Royal Attention
Gretchen Beilfuss Witt
September 17, 2007

Despite our rejection of the British monarchy as a form of government, American audiences tend to be fascinated by the royal family of England. One of the most written about monarchs is interestingly, also the one with the longest reign thus far. While many books and even a movie delve into the life of Queen Victoria, most write about her early and married years. Greg King’s book “Twilight of Splendor” explores her widowed years, particularly the year of her Diamond Jubilee, the 60th year of her reign. His descriptions of her day-to-day life, her residences, and her complicated and manipulative dealings with her relations make very intriguing reading.

The granddaughter of George III, our foe in the Revolutionary War, Alexandrina Victoria was born in 1819. Amazingly, before her birth none of the six sons of George III had any legitimate issue. Even with a throne at stake, few of them were interested in providing an heir. Edward, Duke of Kent and fourth son of George III rose to the occasion by abandoning his mistress, married and successfully produced a legitimate heir a few years before dying. Drina, as she was called in childhood, grew up isolated from almost everyone, including her less than savory Hanoverian relatives. Overprotected by her formidable mother and companionless but for her half-sister, Victoria ascended the thrown on a summer morning in 1837 having just passed her eighteenth birthday.

After a string of older, debauched kings, the British welcomed this morally upright, pristine young queen. “She was a new Gloriana …destined to preside over the greatest period of British prosperity and grown in the modern era”. With her husband Albert and her large family of nine children, Queen Victoria focused on changing the image of the monarchy into the bastion of propriety. Victoria’s influence was vast – she was mother, mother-in-law, grandmother or grandmother-in-law to nearly every royal family of Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm of Prussia was her first grandchild, son to her eldest daughter Vicky (Victoria). Her granddaughter Alix, later Alexandra, married the ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Victoria’s brood and their antics are fascinating. King delights in some interesting details of her private life, for example, it was common for her and her husband to exchange nude figurines and other risqué art as birthday presents. One of her grandsons was rumored to be Jack the Ripper. King’s vivid descriptions of the elaborate costuming at events and the furnishings at each royal residence are also engaging as are the details of royal service, railcars, holidays, and expenditures. It provides a marvelous glimpse into a world long past.

Take a look at other books about the royals – “Diana's Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved” by Christopher Andersen; “The Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor” by Donald Spoto; Hannah Pakula’s “An Uncommon Woman”; “Victoria's Daughters” by Jerrold M. Packard and Robert Rhodes James’ biography of “Prince Albert”, Victoria’s Prince Consort.