Queen Victoria's Granddaughters

Queen Victoria's Granddaughters PDF Author: Christina Croft
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781492905547
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
On 6th July 1868, when told of the birth of her seventh granddaughter, Queen Victoria remarked that the news was 'a very uninteresting thing for it seems to me to go on like the rabbits in Windsor Park.' Her apathy was understandable - this was her fourteenth grandchild, and, though she had given birth to nine children, she had never been fond of babies, viewing them as 'frog-like and rather disgusting...particularly when undressed.' The early years of her marriage had, she claimed, been ruined by frequent pregnancies; and large families were unnecessary for wealthy people since the children would grow up with nothing worthwhile to do. Nevertheless, her initial reaction to the birth of Princess Victoria of Wales belied the genuine concern that Queen Victoria felt for each of her twenty-two granddaughters. 'As a rule, ' she wrote, 'I like girls best, ' and she devoted a great deal of time to their wellbeing and happiness, showering them with an affection she had seldom shown her own children.By 1914, through a series of dynastic marriages, the Queen's granddaughters included the Empress of Russia, the Queens of Spain, Greece and Norway, and the Crown Princesses of Roumania and Sweden. As their brothers and cousins occupied the thrones of Germany, Britain and Denmark, Prince Albert's dream of a peaceful Europe created through bonds of kinship seemed a real possibility. Yet in little more than a decade after Queen Victoria's death, the Prince Consort's dream would lie shattered in the carnage of the First World War. Royal cousins and even siblings would find themselves on opposing sides; two of them would die horrifically at the hands of revolutionaries and several others would be ousted from their thrones. They had lived through the halcyon days of the European monarchies but their lives, like the lives of millions of their peoples, would be changed forever by the catastrophe played out on the battlefields of France.Through all the upheavals, tragedies and conflicts one person had bound them together and, even when wars had divided their nations, to the end of their lives, they would look back and remember 'dearest grandmama' with lov

Queen Victoria's Granddaughters

Queen Victoria's Granddaughters PDF Author: Christina Croft
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781492905547
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
On 6th July 1868, when told of the birth of her seventh granddaughter, Queen Victoria remarked that the news was 'a very uninteresting thing for it seems to me to go on like the rabbits in Windsor Park.' Her apathy was understandable - this was her fourteenth grandchild, and, though she had given birth to nine children, she had never been fond of babies, viewing them as 'frog-like and rather disgusting...particularly when undressed.' The early years of her marriage had, she claimed, been ruined by frequent pregnancies; and large families were unnecessary for wealthy people since the children would grow up with nothing worthwhile to do. Nevertheless, her initial reaction to the birth of Princess Victoria of Wales belied the genuine concern that Queen Victoria felt for each of her twenty-two granddaughters. 'As a rule, ' she wrote, 'I like girls best, ' and she devoted a great deal of time to their wellbeing and happiness, showering them with an affection she had seldom shown her own children.By 1914, through a series of dynastic marriages, the Queen's granddaughters included the Empress of Russia, the Queens of Spain, Greece and Norway, and the Crown Princesses of Roumania and Sweden. As their brothers and cousins occupied the thrones of Germany, Britain and Denmark, Prince Albert's dream of a peaceful Europe created through bonds of kinship seemed a real possibility. Yet in little more than a decade after Queen Victoria's death, the Prince Consort's dream would lie shattered in the carnage of the First World War. Royal cousins and even siblings would find themselves on opposing sides; two of them would die horrifically at the hands of revolutionaries and several others would be ousted from their thrones. They had lived through the halcyon days of the European monarchies but their lives, like the lives of millions of their peoples, would be changed forever by the catastrophe played out on the battlefields of France.Through all the upheavals, tragedies and conflicts one person had bound them together and, even when wars had divided their nations, to the end of their lives, they would look back and remember 'dearest grandmama' with lov

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking PDF Author: Deborah Cadbury
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610398475
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted the most international power and influence: as a matchmaking grandmother. As her reign approached its sixth decade, Queen Victoria's grandchildren numbered over thirty, and to maintain and increase British royal power, she was determined to maneuver them into a series of dynastic marriages with the royal houses of Europe. Yet for all their apparent obedience, her grandchildren often had plans of their own, fueled by strong wills and romantic hearts. Victoria's matchmaking plans were further complicated by the tumultuous international upheavals of the time: revolution and war were in the air, and kings and queens, princes and princesses were vulnerable targets. Queen Victoria's Matchmaking travels through the glittering, decadent palaces of Europe from London to Saint Petersburg, weaving in scandals, political machinations and family tensions to enthralling effect. It is at once an intimate portrait of a royal family and an examination of the conflict caused by the marriages the Queen arranged. At the heart of it all is Victoria herself: doting grandmother one moment, determined Queen Empress the next.

