Victoria's Daughters, Jerrold M. Packard

I knew a lot of about the long-lived, long-armed, long-loving Queen Victoria and when I read a reference to this book I was curious about about her daughters, about whom I knew nothing. "Victoria's Daughters" chronicles the lives of her five daughers, some of whom married royally and others of whom were quite retiring. The five princesses were in a bad position with an egocentric parent that never let them forget that she was the queen and also lived so long that they were never able to live independent lives. Vicky, Alice, Lenchen, Beatrice and Louise had their entire lives arranged by Victoria; Vicky and Alice were even outlived by their mother. The book is clearly sympathetic to the girls and fairly critical of Victoria's mothering skills in this fairly intimate look at the difficulties of royal life.
Posted by supersusie at October 20, 2003 11:08 PM