Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow by Lucy WorsleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A sympathetic portrait of a complex woman. There are many things to dislike about Victoria - she basically abdicated her duties to Albert, wasn't particular loving towards her children (mind you, given she had nine of them, she just did well to remember their names), and could be extremely selfish. But, Worsley argues that Victoria was a woman of her upbringing and her time. She was taught from a young age to believe that the world revolved around her, so that's how she behaved. Plus, the 19th Century wasn't exactly a great time for women's rights - deferring to your husband was what you were supposed to do.
Above of all, Worsely portrays Victoria as an extremely lonely woman. Before marrying Albert, she had no real friends (she wasn't allowed any as a child) and didn't really make any after he died. Friendship is based on being equals and that's quite hard to achieve when one of you is the head of an empire. Worst still, when she did attempt to have friends (such as John Brown), everyone around her got upset.
As Queen, Victoria was vastly more privileged than a lot of her subjects (particularly if they were poor and/or female). But, based on this book, you can't really envy her. Like our current Queen, Queen Victoria had to do her best with a life that she didn't choose and perhaps didn't really want.
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