough search" had taken place. The Kaiser had instructed him to find out "whether by chance these letters were in the archives at Windsor."

Ponsonby, who had never taken the letters out of his own home, replied that he would write at once to Lord Esher, the keeper of the archives at Windsor. In due course, a note came back, saying that the letters were "certainly not in the archives."

The letters that told Vicky's story remained safely locked away in Ponsonby's house for over a quarter of a century. Not until 1928, in answer to the publication of a self-serving memoir by Wilhelm II, exiled in Holland after World War I, did Fritz's godson edit and publish these letters.

It was Vicky's one and only triumph over Bismarck and her son.

Those letters form the foundation of Hannah Pakula's thorough research. If you want to know the broad outlines of Vicky's life, the entry about her at wikipedia does a pretty good job. Pakula's book provides a more thorough portrait, with ample background about the political and social environment in which Vicky lived. I learned much about European history in the late 18th century from reading this book, along with developing an admiration for Vicky, whose story should be more widely known. At 600 pages, the book takes some perseverance, but Pakula is an engaging writer who paints vivid work pictures. I'm glad I shared this journey with her.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite simply a brilliant biography of a complex and highly imperfect woman with perfect and noble intentions in an impossible time, place and world. A "liberal", reformist, constitutional monarchist from England thrown into the gestation of the unified German state where nationalism became an anti-reform movement Crown Princess Victoria met with skepticism and antipathy from the moment she set foot on German soil. The daughter of Victoria and Albert, wife of Frederick and mother of Wilhelm she was set upon and set for herself a path of impossible contradictions, conflicting agendas and sorely tested loyalties.

The writing is accomplished and compelling and the characters seem cut from the best cloth of fiction.

The priggish, moralistic and intense father as tutor, mentor and beatified god. The distant but oppressive, often conditional and undoubtedly loving mother the great Queen. The loving and seemingly perfect if somewhat weak though handsome husband. The Grimmsian in-laws who's personal acrimony took hostages on a familial and political plane. Willie, the heir to it all: physically and mentally damaged, doomed to disappoint his brilliant mother and principled father and wreak revenge on them mercilessly for his weaknesses and their awareness of them. Bismarck, Machiavelli's Prince writ large with the exquisite amorality of Talleyrand.

With impeccable "fact" research, well reasoned behavioral theses and reliance on the treasure trove of letters between Vicki and Victoria Pakula has delivered a highly satisfying and heart-wrenching account of the life and times of Empress Frederick.

[Carri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I plunged into this book after completing what could be considered a primer on Queen Victoria. Empress Frederick was her name amongst German royalty. Her previous title among English Royalty was Princess Victoria. To her mother, Queen Victoria of England, she was simply Vickie. Who raised a bratty child who grew up to plunge his country into WWI. Bad Kaiser!

I was not prepared for the complex web of detail, but found myself challenged to understand and keep up with the writer.

More often than not, the book seemed like more of a biography of Otto von Bismark and late 19th century Germany than of the woman herself. She and her mother wrote each other nearly everyday. These letters are referenced, but the story does not primarily focus on Vickie. This book could very easily have been divided into two completely different books. I simply wish there had been more insight into her life and that of her family.

I do have a much greater sense of how the world could have been spared WWI. Bad Kaiser.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a big surprise for me, since I was not familiar with the author and am relatively well read in the subject matter. However, it was fascinating and one of the most enjoyable works of history Ive tackled in a long time.

