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A review by book_concierge
Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams
3.0
This is a book-club selection for me and I don’t think I would have picked it up otherwise. The subtitle gives you all the description you need: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch.
I knew some of the history that resulted in Victoria’s ascending to the throne. Williams has given us a long and detailed history/biography covering approximately 50 years of British royals, from 1796 to 1841. I had seen the movie The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blount, so some of this was quite familiar to me, but thank heavens there was a family tree schematic included; I referred to it constantly. Knowing what happened before she was born to put Victoria in such close proximity to the throne did help, but it was really HER story that I was most interested in, and which the title of the book promised. Yet we were 150 pages into the book and she hadn’t even been born yet!
So while I enjoyed reading about all the intrigue and politics involved as various royals (major and minor) realized the possibilities of ascension to the throne and jockeyed for position, I grew first confused, and then bored with the detail and intricacies of all those relatives and mingling of family trees. As a result, I found myself skimming certain sections.
However, once Victoria reached majority and became Queen, I was fully involved. It’s clearly well-researched, and Williams even includes quotes from diaries and letters to support the text. On the whole I read the book much more quickly than I had anticipated, despite getting bogged down and having to refer to the family tree so often.
I knew some of the history that resulted in Victoria’s ascending to the throne. Williams has given us a long and detailed history/biography covering approximately 50 years of British royals, from 1796 to 1841. I had seen the movie The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blount, so some of this was quite familiar to me, but thank heavens there was a family tree schematic included; I referred to it constantly. Knowing what happened before she was born to put Victoria in such close proximity to the throne did help, but it was really HER story that I was most interested in, and which the title of the book promised. Yet we were 150 pages into the book and she hadn’t even been born yet!
So while I enjoyed reading about all the intrigue and politics involved as various royals (major and minor) realized the possibilities of ascension to the throne and jockeyed for position, I grew first confused, and then bored with the detail and intricacies of all those relatives and mingling of family trees. As a result, I found myself skimming certain sections.
However, once Victoria reached majority and became Queen, I was fully involved. It’s clearly well-researched, and Williams even includes quotes from diaries and letters to support the text. On the whole I read the book much more quickly than I had anticipated, despite getting bogged down and having to refer to the family tree so often.