Queen Victoria: A Personal History [Paperback]

But one of the lessons of _Queen Victoria: A Personal History_ (Basic Books) by Christopher Hibbert is that the Queen did have a sense of humor, even during her long widowhood. One of his chapters, indeed, is mostly devoted to the things that made her laugh. Letters of a maid-of-honor say, "the queen laughed very much," or "she was immensely amused and roared with laughter, her whole face changing and lighting up in a wonderful way," or "she was very funny at the evening concert... in excellent spirits and full of jokes." The comedian J. L. Toole was renowned for his imitation of the Queen, and was horrified after dinner when she insisted on seeing it. After the performance, she sat "for a while silent and serious, but then began to laugh, gently at first, and then more and more heartily." It is hard to believe that this risible monarch could have been doing anything but continuing the joke when she thereupon told him, "Mr Toole that was very clever, and very, very funny, and you must promise me you will never, never do it again."

The compartmentalization into chapters is one of the attractive parts of this new biography. Hibbert himself lists "several excellent biographies" of the Queen, and it is clear that her larger-than-life persona will never exhaust the biographer's art. This book is of fair size (500 pages) but it is divided into 66 chapters, each one sticking, more or less, to its point. The chronology of the Queen's life sometimes suffers thereby, but each chapter has its light to give.

Hibbert has had access to some letters and other papers not previously used in biographies, but there is not a great deal new to learn about this extraordinary woman. However, the organization of the book makes its episodes memorable and compelling. There are anecdotes on almost every page that bring the Queen into focus; especially good are descriptions of her traveling habits, her relations with her Prime Ministers, the dullness of her court life, and the difficulties with her children. She was a woman of many talents and weaknesses, and put herself forward in an amazingly intricate court and political system. This is a readable, full, and insightful biography.

Hibbert sets the stage for Victoria's accession with a marvellous summary of how her various royal forebears failed to provide an heir, so that she succeeded by default. He delineates Queen Victoria's complex relationships with several Prime Ministers: her neediness with Lord Melbourne and Disraeli, antipathy towards Palmerston and Gladstone, respect for Salisbury. Unfortunately he does not clearly enough differentiate between Whigs and Tories. But he does acquaint the reader with the major political personalities and put you in a position to explore further. A useful reference alongside this book is "The Prime Ministers from Walpole to Macmillan" (possibly only available in the UK, and in danger of going out of print).

Skilfully interweaving Victoria's personal history with national and international landmark events, Hibbert provides handy, if underwritten, overviews of the Indian Mutiny, the Crimean War, the Great Exhibition, and Chartism. He also sketches contemporary European royals like Napoleon III, exploring tensions between France, Italy and Austria.

Co-dependency, egotism and self-pity characterised Victoria's personal contacts. Her henpecking of her intelligent, unpopular consort Albert, and later selfish blocking of her children's marriages in order to keep them around, echo her own repressive childhood. But Victoria's households at Balmoral and Osborne were beacons of domesticity, and she was well-travelled and sophisticated.

She hated pregnancy, resented her children, and was scathingly dismissive of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII). After Prince Albert's untimely death, she avoided official engagements for years, to the consternation of her government and people. She fostered obsessional bonds with her Scottish and Indian servants.

Her prolific writings reveal a needy, infantile and self-obsessed woman. Her USE of CAPITALS in an age before the telephone, is a way of SHOUTING (not unlike the internet), and italics give her prose stridency.

So what were Queen Victoria's merits, if any? By dint of longevity she was the epoxy glue of the Age which took her name, and her progeny peopled the Royal houses of Europe. Surviving several assasination attempts, Victoria held her family and household in thrall, and the country in awe. Somehow she inspired the loyalty, if also exasperation, of her Governments.

Henry VIII or Elizabeth I she ain't, but the story is worth reading. Christopher Hibbert gives an urbane, accessible account, with mercifully short chapters.