The author uses letters and primary source materials very effectively here. Also, she provides great historical perspective on the Empress Frederick, so much so that this hefty 600+ page book also serves as a good primer on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; the founding the German Empire; the Franco-Prussian War; the life and work of Prince Bismarck; some of the thorny and complicated European diplomatic disputes of the late 19th century (such as the Schleswig-Holstein question); and the life of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

My only caveat might be that this work could be a bit overwhelming if the reader does not have at least some grounding in and familiarity with the players in this drama from the outset. Otherwise, it is a rich and detailed tome which is mercifully broken up into short chapters for easy digestion.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and look forward to re-reading it again in the future. Hannah Pakula is a great writer and researcher. Queen Victoria was a whinny, demanding, needy person who controlled everyone around her, esp. her children - they could do nothing right! The heroine of the book is her daughter Vicky, who become the princess of Prussia having married Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. It is amazing to learn of Vicky and Fritz's loving marriage and the devotion they had for each other and how Fritz tried in vain to bring Prussia into the modern world while they both competed against Bismarck for the King's ear. The most intriguing notion to learn was how Willy, their oldest son was needy and had a strange obsessed love of pageantry and later became Kaiser Wilhelm II, a man not prepared in anyway to lead his nation. This book provides a reader a solid understanding of how the government of Prussia was ill-equipped to deal with the modern age and the basis for the rise of Hilter. Really intriguing, fun to read, and I learned a lot.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was well researched. I can't believe how she was treated for so long. I understand why the author included all the history and so much info about Bismarck but it got a little boring.

[LynnDee (LynnDee's Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really like a 3 in one biography because you get the life story of Victoria, Otto von Bismark (who was absolutely diabolical) and Wilhelm (even more diabolical). And you also get the history of Prussia! So like, history nerds will love this (it's me, I'm history nerd). Overall, a very well researched biography.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bio, Uncommon Woman, is thoroughly researched. Its author, Hannah Pakula, knows the era's, as well as, the Prussian Court's complicated history and intrigues; and she uses primary sources, as opposed to, relying on what others have said, to write it, which is a strength. Since Prussia's ultra conservative politician, Bismarck, methodically plotted to rob Vicky and her liberal-minded husband, Fritz of their rightful places in history (and his Realpolitik diplomacy made the world ripe for WWI) I understand why the author needs to include the German Chancellor as part of the storytelling, but sometimes Crown Princess Victoria gets lost in the book because of it.

Relationships you the reader, want to know more about in a Vicky bio get abridged: Prince Albert's love for his eldest daughter; her happy marriage to Fritz; her sometimes challenging relationships with her 3 oldest children: Wilhelm (1859), Charlotte (1860) and Henry (1862); her easier relationships with her 3 youngest daughters: Victoria (1866), Sophia (1870) and Margaret (1872); and the devastating deaths of her two youngest sons {and middle children}: Sigismund (1864) and Waldemar (1868), are all reported, yet are surprisingly not that intimate, lacking the details. Sometimes Vicky's more personal affairs are mentioned in a paragraph, while entire chapters on Bismarck and the diplomacy of foreign countries (France, Russia, and England) go on for several chapters in full details.

Also I know from other books, Crown Princess Victoria saw her siblings over the years, but the visits and sibling relationships are barely mentioned in this book. And too, her remarkable intelligence, talents, kindness and perseverance are touched upon, but again leave a reader wanting.

Still Uncommon Woman is a must-read, because it's probably the best, most comprehensive and scholarly book on Empress Victoria to-date.

Sadly, after 30 years as heir, Frederick III came to the German throne terminally ill, dying of throat cancer (in 1888) after ruling for only 99 days. Bless him, he devoted himself to signing as many bills as he could prudently push through in his 3 months as Emperor, yet the dream of a democratic Germany was not to be. What might have been had his wait been shorter and his reign longer?

As a Dowager Empress, Vicky had little influence, and her relationship with her more autocratic and conservative son, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was polite, yet strained and guarded, thanks again in part to Bismarck (along with Bismarch's diabolical son, Herbert) who worked for years to turn young Wilhelm's loyalty away from his parents. Kaiser Wilhelm II both loved and resented his mother. Although certainly not the villian and war monger that history makes him out to be, according to this book, at times he was a thoughtless son.

