Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life

Recent books and films have overturned the popular image of Queen Victoria as a dour recluse widow of ponderous dimensions to include the lively, stubborn girl-queen who loved dancing and wine and the young wife who enjoyed sex.

Lucy Worsley wanted to expand Victoria's story beyond the "dancing princess to potato" to include the woman who preserved the monarchy and ruled an empire. Worsley draws from Victoria's diaries and journals, probing behind the polished exterior presented for posterity. Her Victoria is a fully human, complicated, person, someone we can admire and dislike at the same time.

The book concentrates on twenty-four days in Victoria's life through which readers come to understand her family background and relationships, show more her love for Albert (who both supported and limited her as queen), the places she loved, her political alliances and battles, the few people who became more than servants and valued as trusted friends, and her grief, loneliness, and physical incapacities in old age.

Worsley writes in the preface, "I hope that seeing her [Victoria] up close, examining her face-to-face, as she lived hour-to-hour through twenty-four days of her life, might help you to imagine meeting her yourself, so that you can form your own opinion on the contradictions at the heart of British history's most recognizable woman."

The physical woman Victoria is given attention. At her prime, Victoria was 5 feet and 1 1/4 inch tall, with tiny feet, large blue prominent eyes, and a "fine bust." Her lower lip hung open, but she also had a wide-open smile when delighted. Her weight yo-yoed with health, illness, pregnancy, dieting, and the incapacitation that in old age left her unable to walk. And she loved to walk on a brisk, cold day.

Victoria ruled throughout most of the 19th c when monarchies across Europe were ended by revolutions. She came to the throne with everything against her, especially being a young and inexperienced girl.

She was constantly being watched for signs of madness, both genetic and related to the "female problems" which were believed to trigger hysteria and madness.

It was imperative that she marry and it was arranged she marry her German cousin Albert. She fell in love with his beauty and goodness. To compensate for his parental scandalous infidelities he was committed to being a loving father and husband. But Albert was a German and he had to win the British people's trust and love. His German coldness and exacting values could be hard to live with. He did not approve of Victoria's love of dancing and drinking.

With Victoria perpetually pregnant (nine times!), Albert applied himself to fulfill her duties. Victoria came to rely on his guidance; his early death was devastating to her as queen as well as wife.

In spite of her liaisons with unsuitable friends, the gilly John Brown and the Muslim Abdul, Victoria became the public image of the proper Victorian wife and widow, an "ordinary good woman."

I found the book to be vastly interesting and enjoyable. It expanded my understanding of Victoria. It amazed me how much of Victoria's life Worsley covered in those twenty-four days!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. show less

Choosing 24 days in the life of Queen Victoria is an ingenious way to present her biography, and it is a good way to get an overview of her life: it hits the major points and is highly approachable. At the same time, you may find yourself learning something new. In particular, I didn’t know much about Abdul Karim, Victoria’s Indian attendant for the last decade and a half of her life, so what I learned here will likely lead me onto another reading adventure! The book also provides a different perspective on many aspects of her life, including her relationship with Albert. It’s never in doubt that she loved him unfailingly, but he did gaslight her to some extent, taking on everything for himself and making her dependent on show more him.

Worsley’s writing is clear and accessible, with just enough splashes of personal commentary to make it lively. The book is thoroughly endnoted for further reference, and it contains a great selection of photos, including sketches drawn by Victoria and a four-generations photograph in which she is grinning! That was my favourite photo in the set, actually—seeing her as an older woman and smiling runs counter to the popular image of her, and it is a joy to see.

All in all, I would most certainly recommend this book. show less

This book examines Queen Victoria's life through 24 individual days. I found this approach far more illuminating to the woman behind the crown than other biographies, because included were her own words, writings from those who were close to her. Through these days from across her long life you can see that through all her life changes the traits which supported her and those which did not. I feel I've come a little closer to the woman rather than the monarch.

This book was ok. Worsley chooses 24 days from Queen Victoria's life as a way to frame a loose biography. The writing style is fun - a good mix of chatty, inside info and scholarly historical detail. But I think the choppy format didn't really work for me. Also, I just might not be that interested in Victoria.

This was ok, but not one I'll rave about. I did LOVE her book [Jane Austen at Home] - read that instead!

Delightful to read. The 28 Days In The Life format means lots of important events are left out, but the deep dive into detail meant I learned new information from this book. Just what I like! Lucy Worsley is a treasure amongst historians.

Lucy Worsley writes about history in a very accessible style, and her biography of Queen Victoria is an enjoyable read. She frames the biography in an interesting way: by selecting 24 meaningful days and using them as a springboard to explain the queen's life and development.
This technique feels most effective in the first part of the book, where Victoria's childhood, accession to the throne, engagement, and marriage form a natural narrative. Where she begins to leap forward in time to the middle and late parts of the queen's life, I began to feel like I was just getting peeps through small windows and missing a connected story. Still, she does a good job at filling in context and bringing the reader up to speed for the events of the show more days she has chosen.
In a way, this is not a biography in the conventional sense, because it doesn't cover the facts exhaustively; it does leave large gaps. Instead, it chooses to focus more on what made the queen the way she was, and examples of her personality and relations with her family.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance copy of this book. show less

We have watched several documentaries hosted by Lucy Worsley and we have both enjoyed them. When I heard she had a new book coming out about Queen Victoria I knew I'd be reading it.

This is not a typical birth to death biography. Worsley has chosen to focus on twenty-four specific days important to her life. Her parent's marriage, her father's death, the day she found out she was next in line to the throne, etc. It's an interesting approach.

Each chapter does include things other than what happened on that specific day. Obviously, that's needed to give context and background; the focus does remain on the events of that particular day.

I enjoyed the book and while the format was interesting, I'm not convinced it completely worked. There show more were times I wished it was a more traditional biography. Nevertheless, it was interesting and informative. show less