Book Review : Victoria – Queen, Matriarch, Empress by Jane Ridley

Victoria: Queen, Matriarch, Empress by Jane Ridley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Illuminating – Victoria was not the stereotype we’ve previously been led to believe

Excellent and well written short overview of this monarch’s life.

A great example of how I think the Penguin Monarch short biographies SHOULD be be written – sadly not all of them are.

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Book Synopsis

‘Official’ Book Description


This title is part of the Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England’s rulers in a collectible format. Queen Victoria inherited the throne at 18 and went on to become the longest-reigning female monarch in history, in a time of intense industrial, cultural, political, scientific and military change within the United Kingdom and great imperial expansion outside of it (she was made Empress of India in 1876). Overturning the established picture of the dour old lady, this is a fresh and engaging portrait from one of our most talented royal biographers. Jane Ridley is Professor of Modern History at Buckingham University, where she teaches a course on biography. Her previous books include The Young Disraeli; a study of Edwin Lutyens, The Architect and his Wife, which won the 2003 Duff Cooper Prize; and the best-selling Bertie: A Life of Edward VII. A Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature, Ridley writes for the Spectator and other newspapers, and has appeared on radio and several television documentaries. She lives in London and Scotland.