As its subtitle indicates this book is meant to accompany the mini-series "Victoria" now being shown on PBS in the United States. Starring Jenna Coleman, Rufus Sewell, Tom Hughes, and a galaxy of other excellent British performers, "Victoria" covers the early years and the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria. It is a magnificent production filmed with meticulous attention to sets and costumes. The companion is just as sumptuous, filled with stills of the cast in full costume. But this companion is far more than just a guide to "who plays whom." It includes contemporary prints and paintings of Queen Victoria and her forebears, as well as excerpts from her own diaries and letters. Most importantly, the companion contains superb historical commentaries by Helen Rappaport, a highly regarded historian well known for her twelve books on Victorian England and revolutionary Russia.
Queen Victoria might never have been born. Her father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a younger son of King George III who had lived happily with his mistress for many years until 1817 when Princess Charlotte of Wales,at the time the King's only legitimate grandchild, unexpectedly died in childbirth. The necessity for an heir to the throne forced Edward and several of his brothers to abandon their mistresses and make suitable royal marriages. In Edward's case, his bride was a widowed German princess named Victoria who came from a large but impecunious family that ruled the small duchy of Saxe-Coburg. In May 1819 Victoria gave birth to a daughter who was named for her. In early 1820 the Duke of Kent suddenly died and his widow and small child were left alone at Kensington Palace, disliked and distrusted by the rest of the Royal Family. In such circumstances it was not surprising that the Duchess of Kent came under the influence of unscrupulous advisers like Sir John Conroy, and that the young Princess Victoria led a lonely childhood, depending on her German governess Baroness Lehzen for emotional support and friendship.
Fortunately the young Princess was intelligent and self-reliant. As a teenager she faced down Sir John Conroy's attempts to dominate her, and when she succeeded to the throne in June 1837 at age 18 she was quick to take command. She removed herself from her mother's orbit by taking up residence in Buckingham Palace, formed a strong friendship with her first prime minister Viscount Melbourne, and established herself as a powerful voice in Government. She made many missteps, becoming overly infatuated with Melbourne and refusing to accept the realities of parliamentary politics, was involved in a sordid whispering campaign against one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting who appeared to be pregnant but was actually mortally ill, and was booed and hissed in public.
One of Victoria's most important duties was to marry and produce children. She had two British cousins of suitable age, Prince George of Cumberland and Prince George of Cambridge, but fancied neither them nor a son of the King of Holland. She was tempted by the visiting Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, but eventually she was steered towards two German cousins, Princes Ernest and Albert of Saxe-Coburg, by her uncle King Leopold of the Belgians. As the television series depicts, Victoria's interest in and opinion of her cousins was mercurial and at first dismissive, but eventually she fell deeply and permanently in love with Prince Albert. They married in early 1840 and produced their first child, a daughter, later that year.
That's where both the series and this companion end. The companion contains a great deal of interesting commentary from Rappaport, not only on the characters themselves but on Victoria's dog Dash, her wedding cake, and even the royal wet nurse. The commentary should deepen viewers' interest in many of the characters, such as the Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Alfred Paget, who are seen only briefly in the series but who Rappaport reveals to have been intelligent and multi-faceted people in their own rights. There is a final section dealing with the making of the
series, showing some of the sets and featuring stills from the production.
This book is a well designed and scholarly work which will satisfy not only fans of the series but serious students of Queen Victoria's reign as well.
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Tracy Lee Thompson-Demeter
Fall in Love with Queen Victoria
Reviewed in Canada on January 24, 2022
