Ena: Spain's English Queen

by Gerard Noel

This biography of Queen Ena gives a balanced account of her personal life, illustrated by many anecdotes, and a wider perspective of European history and the intricacies of Spanish politics from the 18th century onwards.'

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

323 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

Reviews

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because I always thought there is too little written about this woman both on the internet and books. In fact, this is only ever written biography of Queen Ena in English.

Personally I do think the author focused excessively on dealing with Spain’s political situation of the time, haemophilia, religion and Alfonso’s predecessors, rather than Queen Ena herself (which to a certain degree is understandable as these facts were indirectly released to her, but still, too many pages dedicated to these topics). Perhaps the reason of this might be that the author did not have access to many Spanish Royal Archives. Thus, do not expect a thorough and extremely personal biography with full of details of her personal life because that is not what you will come across. Many details and facts about her intimate life, sadly, are just simply glossed over and hardly mentioned. Nevertheless, I did find it an interesting, well-researched biography and worth reading indeed.

Hands down she was a great Queen and did so much good for the sake of Spain, whose monarchy was going through its most difficult time at the onset of the 20th century.

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating life but most of significant details already covered in the book Born to Rule, which looked at the 5 granddaughters of Queen Victoria who were consorts of the Kings/Tsar,etc
It somehow came across as a more superficial look at her life and personality,with the feeling that the writer did not want to offend anyone
Whilst I was reading this Ena’s grandson went ( or was sent by his son) into exile
British Vogue on line had an article about the current heir to Spanish throne, and how the royal families hopes were on her - a blue eyed, blonde haired girl

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a little bit about Queen Ena in "Born Royal" by Helen Rapaport (sp?) but unfortunately this book did not live up to the glimpse I had received. The character of Ena is not well described anywhere and I feel like she tried to do too much in describing the history of Spain, the religion, government, biology of Hemophilia as well as catching up to present day all while maintaing that it is a biography of Ena herself. I found that chapters would go by with no mention of her and that I was overwhelmed with details that had no importance to the actual story. I am sure she was a fascinating and incredible women but this was not conveyed here.

[Bu · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? I find the woman fascinating.
The book was plagued with spelling mistakes though, the writer should have double checked with his sources or a knowledgeable spanish historian at least!! The whole thing got to hilarious proportions sometimes, to the detriment of the serious matter it deals with.
Having said that, the story of Ena, Victoria Eugenia, is well researched and lovingly told.