The Last Days of Glory

July 16, 2001
By the time of her death in 1901, Britain's Queen Victoria had lived longer, ruled longer and reigned over a larger part of the world than any other English monarch. Since few of her subjects could remember a time when she wasn't their queen, and since the era over which she presided was regarded by the British as one of unprecedented social, economic and intellectual development, her death was, as Rennell puts it, "an immense shock, unsettling Britain and the Empire to a degree that now seems inconceivable." Rennell explores the events of the weeks leading up to and following Victoria's demise, focusing on the reactions of the royal family and the public. While the last days of a monarch's life may seem a slight subject for a book, this is ultimately a lively and detailed slice of social history, which captures the mood and mindset of turn-of-the-century England via extensive quotes from letters and newspaper articles. Rennell also reveals some of the less immediately obvious consequences of the royal death: for example, with the whole nation plunged into mourning, textile manufacturers who were in the midst of producing bright-hued spring attire faced financial disaster. Proposing that England's national identity was so intertwined with its monarch's that her death engendered a kind of collective existential crisis, Rennell, formerly an associate editor with London's Mail on Sunday
and Sunday Times,
is also very attuned to the more personal and intimate consequences of her passing, including the feelings of her six remaining children, the tensions between various members of her household, and her own detailed instructions for her funeral. Victoria's death marked the transition from one era to another; this is a fascinating glimpse of a nation poised on the brink of a major paradigm shift. B&w photos not seen by PW.