The Four Graces

The Four Graces PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780977196197
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Queen Victoria's Children

Queen Victoria's Children PDF Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752473247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort had nine children who despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the story of their lives in terms of world impact, but also of their own personal achievements, their individual contributions to public life in Britain and overseas and in their roles as the children of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.

Queen Victoria's Grandsons (1859-1918)

Queen Victoria's Grandsons (1859-1918) PDF Author: Christina Croft
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781505885811
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Born into eight very different families, the upbringing and fortunes of Queen Victoria's grandsons varied widely. Some died in childhood, some were killed in action, and others lived to see grandchildren of their own. There were heroes and villains, valiant soldiers and dissipated youths, but their lives were interconnected through the tiny Queen for whom their welfare and happiness was a constant preoccupation. As part of a wide, extended family, they lived through the halcyon days of the late nineteenth century European monarchies, witnessing the most spectacular and the most tragic events of the age.

The Russian Riddle

The Russian Riddle PDF Author: Anolic Tamar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780977196166
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Children Of The Empire

Children Of The Empire PDF Author: Michael Farah
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1800468075
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Written entirely in the first person and fully based on accurate historical accounts, Michael Farah imagines how this royal family would have described the events of their extraordinary existence, scandals, loves, triumphs and tragedies.

Victoria's Daughters

Victoria's Daughters PDF Author: Jerrold M. Packard
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429964901
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
The story of five women who shared one of the most extraordinary and privileged sisterhoods of all time. Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by nineteenth-century women of less-exulted class. Victoria and Albert's precocious firstborn child, Vicky, wed a Prussian prince in a political match her high-minded father hoped would bring about a more liberal Anglo-German order. That vision met with disaster when Vicky's son Wilhelm-- to be known as Kaiser Wilhelm-- turned against both England and his mother, keeping her out of the public eye for the rest of her life. Gentle, quiet Alice had a happier marriage, one that produced Alexandra, later to become Tsarina of Russia, and yet another Victoria, whose union with a Battenberg prince was to found the present Mountbatten clan. However, she suffered from melancholia and died at age thirty-five of what appears to have been a deliberate, grief-fueled exposure to the diphtheria germs that had carried away her youngest daughter. Middle child Helena struggled against obesity and drug addition but was to have lasting effect as Albert's literary executor. By contrast, her glittering and at times scandalous sister Louise, the most beautiful of the five siblings, escaped the claustrophobic stodginess of the European royal courts by marrying a handsome Scottish commoner, who became governor general of Canada, and eventually settled into artistic salon life as a respected sculptor. And as the baby of the royal brood of nine, rebelling only briefly to forge a short-lived marriage, Beatrice lived under the thumb of her mother as a kind of personal secretary until the queen's death. Principally researched at the houses and palaces of its five subjects in London, Scotland, Berlin, Darmstadt, and Ottawa-- and entertainingly written by an experienced biographer whose last book concerned Victoria's final days-- Victoria's Daughters closely examines a generation of royal women who were dominated by their mother, married off as much for political advantage as for love, and finally passed over entirely with the accession of their n0 brother Bertie to the throne. Packard provides valuable insights into their complex, oft-tragic lives as daughters of their time.

Queen Victoria and the European Empires

Queen Victoria and the European Empires PDF Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description


Queen Victoria and The Romanovs

Queen Victoria and The Romanovs PDF Author: Coryne Hall
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445695049
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Alexander III called Victoria ‘a pampered, sentimental, selfish old woman,’ while to her he was a sovereign whom she could not regard as a gentleman. But the Queen's son and two of her granddaughters married Romanovs.