Empress Victoria retreated to Kornberg im Taunus and built a castle, called Friedrichshof, after her beloved husband. There she lived with her 3 youngest daughters (shortly thereafter arranging their marriages), staying in close contact with liberal thinkers and devoting herself to painting.
I wrestle with whether or not to call Emperor and Empress Frederick III a tragic couple. They didn't get to rule long enough to fulfill Prince Albert's great hope of establishing a politically progressive and constitutional Germany, which was, indeed, tragic and with consequences. But since they had a happy marriage and lived an interesting, enlightened life as Crown Prince and Crown Princess, I stop short of it.

Fritz is not given the credit he deserves in turning the Germanies into one unified Germany (due to Bismarck's evil manipulation of the press). Nonetheless, husband and wife were soul mates; both intellectuals and accomplished; and they lived with a sense of great purpose.

[Christina Croft, the author of several books on Queen Victoria's family, thinks Victoria, the Princess Royal, would have made a great British Queen, and I agree. A pity the era did not give Queen Victoria's gifted firstborn child the chance.]

Twelve years after her husband, German Empress Victoria died at age 60 on August 5, 1901 of breast cancer. For history, she left behind a lifetime of insightful correspondence with her mother, Queen Victoria. (Her brother, Edward VII on a visit to his dying sister, arranged via his private secretary to smuggle the letters out of Germany into England. The royal family was afraid the new Kaiser Wilhelm II might destroy them.)

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Empress Victoria's descendants became kings and queens of Spain, Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia and of course, Germany.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Uncommon Woman is a well written, intricately researched biography of Queen Victoria's eldest child, Vicki.

Using the forty years of almost daily letters between mother and daughter, Hannah Pakula creates an intimate portrait of Vicki, and the events she lived through. It offers the reader a personal perspective during a period that has been generalized as the Victorian era. But it is so much more complex because of the extensive family ties between the royal monarchs in England, Germany, Russia, France and nearly every other country in Europe with the exception of Spain.

What I enjoyed most was learning about the personality and ambitions of Prince Albert. He was a German from the Hohonzollern family, and had dreamt that his homeland would be united, Germany and Prussia, around a liberal democratic monarchy similar to England's. His daughter, Vicki, adored him, and she spent her entire adult life trying to bring his dream to reality.

As part of Prince Albert's ambitions for Germany and Prussia, he and Queen Victoria orchestrate Vicki's marriage to Friedrich III, Kaiser in waiting.

It turned out to be a love match of soul mates.

Yet, life as the Kaiserin in Germany was anything but a fairy tale. Vicki was ostracized by her in-laws, used as a political tool by Bismarck, Chancellor of German, and then rejected by her eldest three children. It was a hard existence as she was constantly under attack by the German press. Her (and her husband's) more liberal views were not in sync with the hard-line monarchist in control.

It's a balanced portrait because Pakula doesn't hide the evidence that Vicki, while intelligent and energetic, and caught in a vicious trap with her in-laws, was not a particularly good parent when it came to her oldest son, Wilhelm. Her letters to Queen Victoria are unsparingly critical of Wilhelm as a child and seem to presage bringing out the worst in his character.

The story is partly about two essentially good people, Vicki and her husband, Fritz, producing the Caligula of the nineteenth century. Wilhelm II was the imbecile who led the charge to WWI, and nearly destroyed Germany in the process.

A secondary but equally important aspect of this biography is the perspective on Bismarck, the mastermind behind Germany's ascent to becoming a world power. He plays a huge role in the politics of the era, pitting one enemy against another. Reading about the machinations within Europe, Russia and England during this period makes you realize we're still fighting the same old conflicts of ambition, greed and ego.

There was only one section of the book I found hard to read--the time when Fritz is ill. It was a little too graphic, and I found I it difficult getting through some of the passages.

Anyone interested in history, especially from a strong woman's point of view, will enjoy this biography.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a much more textured book than the last royal biography I read; but Victoria the Princess Royal who became Kaiserin of Germany and the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II is much more important to history than the youngest daughter of Czar Alexander III.

