Queen Victoria A Personal History - Hardcover

Hibbert, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465067611 ISBN 13: 9780465067619

Publisher: Basic Books, 2000

Synopsis

"Mein Gott! That is a woman!" exclaimed the Iron Chancellor, Count Bismarck, as he emerged, shaken and mopping his brow, from an interview with Queen Victoria. The unearthing of such lively, telling anecdotes is the special province of Christopher Hibbert, who delights in forcing readers, in the most entertaining way, to radically reassess all their received notions about some of the world's most famous, intriguing historical figures. His biography of Victoria is no exception. We will learn in these pages that not only was she the formidable, demanding, capricious Queen of popular imagination, but she was also often shy and vulnerable, prone to giggling fits and crying jags. Often puritanical and censorious when confronted with her mother's moral lapses, she herself could be passionately sensual, emotional, and deeply sentimental. Ascending to the throne at eighteen, her sixty-four year reign saw thrones fall, empires crumble, new continents explored, and England's rise to global and industrial dominance. Hibbert's account of Victoria's life and times is just as sweeping as he reveals to us the real Victoria in all her complexity: failed mother and imperious monarch, irrepressible woman and icon of a repressive age.

About this title

Review:

British scholar Christopher Hibbert adds another engrossing volume to his long list of informative and entertaining histories and biographies. Aptly subtitled "A Personal History," this portrait of England's longest reigning monarch focuses on Victoria's character, as well as her relationships with her husband, children, and the politicians who directed her government. Unlike George III, which found its subject to be a more intelligent and effective ruler than he had been judged traditionally, this biography does not offer a radically new assessment of Victoria (1819-1901). Instead, Hibbert adds color to the stock image of a stout, grieving widow who was dressed perennially in black as she presided over England's imperial prime. His Queen Victoria is imperious and dignified, to be sure; she is also fun loving, highly emotional, and passionately in love with her consort, Prince Albert. Victoria was mortified to discover she had become pregnant within weeks of her marriage, fearing that it would spoil her intimacy with her husband; and, although she was fond of their many children, Hibbert candidly depicts her as a difficult and overbearing mother. In the graceful, engaging prose that is his trademark, Hibbert skillfully traces England's political evolution into a truly constitutional monarchy through Victoria's dealings with her prime ministers. He also judiciously evaluates her personal ties, particularly the thorny one with son and heir Bertie (later Edward VII), and the controversial one with Scottish servant John Brown. (Hibbert concludes that a sexual link between the two was "most improbable.") His appealing book reaffirms the pleasures of old-fashioned narrative biography. --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Christopher Hibbert has written many well-received biographies, including George III, Wellington, and Nelson. He is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Doctor of Letters of Leicester University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0465067611
• ISBN 13: 9780465067619
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 557