Queen Victoria

by Elizabeth Longford

Overview

Queen Victoria is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. In this concise biography, Lady Longford, long recognised as an authority on the subject, gives a full account of Queen Victoria's life and provides her unique assessment of the monarch. David Cannandine hailed her Victoria RI as 'pre-eminent in the genre...the commissed biography that the great Queen never got'. Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 on the death of her uncle William IV. In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and for the next twenty years they were inseperable. Their descendants were to succeed to most of the thrones of Europe. When Albert died in 1861, Victoria's overwhelming grief meant that she virtually withdrew from public life. This perceived dereliction of her duty, coupled with rumours about her relationship with her Scottish ghillie John Brown, led to increasing criticism. Coaxed back into the public eye by Disraeli, she resumed her former enthusiasm for political and constitutional matters with vigour until her death in 1901.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752469133
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	08/26/2011
Series:	Essential Biographies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	158,341
File size:	511 KB

About the Author

Elizabeth Longford is the author of Wellington. Her first work on Queen Victoria, Victoria RI, won the James Tait Black memorial prize.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements iv

Chronology v

1 Born to be Queen, 1819-37 1

2 Prince Albert: A Safe Haven 13

3 The Age of Improvement, 1849-56 27

4 Death Comes for Albert 37

5 Seclusion, 1861-9 52

6 Royal Renaissance, 1870-86 69

7 Jubilees Golden, Diamond and White, 1887-1901 95

8 Queen of the Victorian Age 112

Family Tree 119

Notes and References 120

Bibliography 122

Editorial Reviews

"A perfect introduction."  —Daily Express

"Capaciously documented . . . places its author, Lady Longford (author also of Queen Victoria) in the front ranks of 20th century military and political biographers."  —Kirkus Reviews on Wellington

From the Publisher