I thought that I would really love a biography on Victoria but this was just a bit too dry and boring. I liked academic texts but this was not a good one at all. There are better ones at there and the most compelling thing about this book is the cover.

You call me the little Queen,” she told her uncle the King of the Belgians; “my body is little, but my heart is not.”

Anything Royalty and I'm down to read it. And that book cover isn't it gorgeous 😍😍

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

VIctoria of England starts with Victoria’s childhood, explaining in detail her living situation and relationships with family and the few people she had around her as a child. This is a dense read, with a large amount of information, always in chronological order. Expect to take into the details that surrounded her life, including her many children and the sadness of her husband’s death.

This was a very comprehensive biography on Queen Victoria. It was dry at times, but the subject matter was still interesting! I recommend this for fans of PBS’s Victoria.

Dame Edith Sitwell was an interesting character. Due to an extremely unhappy relationship with her parents, she lived with her governess for a long time, until that lady's death of cancer in the late 1930s. She fell in love with a gay artist and never married. As a tall woman who liked to dress in unusual garb, she certainly stood out. Like her younger brothers, Dame Edith had literary leanings and began publishing poetry before the first World War. She also wrote books on poetry, as well as biographies. "Victoria of England" was first published in 1936.

This fact presents one of the major problems with this work: its wording is often somewhat archaic, which younger readers may find tedious. It is also somewhat repetitive: after all, we do not need reminding that Victoria disliked a certain politician or presented herself as a grieving widow after the early death of husband Albert in every single chapter following the event. If you can look beyond those faults, you'll be delighted to discover a sprightly, slightly gossipy narrative about Victoria's early life, her ascension to the English throne, and her adult years, occasionally peppered with personal notes from Dame Edith. Most chapters are augmented with quotes from letters to or from the Queen, excerpts from her diaries, and quotations from contemporary biographers. Unfortunately, we find the sovereign such a private person that her daily routine remains largely unexplained; we do, however, learn that she loved her family, never got over her beloved husband's death, apparently managed to remain quite diplomatic when dealing with foreign powers, and strongly disapproved of women's suffrage, somewhat ironic considering that she herself was a woman in charge of a nation and a Commonwealth.

Two chapters seem odd among the rest: Edith Sitwell spends a very thorough bit of time enlightening the reader on the plight of the British laborer of the Victorian age, which is certainly interesting, but entirely out of character from the rest of the biography in tone. The same goes for the odd, rambling listing of fashions of the time, inserted after the French Queen's visit to London.

As an extra, the new edition of "Victoria of England" also includes 1933's "The English Eccentrics," which must have been a very short book indeed, considering it barely seems to take up room at the end of the biography.

"Victoria of England" is published by Agora Books. I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are, as always, my own.

A utter joy to read. I love anything related to Victoria so this was a pleasure. Sitwell had a beautiful way with words.

Edith Sitwell was a poet and author first, a biographer second, if even that. Her dramatic style and poetic wording shines through in this biography, fictionalizing and romanticizing certain moments and figures throughout this book. This certainly makes for very enjoyable reading, even if it’s not always the best way to present facts or bring a clear narrative. She also tends to jump ahead sometimes, or backwards in time, whereas I’d have liked it better if she’d written in a more chronological manner.

In this day and age we expect biographers to be objective, or at the very least defend their conclusions by explaining their train of thought and citing numerous sources. This biography was written in a very different way, with Dame Sitwell’s very subjective opinions shining through via various sarcastic, at times even snide, remarks and a cynical undertone permeates the biography.
This is not to say that she didn’t do her research. In fact, she cites several valuable sources that have withstood the test of time and remain must-reads for anyone interested in Queen Victoria or the Hanoverian & Victorian era, like Lytton Strachey’s biography or Roger Fulford’s Royal Dukes. Fulford edited five wonderful volumes of letters between Queen Victoria and Vicky, the Princess Royal, but Sitwell unfortunately didn’t have the luxury of using these as they were only published from the 1960s onwards. Theodore Martin’s work regarding the life of the Prince Consort is also quoted, but this is an intimidatingly thorough work, and only for the most die-hard of history buffs. Points for effort!

It is fascinating to read about Queen Victoria through the eyes of someone living in the early twentieth century and to discover a perspective colored by the sensibilities of that time.
Things that are now accepted and well-known facts about Queen Victoria’s life are not mentioned or only very lightly alluded to.