Although the book is wonderfully written and rife with notes and bibliography I was left unsatisfied with the description of the Crown Princess of Prussia's relationship with her eldest son. There was a great deal of detail when it came to the later years, but nothing during Willy's infancy and young boyhood. This is probably because Vicky (always called this in the book to distinguish her from her mother, Queen Victoria) did not keep a journal as seemingly every other member of Victoria's family.

Vicky's life was one of more unhappiness than happiness. Groomed to marry into the powerful Hohenzollern dynasty by her father, Prince Albert, she was lucky enough to have deeply loved her husband. Vicky was the brightest of all of Victoria and Albert's children and very much her father's favorite. She and her husband, Fritz, later Frederick III, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, hoped to foster a strong parliamentary tradition to counteract the militarism of Prussia but they were stymied at every turn by the rigid Prussian court, royal family backbiting and finally by Otto von Bismark. As much as Vicky tried to become German she finally fell back on her Englishness after her husband's death from throat cancer after a reign of only a few months. Her subsequent treatment by her oldest son and his consort and her two other elder children is really rather shocking. During her whole life in Germany she was maligned and lied about. One thing is quite clear in the book that much of the culture that became so deadly under Hitler was already becoming more and more toxic in the last decades of the 19th century. If only Frederick and Victoria had been able to reign in Berlin a natural length perhaps the story of 20th century Europe (and the world) would have been much more pleasant. Fritz and Vicky represented the Germany of poets and philosophers but his father, their son, and Prince Bismark won out.

One comic side note. There was no mention of Queen Victoria's supposed advice to the Princess Royal on her obligations as a wife; there wasn't a word about closing her eyes and thinking of England. Alas. I rather enjoy that vignette of the Victorian (and I do mean Victorian) sex education.

[HalKid2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

For lovers of history, this is an exceptional biography. Readable, thorough and very well researched and documented. The Empress was certainly a woman ahead of her time: educated, thoughtful, and, despite the expected role of women at her time, deeply involved in the world of international politics.

In Pakula's biography, we learn about the:
• Deep lifelong influence of Princess Victoria's (Vicky) connection with her father, Prince Albert, since both were so very much alike in intelligence, character and outlook.
• More challenging relationship between Princess Victoria and her domineering, self-absorbed mother, Queen Victoria.
• Loving and romantic relationship with her husband, Germany's Crown Prince Friedrich
• Her evolving relationships with all her children, including the very interesting and troubled one with the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is quite a character.
• Deeply suspicious court of Prussia where anti-English feelings ran deep and often centered on Vicky.
• Lifelong battle she fought with her husband to move Bismarck's Prussia toward a more constitutional monarchy and away from the oppressive, warlike stance that was so deeply ingrained in the country's identity.

The most enjoyable part of this book for me was reading the excerpts from the hundreds of letters between Vicky and her mother about everything from politics, to childrearing, to arranging royal matches throughout Europe.

This is a biography that does an excellent job documenting both the public and personal sides of Vicky's life and her influence in Germany during a 40+ year period during the 1800s. It's also a fascinating look at the origins of many of the events and alliances in Europe that would eventually culminate in World War I.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has left me conflicted, because although thoroughly researched and well-written, I have reached the end and felt I haven't really learned all that much about Victoria, the Empress Frederick, who the book is supposedly centred on, but more about the state of 19th-20th German politics. At times it read as a biography of Otto von Bismarck or Victoria's son Kaiser Wilhelm than it did about Victoria herself. It is difficult when so much of the source material is male-oriented and in a sphere where Victoria was removed of influence. The title also doesn't mesh with the nature of the work - why was she "Uncommon"? Is it because she was an Englishwoman in a German world or something else? It wasn't overtly explained, so it rang a little strange to me.
This book is very long and I found the end much more enjoyable to read than the beginning. It resolved well by dealing with the personal moreso than the political. This book is probably best suited to those who are fascinated by political history, which is not always me. So as it is middle-of-the-road for me, I give it 3 stars.

[Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched biography on Victoria, Princess Royal, Crown Princess of Prussia and for a short time Empress Frederick. This, however, is not just a biography about Vicky but also a social study of the times, conditions in Prussia and the creation of the German Empire. You will also learn a lot about other figures such as Otto von Bismarck and Vicky' s son Wilhem II and many others.

Vicky was an extremely fascinating and intelligent woman, she and her husband Frederick shared many similar liberal belifes and it is so frustrating how many things went wrong for them, how long they had to wait to get to the throne, only for Frederick to get ill so they ruled only for 3 months - thus not being able to implement all the change that they wanted. They were suceeded by their son Wilhelm who was clearly not fit to rule. I couldn' t help but think "what if" so many times throughout this book. How history might have been different...

[H. P. Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Pakula writes with verve and understanding about the life of Queen Victoria's first daughter, Crown Princess then Empress Victoria of Prussia. She not only writes well, but clearly explains the political world of the various duchies that were eventually subsumed into greater Germany. Most of Prussian and German foreign policy sprang from the duplicitous forehead of Otto Von Bismarck. Pakula gives a rendering of those policies and Bismarck's character that helps me see why both world wars took place. Wonderful read.

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography about the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, Vicky, Empress Frederick of Prussia. Well-researched and full of details about her complicated life, especially with her son, Wilhelm II.

For a complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_A...

[Clare]

Recommended for A Rose for the ANZAC Boys

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read. The chapters are not too long and the wording is vernacular. Good read of the Dowager Empress and the times leading up to WW1.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this quite a while ago. It's interesting to see how her son was manipulated and she had no power to stop it.

[Ghost of the Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe I actually finished this one! ... Review to follow once my brain processes all information accordingly...

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Pakula’s work on this book is beyond doubt a truly masterpiece. The exquisite and thorough research that went into this in-depth 600-page biography along with its engaging and absorbing writing style is quite simply fascinating. Brilliantly written and highly documented, Hannah tells us the story of Vicky, Princess Royal of England, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Raised within the British court, Vicky was reared by her German father, Prince Albert, whose liberal-mindedness and far-sighted ideas would one day be expected to come to fruition in Germany through his daughter, who was to be in charge of fostering them in her future adopted country .

With a lot of knowledge under her belt instilled by her father, at the age of 17 Vicky was married and sent off to Germany to carry out a mission. Yet Vicky was met with trouble ever since the very first moment she set foot in German soil and little did she know what lay ahead of her.

A forced marriage that proved to be a happy one, Vicky was lucky enough that the man who was thrust upon her by her parents was someone whom she truly loved, which was quite unusual at that time, especially amongst royals. Had it been the opposite, I do not know what would have become of her. (And yes, it was indeed forced as her parents started plotting their daughter’s future when she was still a child just for the sake of England!).

I would like to clarify that this is not an intimate or personal biography based on the book’s title. This huge volume not only does deal with Vicky’s life, but also with everything that was going on in Germany as well as in Europe during the mid to late nineteenth century. Thus, be prepared to wade through topics which can be kind of tedious to read such as: the origin of the House of Hohenzollern, the history of Prussia, the Schleswig Wars, the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars which led to the unification of the country as well as Bismarck’s rise to power, the whole political turmoil and instability of the late XIX century which gradually sowed the seeds of the First World War and so on. I understand that as the wife of the future Kaiser Vicky’s life revolved around Germany’s politics but still, I think the author devoted too many pages to such topics and at some point it got boring as she veers off the subject matter which is Vicky herself. Details such as the weapons used in battle, the soldiers’ advancements, the countless generals who headed up each army etc, were of little importance and could have been summed up in a few lines rather than writing whole chapters of it.

Hannah did also a great job in including excerpts from Vicky’s correspondence with the Queen, which gives us a more insightful account into the close mother-daughter relationship. Reciprocally, Vicky and Victoria exchanged throughout their lives an innumerable amount of letters through which both gave vent to their thoughts, feelings, frustrations and also discussed all kinds of topics, whether they were politics, child rearing or just mere gossip. There were times I had a lump in my throat as I read these letters since I got to see how self-absorbed and self-centred Queen Victoria was as a mother, expecting her daughter to live up to her wishes at all times from the other side of the channel.

