Becoming Queen Victoria

June 21, 2010
Williams tells the story of two royal women whose lives were intricately linked and who gave hope to the British people in a turbulent period when they were ruled by the boorish, hedonistic prince regent, later George IV. The first woman was Princess Charlotte, he daughter and only child of George IV and Princess Caroline of Brunswick. Charlotte was neglected by her self-centered parents. But during the chaotic era of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain invested its hope for a stable future and a principled ruler in the pretty, and politically liberal princess, But Charlotte's 1817 death following delivery of a stillborn infant led to a royal baby-making competition, resulting in the birth of Victoria, whom the British adored from infancy. A passionate, impulsive, fun-seeking girl, Victoria was bullied by a power-crazed mother and used by Charlotte's husband, Leopold, the ambitious Belgian king, who engineered Victoria's marriage to his nephew Albert. Despite some careless writing and editing, Independent British historian Williams's (England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton) latest is an informative, entertaining, gossipy tale of two beloved Hanoverian princesses, one of whom became England's longest-reigning monarch. 16 pages of color photos.

June 1, 2010
Williams ("England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton") unveils her new biography of Europe's great royal matriarch. Victoria's reign (18371901) transformed an England torn by war and internal strife and redeemed a monarchy previously enamored more with hedonism and revelry than with honesty and rule. By comparing the upbringings and lives of two of George III's grandchildren, Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince of Wales, and Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Kent, Williams argues that Victoria demonstrated those qualities missing from previous members of the royal family: hard work, a sense of nation and self, faithfulness, and personal strength. Princess Charlotte was fated never to become queen: she died at age 22. While Williams shares information on the lives, thoughts, and actions of the royal family in great detail, she provides only brief mention of external events, regardless of their impact on public perceptions of the monarchy. VERDICT A lively, juicy read, full of the sordid details of the debauched rule of kings and princes that led to the moralistic rule of a queen focused on creating a royal family that embodied the ideals of a nation. Perfect for fans of royal histories and historical television shows or armchair historians interested in a swift and enjoyable read.Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Coll. Lib., Westerville, OH

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2010
Becoming Queen Victoria is an oddly constructed but nevertheless instructive dual biography: half of it given over to the early life of Queen Victoria, the longest reigning British sovereign, while the other half is a cradle-to-grave life account of her first cousin, Princess Charlotte, the latter offered not so much as an entity in and of itself as much as an explanation of why Victoria inherited the throne in the first place. The author exhibits painterly talents in creating and shadowing carefully nuanced portraiture as she observes a difficult inheritance issue for the British throne in the declining years of the increasingly deranged George III: namely, the old king had no legitimate heirs in the second generation. His eldest son finally produced one: Princess Charlotte, a willful young woman repressed by her father until her marriagebut, unfortunately, she died in childbirth, raising the inheritance problem anew. A younger son hurriedly married, and his daughter, Princess Victoria, eventually succeeded to the throne, she herself having endured a repressed childhood at the hands of her self-aggrandizing mother. Two strong women whose lives are interestingly related here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)