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A review by roseybot
Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams
3.0
When I read histories, I always read the preface/first chapter where the author lays out the points that they are going to make carefully, and try and judge against that as to whether they accomplished their goal or not.
I bring this up, because the premise of this book did not match the ending at all. Also, the title was QUITE deceptive as we spent half the book learning about Charlotte. Not that I minded, Princess Charlotte had an interesting life, but when you name a book after a significant figure, you kind of expect the book to be about that figure, not about her cousin. A chapter or two could have been devoted to Charlotte, not half the book.
Additionally, the book seems to wildly swing between ideas, jumping from the idea that these two princesses were the products of their childhoods, to the fact that their rather dramatic lives make them too much like other people, which undermines the need for a monarchy at all. Which, yes they had a dramatic and hard childhood (both of them), but I don't quite see why the ending was so focused on Queen Elizabeth II's children and the tabloids except to say that Victoria also had to deal with similar institutions?
Ultimately, this book was interesting, but did not fulfill it's essential argument, leaving me faintly skeptical of the view given in the book. After all, if you can't even prove your point, then how do I know you did your research?
I bring this up, because the premise of this book did not match the ending at all. Also, the title was QUITE deceptive as we spent half the book learning about Charlotte. Not that I minded, Princess Charlotte had an interesting life, but when you name a book after a significant figure, you kind of expect the book to be about that figure, not about her cousin. A chapter or two could have been devoted to Charlotte, not half the book.
Additionally, the book seems to wildly swing between ideas, jumping from the idea that these two princesses were the products of their childhoods, to the fact that their rather dramatic lives make them too much like other people, which undermines the need for a monarchy at all. Which, yes they had a dramatic and hard childhood (both of them), but I don't quite see why the ending was so focused on Queen Elizabeth II's children and the tabloids except to say that Victoria also had to deal with similar institutions?
Ultimately, this book was interesting, but did not fulfill it's essential argument, leaving me faintly skeptical of the view given in the book. After all, if you can't even prove your point, then how do I know you did your research?