Another “person” whom half of the book is dedicated to is none other than Bismarck. I know that the role he played in politics and the unification of the country is crucial to fathom all the facts but again, I found it quite unnecessary to sneak his whole biography, from his youth until his death, into Vicky’s own story.

A genius at stirring up trouble, Bismarck invariably jumped at the chance to discredit Vicky and took it upon himself to drive a wedge between Wilhelm and his mother and certainly, he succeeded in doing so. And that wedge never healed.

A troubled mother-son relationship that got off the wrong foot ever since the very first minute Wilhem came into the world, little did Vicky know all the difficulties she would have to come up against on account of her eldest son’s actions.

I do not think that Vicky really ever came to terms with Willy’s disability. Her main duty as future queen was to produce a healthy, robust heir to the throne but, sadly, things did not turn out as expected. Having the feeling that she had produced “damaged goods”, so to speak, Vicky lived until her last days with a feeling of guilt, which was emphasised by her son himself and the Prussian court.

Probably attributable to the environment in which he was brought up and the people he was surrounded by, such as the likes of Bismarck and his grandfather, the future Kaiser grew to become a warmonger and a despot who would one day prompt and instigate the outbreak of WWI and unavoidably put an end to the House of Hohenzollern.

Once he became Emperor he was resolved to wipe Vicky off the map and cut her off from the court forever. Willy’s hatred towards his mother knew no bounds and he still had the nerve to speak ill and make mockery of her even after the latter’s death. She was fortunate enough not to live to see what was looming large in a years’ time.

As much as she tried to integrate herself into the Prussian society, Vicky was not really socially well-liked as she was more English than ever. Shamelessly treated and frowned upon by the Prussian Court, Vicky was looked on as way too revolutionary and liberal for her husband and considered a danger for the country as empress-to-be. Their in-laws and her own son despised her with all their might. Fritz’s mother, Augusta, I think, was the most disgusting and deplorable human being ever to exist. Bismarck spent all his chancellorship contriving ways to trample upon her and he undoubtedly got a kick out of it in doing so. Yet Vicky, plucked up courage, never gave up and fought back against all her foes.

As a like-minded couple, Vicky and her husband were determined to usher in a new era in Germany through liberalism when they were to ascend the throne. Nonetheless, when it was finally time for Fritz to step into his father’s shoes, the Crown Prince’s life was drawing to a close as he was suffering from cancer. His days were numbered, and their dreams far from being feasible. After having spent all their lives biding their time, they hardly ruled for just 99 days. Sadly, their accomplishments were few and far between, if none.

In the wake of her husband’s death, once she became reconciled to the fact that there was little, if nothing, she could do as a powerless dowager empress, Vicky dedicated her life to bettering and improving her adopted country’s welfare by setting up hospitals, nurseries, charities and fighting for women’s rights. But Vicky’s final years were no better than those of her husband as she herself, too, was diagnosed with cancer. She lived out the rest of her days in her castle which was built in Fritz’s honour, until her death at the age of 60. Vicky’s life ended as tragically as that of her husband’s, with a heart-rending and ill-fated end.

As I was reading I couldn’t help thinking “what would have happened if…” so many times. I have no doubt that history would most likely have been different and many an event could have been avoided had Vicky and Fritz ruled sooner and had Wilhelm I, Bismarck and Wilhem II never come to power or rather existed.

It took me about three months to finish this book but it was really worth it as I have certainly learnt a great deal. I highly recommend it to anyone interested not only in Vicky herself and the British-German Royal Family but also to those interested in the 19th century history that leads up to WWI.

