ALIX & MINNIE: A Royal Trilogy – Book Three: Widowhood, War, Revolution and Exile

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). Book Three (Widowhood, War, Revolution and Exile) is filled with adventure. Alix becomes queen and changes the face of the British monarchy. Minnie spends a great deal of time outside of Russia dividing her year in England with Alix, in Greece with their brother George who is king there, and in their native Denmark. She does so because of the sour relationship existing between the Dowager Empress and the young tsarina—Tsar Nicholas II’s wife Alexandra. War and Revolution soon follow Alix’s widowhood. Minnie is stranded in London and cannot easily return to Russia. Rasputin is in control of the young Empress and Minnie no longer has any influence with her son and his government. Revolution brings the end to Imperial Russia, Minnie and those with her flee south to safety but Nicholas and his family, Minnie’s son Michael and a host of other Romanovs are assassinated. In time Minnie resettles in Denmark but not before many sad adventures impede her flight to safety. Alix retires to Sandringham but spends a great deal of time with Minnie at their seaside Danish villa, Hvidore which becomes Minnie’s last refuge.

480 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2021

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having finished the trilogy, I think I can honestly say that there is absolutely nothing here that I didn't already know about these sisters. My overall complaint about it is that there is no bibliography, notes section, or index in the actual physical copies of the books. This, in my opinion, is a huge drawback.

For this specific volume, I have a couple of issues. Firstly, the back cover of the book indicates "This is the second part of a royal trilogy..." Wrong. This is the third part. The designer did a horrible cut and paste job there. Next, the death of Alix and Minnie's father, King Christian IX of Denmark, was covered twice, almost word-for-word, in different sections of the book. I found myself with a puzzled expression on my face, thinking "Didn't I just read that?" Also, when you spell Queen Elizabeth II's name with an "s", it's just sloppy. She doesn't spell it that way, never has, never will.

However, if you want an entertaining read about a fabulous set of sisters. By all means, these books are for you. I appreciate the huge amount of research done, however, a lot of pure gossip is treated as fact. Be careful.