Book description
In this unforgettable novel of Queen Victoria, Jean Plaidy re-creates
a remarkable life filled with romance, triumph, and tragedy.
At birth, Princess Victoria was fourth in line for the throne of
England, the often-overlooked daughter spent most of her childhood in
genteel poverty, exiled from court because of her mother's dislike of
her uncle, the king. A strong, willful child, Victoria was determined
not to be stifled by her powerful uncles or her unpopular, controlling
mother. Then at the age of eighteen this almost-forgotten princess
became Queen of England. She was finally free of her mother's
iron-hand and her uncles' manipulations. Her first act as queen was to
demand that she be given a room-and a bed-of her own.
Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert was a blissfully happy and
produced nine children. Albert was her constant companion and one of
her most trusted advisors. Victoria's grief after Prince Albert's
untimely death was so shattering that for the rest of her life-nearly
forty years-she dressed only in black. She survived several
assassination attempts, and during her reign England's empire expanded
around the globe until it touched every continent in the world.
By the end of her sixty-four-year reign, this "Girl Queen"
embodied the glory of the British Empire.
Jean Plaidy, one of the preeminent authors of historical fiction for
most of the twentieth century, is the pen name of the prolific English
author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Victoria Holt. Jean Plaidy's
novels had sold more than 14 million copies worldwide by the time of her
death in 1993.