Vicky, thanks to books like this, you will never be forgotten.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this biography, and like other reviewers have said, it is more than a biography of Empress Frederick, it is partly a biography of the other important figures in her life: Wilhelm I, Bismarck, Wilhelm II, etc. I was not very familiar with what was happening in Europe in the late 19th century (e.g., most of what I knew about the Franco-Prussian War was that it was a war between France and Prussia), but Pakula did a decent job of explaining the greater goings-on in the world that affected Vicky's life. At the same time, it is not just a book full of emotionless historical facts; there are many excerpts from letters and diaries (though not Vicky's, as she did not keep one) that bring the subjects to life.

There are also great descriptions of what everyday life for the royal family was like (though not as much as I would have liked, because I seem to have an unquenchable desire to know exactly what people did with their time 100+ years ago). Apparently, being the Crown Princess doesn't guarantee a life of luxury; the first residence of Vicky & Fritz after their marriage was reportedly very cold, dirty, and poorly maintained, and the bedroom ceiling promptly collapsed (luckily not with anyone in the room).

This book was an interesting read and very informative. The only way I would improve it is to add more maps and family trees — there are a few maps and family trees in the beginning, but I did not think they were detailed or expansive enough. There are just too many relatives with the same names, running off and marrying their cousins, and it gets quite confusing.

[Tracy Mallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing and in-depth biography of an Empress who is better known as the daughter of another Empress (Queen Victoria) and mother of an Emperor (Kaiser Wilhelm II). But Vicky - as she was known to her family - was a fascinating woman in her own right. Raised by her parents to champion the liberal cause and unification of Germany, she had to fight against the tide of conservatism in the persons of her father-in-law Kaiser Wilhelm I, son Kaiser Wilhelm II and their chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck especially did everything he could to undermine the relationship between mother and son, which ended up being to his own detriment as he was later tossed to the side by Wilhelm II and went to Vicky for help reconciling with her son (she rightly pointed out that because of Bismarck, she had no influence with her son). Unfortunately for the future of Germany, she was not able to have the impact on Germany that her parents - particularly her father Prince Albert - had planned as by the time her father-in-law died at the age of 90, her equally-liberal husband Kaiser Friedrich III was already dying of throat cancer and reigned only 99 days before Wilhelm II came to the throne promising a continuation of his grandfather's policies.

[David Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I gave this 3 and not 4 stars was because there were a few times past the half-way point when I was like "I'm ready for this book to be over". That being said, there were good guys: Friedrich III and Vicky - honest, liberal and naive; and bad guys: Wilhem I - a curmudgeon, Augusta - a selfish bitch, Willy - emotionally unstable brat, and Bismark - the most deceitful and conniving human there ever was. It makes you wonder how the world would have been different had Friedrich not died of cancer and if Bismark had never been born. In addition, reading about Willy (Wilhem II) was like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. While the book was long (600 pages) I couldn't think of any where that I would have cut. Everything seemed appropriate to the story. In addition to learning about one of Queen Victoria's smartest children, you also pick up history about the unification of Germany and the duplicitous creature named Otto von Bismark. PS. If you want to read more about the next chapter (the build up to WW1) I would recommend "George, Nicholas and Wilhem: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I" by Miranda Carter.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thorough and well researched bio. It lags sometimes because of the nature of the people it discusses. Vicky, eldest child of Queen Victoria, is as verbose, self pitying, and hysterical as Queen Victoria herself, so when their letters are quoted it becomes rather tedious. They out-martyr one another, and run through a huge gamut of emotions on almost any topic

With that said, Vicky, who married the heir to what becomes the German throne, lives a difficult life. An intelligent woman, when that was not seen as a positive attribute, and a liberal in a deeply hierarchic and militaristic country, she was blamed by the German for many things in which she was not involved.

For me, the best part of this was learning more about the unification of Germany, and the shifting alliances between Germany, England, France, Russia and Austria.

I must say that reading the last third of the book felt more like duty than delight, but I did want to get as far into the German history as I could.

I can't really recommend it, but at the same time am please that I read it.