Queen Victoria : Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life Cover Image

Book

Queen Victoria : Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life / Lucy Worsley.

Summary:

Recreates twenty-four of the most important days in Queen Victoria's life to explore her myriad roles as they reflected her defiance of gender conventions and defining position in a time of extraordinary change and political resistance.

"A passionate princess, an astute and clever queen, and a cunning widow, Victoria played many roles throughout her life. In [this book], Lucy Worsley introduces her as a woman leading a truly extraordinary life in a unique time period. Queen Victoria simultaneously managed to define a socially conservative vision of Victorian womanhood, while also defying its conventions. Beneath her exterior image of traditional daughter, wife, and widow, she was a strong-willed and masterful politician. Drawing from the vast collection of Victoria's correspondence and the rich documentation of her life, Worsley recreates twenty-four of the most important days in Victoria's life. Each day gives a glimpse into the identity of this powerful, difficult queen and the contradictions that defined her. [This] is an intimate introduction to one of Britain's most iconic rulers as a wife and widow, mother and matriarch, and above all, a woman of her time."--Dust jacket.

A passionate princess, an astute and clever queen, and a cunning widow, Victoria played many roles throughout her life-- and simultaneously managed to define a socially conservative vision of Victorian womanhood, while also defying its conventions. Worsley introduces her as a woman leading an extraordinary life in a unique time period. Drawing from Victoria's correspondence and the rich documentation of her life, Worsley recreates twenty-four of the most important days in Victoria's life. Each day gives a glimpse into the identity of this powerful, difficult queen and the contradictions that defined her. -- adapted from jacket

Record details

ISBN: 9781250201423
ISBN: 125020142X
Physical Description: 421 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 25 cm
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2019.

Content descriptions

General Note:	"First published in Great Britain by Holder & Stoughton, an Hachette UK company"--Title page verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-359) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	PART ONE: A NAUGHTY DAUGHTER. Double wedding: Kew Palace, 11 July 1818 ; Birth: Kensington Palace, 24 May 1819 ; Wet feet: Sidmouth, 23 January 1820 ; 'I will be good': Kensington Palace, 11 March 1830 ; The three missing weeks: Ramsgate, October 1835 ; Albert: Kensington Palace, 18 May 1836 ; Accession: Kensington Palace, 20 June 1837 ; Coronation: Buckingham Palace, 28 June 1838 ; In Lady Flora's bedchamber: Buckingham Palace, 27 June 1839 -- PART TWO: THE GOOD WIFE. The proposal: Windsor Castle, 10-15 October 1839 ; Wedding day: three palaces, 10 February 1840 ; 'Oh Madam it is a princess': Buckingham Palace, 21 November 1840 ; Christmas at Windsor: 25 December 1850 ; A Maharaja on the Isle of Wight: 21-24 August 1854 ; Miss Nightingale at Balmoral: 21 September 1856 ; A night with Nellie: 6 September 1861 ; The Blue Room: Windsor Castle, 14 December 1861 ; PART THREE: THE WIDOW OF WINDSOR. 'Sewer-poison': Sandringham, 13 December 1871 ; Lunch with Disraeli: Hughenden Manor, 15 December 1877 ; John Brown's legs: 6 March 1884 ; Baby gets married: Usborne House, 23 July 1885 ; Munshi-mania: Excelsior Hotel Regina, French Riviera, 4 April 1897 ; Apotheosis: London, 22 June 1897 ; Deathbed: Osborne, 23 January 1901. Introduction -- A naughty daughter -- The good wife -- The widow of Windsor.