Thanks.

Good point, a lot of that is a perception thing.

Thank you. This isn’t my favorite period in European history, so I’m filling in the blanks. Your rec will help.

But history is littered with noble women doing just that. And having heirs in the midst of it.

But actually (Albert and Victoria were) incredibly stormy.

There is a documentary about Christian IX called “The Father-in-law of Europe” that is super fascinating. Between Christian and Victoria, every European royal family (except maybe Monaco) is related to one another somehow.

This, right here, is what I want to be if I grow up.

Did you ever read Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August? It starts out with Queen Victoria’s funeral and describes all the royals who were in the procession, and then details how Europe spun itself into World War I. Catrine Clay also wrote an excellent book, King, Kaiser, Czar, about George V, Wilhelm II, and Nicholas…

She really was an interesting person. She was raised in a bizarrely strict environment; her first two orders as Queen were to have her bed moved out of her mother’s room and to be allowed to be alone. She had literally never been allowed to be alone.

Their mothers were sisters. I mean you can’t really talk about descendants of Victoria without bringing Christian IX into the discussion.

It always surprises me how many people know so little about this history; don’t even know the names. And ignorance of the dynamics of late 19th century European royals results in incomplete understanding of all 20th century geopolitics. This book sounds like a great opportunity for those who wish to better understand…

She disliked babies as well, until they could talk. The book of her letters to her oldest daughter, as well as “Serving Victoria” are really absorbing and show you who Victoria was.

Great interview. Thank you!

I feel like a lot of women loath being preggers, it does NOT seem like a fun experience! It’s very cool to have this historical figure bucking trends and pulling off political machinations in a way that generally, you expect to see men do.

Victoria really was badass, and also loved sex, although she loathed being preggers!

Putting on my Amazon list right now!

I may be remembering wrong, but I thought Vicky’s efforts were mainly thwarted by Bismarck’s influence over her in-laws and Wilhelm. I suppose it’s possible that Albert could have helped mitigate some of that, had he lived, but Victoria certainly didn’t (or couldn’t) do anything.