Biography (General) 2001
New Biography (General) Titles
2001
Dorothy Thompson
Queen Victoria
Pbk published July 2001 by Virago at £7.99
A woman on the throne
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, almost without resources and under threat from republicanism, in a period of social, political and economic turbulence. By the time she died in 1901, she had revived the failing image of the British monarchy and was head of one the richest families and the largest empire in the world.
She was the first monarch in British history to combine the public role of head of state with the private one of wife and mother. Alone among married women she was not governed by the laws that involved surrendering both name and fortune to one’s husband. And yet she did not support the movement towards what she called ‘this mad wicked folly of women’s rights’.
Nevvertheless, the presence of a woman in the highest political position the country had a marked and complex effect on the lives of all her subjects. In this intriguing and innovative book, Dorothy Thompson has brilliantly drawn out the real woman from behind the myth of the puritanical and unamused monarch.
'No other book shows in the same depth an detail the influence of Victoria, as a woman, on public opinion' Elizabeth Longford
New Books by Dorothy Thompson at Amazon.co.uk
Secondhand and Out of Print Books by Dorothy Thompson at Alibris.com
