ALIX & MINNIE: A Royal Trilogy - Book One: Royal Sisters Preparing for Greatness

by James-Charles Noonan

This is a royal biography of two of Europe's most important female figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, two sisters born in Denmark in obscurity. Their beauty and effervescence marked them as special from early childhood. The eldest sister, Alexandra (Alix) became Queen Victoria's choice as the wife of her eldest son, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie and later as King Edward VII). She was the most beautiful woman in Europe at that time and everything she did, women the world over copied. Her younger sister Dagmar, known in the family as Minnie, married the heir to the Russian Imperial throne and once as Empress of Russia she became the richest woman to ever live. This is a royal trilogy, three books covering the brilliant lives of these two women and their extended families in Great Britain, Russia, Denmark, Greece and Germany. The series is full of scandal, sex, love, wealth, power, pageantry, glamor and revolution. It is of the same time period as Downton Abbey it is a real story in every respect (but the author intentionally wrote it to read as much as possible as a novel). ALIX & MINNIE Book One covers all of the necessary background information. I fact the first several pages outline who is who and how they will enter the story (a necessity because of the difficult Russian names and the duplication of other names as royals tended to do). But once the story unfolds, Book One cover their family heritage, the girl's youth, their eventual marriages and the early trials which plaqued their new lives in Russia and in England.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2021

Reviews

[3GirlsMom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alix and Minnie began life as daughters of the Glucksburg line of Denmark. They were much more captivating than the name of their lineage may suggest, especially to the future King of England and the future Tsar of Russia. In time, Alix marries Bertie/Edward VII and becomes Queen Alexandra of England while Minnie marries Tsar Alexander III to become Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. Their lives spanned the end of the 19th century into the 20th. Imagine being Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law or mother of the assassinated Tsar Nicholas II. The author pulls the reader into the lives and times of these extraordinary sisters by his thorough knowledge of the era and his readable, novelistic style. The challenges he faced were huge: he covers two world empires, their royal houses, their ancestors and their ancient acrimonies and manages to help us keep them straight (even if it did seem that everyone had the same name!). He provides us with an inside track on the society gossip, fashions of the time and religious and social constraints of those years. The trilogy is a work of love and erudition and I couldn't put it down.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was book one of a three part series on the lives of Alix and Minnie, respectively Queen of England and Empress of Russia. These two sisters undoubtedly lived fascinating, intriguing lives. While a dual biography is an interesting idea, I wish it had been executed a little better.

One of the things I disliked was the complete lack of end notes and bibliography in the physical copy of the book. Instead, the reader is directed to a website where they can find such material. This is very frustrating when you are actually holding the book in your hands. Secondly, there were a few facts that were misrepresented, such as how Queen Victoria hated morganatic marriages and diluted royal blood marrying into the upper echelons of royal families. She not only approved, she welcomed them in her own family multiple times over.

That being said, the first book in the series is very entertaining, rich details are presented when describing certain aspects of court life in both England and Russia. I will definitely press on and read the next book in the series.

[Elvis2 · Rating 1 out of 5]

My reading time is precious. I could not handle the spelling mistakes, odd repetitions of the same word within a sentence, and constant other grammatical errors. The "Persons You Shall Meet" section is tedious except for a few interesting details and is unnecessary when a family tree would have served the reader so much better. I expect more from a book. Even if it's self-published, I expect perfection or possibly one error, particularly in a book of this small size. I don't expect what I saw and can't overlook the lack of care. The book is a true mess.

When a history book is this sloppy, I don't have confidence in the validity of the research. I got one third of the way through and put it in the donation bag.

[RainyDayT · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up reading the complete trilogy and as others have said, you have to get past the lack of proofreading and overall editing (as someone mentioned it feels like the wrong proofs got published for all three volumes). The cost is also high considering the editing problems. However, the information is very interesting especially the lesser discussed early years of the two sisters in Denmark and their widowhoods. Minnie especially seems not to have gotten the coverage of Alix, and much about Minnie's relationships with Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and other Romanovs was new for me.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, adding personality to European royals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Needs a read by a proper editor to correct some grammar and typos...

[Jackie Latham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed by the emphasis on the history of conflict instead of the ladies

[Mark Werderitsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read about two sisters, one being the mother of the last Year and the other being Queen of England and great grandmother of Elizabeth II. Well researched, giving the reader a good idea of what these women were like and how they lived. Queen Victoria was not as awful to Edward VII as legend holds.

I give only four stars because of a few issues with the books. The three come in at a total of about 1050 pages costing $63, which is ridiculous. These are paper bound. I have other paper bound books totalling more than 1050 pages that cost less. These should have been published as at most to 500 page paper bound volumes for about $40.

Also, there are many, many printing errors. There are many missing words, typographical errors and grammatical errors. The books look as if the galley proofs were not proofed at all. They look as if they went to press directly from valley proofs.