Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters: An Eccentric Englishwoman and Her Lost Kingdom

This book focuses mainly on Sylvia Brooke both before and after her marriage to Sir Vyner Brooke.
Before this book I had never heard of the nation of Sarawak, or had known that for about 100 years it had been ruled by a British family in what was knows as the White Rajah.

I found this book to be fascinating, very informative and engaging. I really felt like I got a good feel for who many of these people were, they weren't just flat pieces of information but real fleshed out characters that came alive while reading about them.

The book didn't always follow a linear time line, jumping around every once in awhile to finish covering a particular story line and then jumping back to continue with the history. This didn't bother me as much as show more make this feel more like a story instead of a historical account, it rather seemed to fit the characters as much as the almost fantasy like life they led.

If I had any complaints it is not with the writing of this book but with the people the author was writing about. They all seemed, shallow, petty, sick and useless. And yet so many of them had power over the lives of so many. I kept waiting for some sort of sanity to be forced upon their lives and it just never happened. What this did show me is that our fascination with useless celebrities, such as our current batch of “reality” TV shows and stars is nothing new the only difference is now they don't (as far as I know) have any influence over world governments.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. show less

the island of borneo has in its north the state of Sarawak. In the Nineteenth century, james Brooke, an ex-East India company man, sailed to the coast, and aided the Sultan of brunei to put down a rebellion. Appointed to rule the area he quelled, Brooke soon made himself an independant ruler of Sarawak, and established a dynasty that lasted until 1947. This is the story of the last generation of Brookes who rued there, and concentrates on the last ranee, Sylvia, a daughter of the Esher family, who married into the ruling house.

Sylvia and her daughters were a steady source of entertainment to the British and American publics in the Interwar period, and their antics did little to advance the cause of monarchy as an adequate form of show more governmet in the modern world. "The Ranee", as she preferred to style herself, was a figure in the London scene, and made no secret of her desire to conquer Hollywood. While a competen writer with four novels, a play, and two autobiographies to her crdit, she was far more of a personality than a a prominent figure. As a monarch, she would ocasionally give some airing of progressive ideas, but never got them carried out, and was used to using the country's revenues for her private income, as did her husband.

Philip Eade has given the material full justice, and provides a most entertaing and informative read. To give the flavour of the woman's life, and activities, i can do no better than quote one of the chapter titles: "By Jove what a wonderful fellow; but he's nuts." show less

an amazing story of cupidity, stupidity and general incompetence, essentially showing that the hereditary principle is no way to run a government, and being rich, upper class and above all English does not equip one to rule over a country ,,,

An exhaustive biography of a woman who grew up on the fringes of Queen Victoria's court in an extremely odd family. She marries into an even odder one, the Brookes, who have been the White Rajahs of Sarawak on the northern side of Borneo. The Ranee and her husband spend part of the year in England, part in Sarawak. In later years Sylvia, who has ambitions as a writer, tours the US as well. Mother to three daughters, but no son, Sylvia spends some time plotting to overthrow the ordained succession from her husbands nephew to their eldest daughter's son. However WW II and the Japanese invasion intervene. After the war Rajah Vyner is persuaded to cede his nation to the British Crown. It eventually became part of Malaysia. Sylvia comes show more across as a conflicted woman, with little self-discipline or grasp of larger issues. show less

The only reason I know about James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak is because he appeared as a character in one of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels. Little did I know that the "White Raj" lasted for a hundred years until just after World War II, although the last Rajah and his Ranee Sylvia, the subject of this book, were certainly lacking in the charisma and governing skills of the founder of the line.

The Brookes ruled Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo from 1841 to 1946 when the last Rajah, Vyner, ceded the country to the Colonial office. While they ruled, they had their own flag, revenue, postage stamps and money, as well as absolute power over their Malaysian, CHinese and Dyak subjects.

Sylvia, the last Ranee show more was clearly a black sheep in a prominent English family. Her father, the 2nd Viscount Esher was an intimate of both Queen Victoria and Edward VII and organized both Victoria's Diamond Jubilee as well as Edward's coronation. Sylvia clearly adored her father, but he had little use for her or her elder sister Dorothy, clearly preferring his second son MAurice to all his children. Sylvia's constant battle for her father's attention led her to attempt a career in writing (which was mildly successful) as well as setting her cap for the Rajah Vyner. Once married, she produced three daughters ( but not the needed son & heir) and carried on her life as an extravagant socialite indulging in behavior that scandalized polite British society and exasperated the British foreign office. She indulged her daughters with the result they grew up as feckless as she and lived peripatetic lives with eight marriages between them.

The kingdom was invaded by the Japanese during World War II and the Rajah and Ranee spent the war in exile in England. When the war was over, it was clear that times had changed. The inhabitants of Sarawak were in no mood for their dotty English rulers and at age 72, the Rajah was worn out. Over the objections of his nephew Anthony, the presumed heir, Rajah Vyner ceded the country to the British Colonial Office who ruled it as a British protectorate until it became part of Malaysia in 1963. Rajah Vyner lived quietly in London on a British pension until his death in 1963 and Ranee Sylvia lived in Barbados where she continued her life as a (albeit faded) socialite until she died in 1971. Her daughters all ended up living in Florida where the last one died in 2003, thus ending a flamboyant chapter of the British Empire.

This book was a fun read about a time sand place now largely lost to modern memory. show less

Having read "The White Rajah" by Nicholas Monsarrat I was looking forward to this tale of they dynasty, and this remarkable woman in particular.

I was not let down as to the content - Sylvia was indeed a remarkable woman living - by the norms of her day - an exotic existance in a country that toyed with the imagination of those who entered her kingdom.

Readers unfamiliar with the period may struggle but the journey is worth it in the end. Persevere.

Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters is a book about a woman who I sadly hadn't heard or known about before. I had never even heard of Sarawak before, either. So I came blindly into her life and the lives of her family and their struggle for an exotic throne. While her life was eccentric, I did find her story to be a depressing one from her childhood to her marriage and her children and the way they carried on with their lives, almost like a domino effect of bad decisions and foolishness. The book was smartly written, so much research was done and pieces sewn together to make it come into realization.