Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
Release Date:
November 22nd,
2016
Publisher:
Random House
Type:
Adult Non-Fiction Biography
Pages:
752
Summary: Drawing
on previously unpublished papers, Victoria: The Queen is a new
portrait of the real woman behind the myth—a story of love and
heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.
Fifth in line to the
throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman
thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother’s
meddling and an adviser’s bullying, forging an iron will of her
own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished
the freedom it brought her. At twenty years old, she fell
passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,
eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted
in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping
boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored
Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her
servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over
the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy
were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of
steadfastness and security—queen of a quarter of the world’s
population at the height of the British Empire’s reach.
Drawing on sources
that include revelations about Victoria’s relationship with John
Brown, Julia Baird brings to life the story of a woman who struggled
with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family,
raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents,
combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for
meaning.
My
Review:
This
book came highly recommended to me by a coworker. She said that the
writing was very readable for a biography and that she wished the
author had written more books. I can't agree more! Julia Baird did an
amazing thing with Victoria
the Queen. I
had previously seen the movie Young
Victoria and
I had seen the Doctor
Who
episode “Tooth and Claw” that featured am elderly Victoria. One
featured a young, driven, mischievous woman who was a abused as a
child yet was still fierce, laughed easily, and fell in love
completely. I could not connect that woman with the old, grieving
woman who was “not amused.” What had happened to completely
change her? I knew it dealt with Albert's death but I didn't know
how.
Baird's
tome, because any other word won't do a book of this magnitude
justice, is rich in details. The sheer amount of research
that she had to do to create this masterpiece blows my mind. I also
live that she has new information that had never been published
widely before. Victoria is a queen who has been misconstrued for
years. Baird cleared up a lot of these notions. She was given full
access to everything. During her research she found some of the
important things such as Victoria's relationship with John Brown that
hadn't been published before. Baird published everything she could to
complete Victoria's story despite the Royal archivists advising her
not to. I think that because of this new information and the tasteful
way Baird handled Victoria's entire life the biography was incredibly
readable. In fact, I forgot that it wasn't a historical novel at
times and it was hard to put down.
Victoria
led a magnificent life. A life that, unlike most, has distinct
sections: childhood, teenage queen, life with Albert, life without
him, life with Brown, and finally life without him. Each part of her
life was equally important and fascinating. I was most interested in
her life with and without Albert because I knew that she considered
her time with him the most important of her life. Before marrying
Albert, Victoria was insistent that she did not need a husband that,
she was perfectly capable of managing the country all by herself. I
admired that a woman dug her heels in and refused to do anything she
didn't want to because she knew she was the most powerful woman in
the world. She used that power to her advantage all of the time from
keeping Lord Melbourne in office to marrying who she deemed worthy.
All that changed when she married Albert though.
Baird
paints a mixed picture of Albert. An extraordinary intellect who
wanted power not just to have it but to use it to help the British
people. At times I loved what he was trying to do for his adopted
country but I was also annoyed that he just kept trying to take over
the sovereign. His ambition was too much for his place at times, but
his ethic and moral code was admirable. While Victoria was pregnant
she went from not allowing him anywhere near anything to do with her
work to basically handing everything over to him. During this period
and for years after his death she insisted that he was the one who
kept the country going because she simply couldn't due to being a
woman. No, she allowed him to do it because she believed he was
better than she. In the years following his death she belittled
herself to make Albert seem larger than life and I don't believe it.
Victoria was extraordinary in her own right. After
decades without Albert, Victoria found her way back to being that
headstrong young Queen. From talking to her troops to consoling
fellow widows, she was an active monarch who had a hand in all
things.
Baird's
biography went into details about the good and the bad. She addressed
rumors and misconceptions, she treated everything with the same
critical non-biased eye that one expects from a great biography. At
over 700 pages long (this includes the notes and introduction, the
bibliography and index) it took me quite a while to read. As such, I
found myself thinking about Victoria and her time often. Even if you
only have the slightest interest in Victoria this biography is worth
a read.
~Laura!