The Kensington system for example, or the way John Conroy tried to coerce a young Victoria into appointing him as her private secretary. He was a manipulative and ambitious man, who isolated the Duchess of Kent and the young Princess from the outside world and misappropriated large sums of money from both the Duchess and the Queen’s aunt, Princess Sophia. However, Ms. Sitwell seems to be still in the dark about this and as such, is much more sympathetic towards Conroy, and even the Duchess of Kent, than might be expected. I would have expected her to have had more of an inkling of Conroy’s motives though, because the oft-quoted Lytton Strachey does seem to be in the know and, is quite severe in judging this upstart “with no judgment and a great deal of importance”, “bustling and ridiculous” and “mingling the rôles of major-domo and Prime Minister”.

The reason for Prince Albert’s ill-fated visit to Bertie, leading to his final illness, and the resulting animosity the Queen felt towards her eldest son and heir are glossed over. Perhaps so as not to offend the public’s sensibilities or the monarchy?

I think the author at times forgets the exact purpose of a biography. She leaves her subject and meanders off into something more of a diatribe against the horrors that the working class then faced due to the changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution or the inadequacies of the judicial system at that time. These are important matters, naturally, but I would have liked to have seen more of a link to Queen Victoria or her opinions on these subjects when so effusively mentioned in what is ostensibly a biography, not a more general dissertation on the Victorian era.

The author is very harsh when writing about anything to do with Victoria’s and Albert’s relationship, almost jealously mocking, which is a pity. I also disliked her disparaging attitude towards the Prince Consort, more specifically with regards to his work ethic. He was a hard worker and conscientious even on his deathbed, a case could be made that he worked himself to death, but that does not seem to be something she particularly admires or respects. She refers to his German birth, and to Vicky and Alice marrying Germans, but conveniently leaves out that Victoria herself is of German descent.

This is an interesting book, but more so because of its peculiarities, inherent to the period it was written in, than because of what we might learn about its subject.

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This book was good, full of historical knowledge and accurate which are the main things i look for in a historical book! but i was not a huge fan of the authors writing style so i give it 4/5 stars!

It is rare that one's principal interest when reading a biography is associated more with the biographer than with the subject of it but for me this was certainly the case here. Recognised now as a pioneering avant garde genius Edith Sitwell is primarily remembered for her poetry but she also produced non fiction work which included two biographies of Queen Elisabeth I. I remember first encountering a dusty hardback edition of Victoria of England (first published in 1936) in the school library more than fifty years ago and this together with other books there by the now almost forgotten Geoffrey Trease helped to kindle a fascination for history and biography that remains.

In recent years there have been a plethora of books, films and television work devoted to the life of Queen Victoria so why should one now read something over eighty years old when there are more recent alternatives available? The answer is simply the wonderful prose style that is displayed which is both concise and descriptive. Although not a member of the Bloomsbury Set Sitwell was clearly influenced by them and Lytton Strachey is referred to and quoted throughout the book. The biography is well researched and comprehensive with all the salient aspects of Victoria's life covered. The only omissions are possibly not mentioning her young Indian attendant Abdul Karim by name although he is referenced here and the scandals concerning her daughter Princess Louise although perhaps the full details were not so well known then. The personalty of Sitwell shines through here especially when writing sometimes acidly about Victoria's relationships with her various Prime Ministers. She constantly uses the epithet "the hero of Tolpuddle" when referring to Lord Melbourne and remarks that the only thing that she agreed with Gladstone on was their joint antipathy to women's suffrage.

Time is taken from the chronological narrative to devote a chapter to the prevailing social conditions of the time suffered by the poor. The biography can therefore be viewed as part social history and succinctly places Victoria in a political and indeed geo political context as the great powers of Europe positioned themselves against each other to gain predominance. Victoria was of course related to almost all the reigning monarchs at the time.

The reissuing of this book will hopefully not only provide pleasurable and informative reading but will ensure that Edith Sitwell's legacy is preserved and enhanced.

This was a well-written and thoughtful biography of Victoria that is great for the casual reader who enjoys historical biography. I think it spends a lot of time on her youth.

I used to despise history at school and dreaded each lesson but now that over a decade has passed I have come to really enjoy books on history and historical figures. This book is one of those that make learning so easy and accessible. I appreciated the extensive research carried out by Sitwell in order to create an interesting and readable title full of intriguing information on the young Victoria, including her ascension to the throne and details about her love of Prince Albert.

I cannot recommend this highly enough, a fantastic read that I learned a lot from. Sometimes history books can be tedious and boring but this is definitely not the case here - I loved it!

Many thanks to Agora Books for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This was an interesting and well researched book on Victoria. I felt like I wanted to learn more about her after reading this because the author did such a good job of writing about her life.