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Queen Victoria (1921)

by Lytton Strachey

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939722,297 (3.77)35
Lytton Strachey's acclaimed portrayal of Queen Victoria revolutionised the art of biography by using elements of romantic fiction and melodrama to create a warm, humorous and very human portrait of this iconic figure. We see Victoria as a strong-willed child with a famous temper, as the 18-year-old girl queen, as a monarch, wife, mother and widow. Equally fascinating are the depictions of her relationships: with her governess ""precious Lehzen"", with Peel, Gladstone and Disraeli, with her beloved Albert and, in later life, her legendary devotion to her Highland servant John Brown, all of whic… (more)
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The biography of Queen Victoria opens with the unhappy life of Princess Charlotte who is in the care of her father. She is betrothed to a man of her father's choosing but has fallen in love with a married man. O the scandal! As a result Charlotte is exiled to Windsor Park. When all the other suitors fall away due to her absence she ends up marrying Prince Leopold and having a baby girl. Thus begins Victoria's royal lineage. Victoria became queen in 1837 at the age of eighteen. Much like any new political leader, there were high hopes for Queen Victoria's honest and scrupulous rule: the abolishment of slavery, the elimination of crime, and the improvement of education. Funny how some things never change.
This was a time when impulsive marriages could be made void with the stroke of a pen and uncles could fancy their nieces for matrimony. All marriages were open political and economical strategies. Marriage could alter friendships between entire nations. With arranged marriages it is usually the bride who feels trapped. Not so with the wedding of Albert and Victoria. It is the groom who does not want to go through with it. Too bad Victoria ended up marrying someone who wasn't all that popular. She had to deal with a "foreign" husband who could not be accepted by her ruling nation. After Albert's death, widowed at forty-two years old, she tried to bolster Albert's reputation posthumously. What she succeeds in accomplishing is a nation in love with her. She becomes one of the most adored royalty of all time. ( )
  SeriousGrace | Jun 1, 2023 |
Quite readable. I need to research why it was republished in 2013.
Strachey made it quite plain that he didn't think much of Victoria R. But was quite happy with Albert. Coming to this book with not having read anything else about her, I am loathe to buy everything in this book wholesale.

I found Strachey's profiles of the Prime Ministers interesting, but again, I have nothing to base my reactions upon.

Strachey, if I am not mistaken, was part of the Bloomsbury group with Virginia Wolfe, Bertrand Russell, and others. ( )
1 vote kaulsu | Sep 13, 2014 |
[Lytton Strachey]'s biography of Queen Victoria is not over the top in minute details. It is written more as a narrative or novel and is quite an enjoyable read. I do wish there was more information about her and her children's personal lives in lieu of detail of the relationship she had with each of her prime ministers. ( )
1 vote Tess_W | Feb 5, 2014 |
2560 Queen Victoria, by Lytton Strachey (read 25 Dec 1993) Though I have read a two-volume biography of Strachey, till I read this I had never read any book of his. I found this very easy reading and quite evocative of the things it told about. I have read at least one detailed biography of Victoria, and this book does not pretend to be such--but I rather liked it. ( )
2 vote Schmerguls | Apr 14, 2008 |
bad condition
  Wall_Family_Books | Mar 23, 2014 |
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On 6 November 1817 died the Princess Charlotte, only child of the Prince Regent, and heir to the crown of England.
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Lytton Strachey's acclaimed portrayal of Queen Victoria revolutionised the art of biography by using elements of romantic fiction and melodrama to create a warm, humorous and very human portrait of this iconic figure. We see Victoria as a strong-willed child with a famous temper, as the 18-year-old girl queen, as a monarch, wife, mother and widow. Equally fascinating are the depictions of her relationships: with her governess ""precious Lehzen"", with Peel, Gladstone and Disraeli, with her beloved Albert and, in later life, her legendary devotion to her Highland servant John Brown, all of whic

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