Reviews

"A delightful and engaging joint biography of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, from prolific popular historian and British royals watcher Hough (Born Royal: The Lives and Loves of the Young Windsors, 1988, etc.)... a fitting corrective to Victoria's often misunderstood popular image. " - Publishers Weekly

A challenge for readers of Hough's brief life of the royal couple will be to fathom the meaning of the subtitle. "Love" is obvious enough: their arranged marriage to ensure an orderly succession quickly became a passionate one. The tragedies they shared, however, boil down to one‘Albert's death at 42, which left Victoria, with half her life still to live, a widow. Having accomplished biographies of eminent partners before (Edward and Alexandra; Winston and Clementine), Hough is practiced at the form and slides easily into his abbreviated narrative, largely told from Victoria's perspective. Nevertheless, his tale is the oft-told one, with few pages unfamiliar to those acquainted with earlier biographies. Nine children are born; two royal dwellings outside London are built (Osburne and Balmoral); a world's fair is arranged successfully at the striking new "Crystal Palace" in Hyde Park; a title‘Prince Consort‘is granted to Albert by his wife; they survive marital spats, often over the education of the dullard heir to the throne; in 1861, Albert dies. It's all competently told, but there's little new here. Illustrations. (Nov.)

A delightful and engaging joint biography of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, from prolific popular historian and British royals watcher Hough (Born Royal: The Lives and Loves of the Young Windsors, 1988, etc.)... a fitting corrective to Victoria's often misunderstood popular image. - Publishers Weekly