We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals

The legend of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is that they were a devoted couple who ruled England side by side for twenty happy years until Albert died of typhoid fever at the age of 42. Victoria then spent the next forty years in lonely widowhood until she herself died in 1901.Gillian Gill's fine new biography of The Queen and her Prince Consort confirms part of this legend, but refutes several other segments which most people considered to be the ironclad truth. Gill's most fascinating revelation is that Victoria and Albert were engaged in a power struggle throughout most of their marriage that strained it almost to the breaking point and had a profound impact on their nation, children, and they themselves.The first part of We Two details Victoria and Albert's difficult childhoods. Victoria was caught in the middle of a permanent conflict between her widowed mother and her uncles George IV and William IV. She was overprotected, not sleeping alone until she became Queen. Albert was the younger son of the duke of a ramshackle little German principality. His parents separated when he was young, and Albert was raised in an atmosphere that considered women inferior to men.When Victoria became Queen in 1837 her uncle Leopold encouraged her to marry her first cousin Albert, and they did so in 1840, when both were twenty. Victoria quickly became abject to Albert, while the Prince seems to have loved the Queen's power and position more than he did the woman. Victoria's emotional neediness and Albert's desire to rule combined to create a partnership in which Albert actually held most of the power, subject to Victoria's temper and the mood of the British political establishment.Gill refutes a number of long held myths about Victoria and Albert, some of which were created by the widowed Queen herself. She speculates that Albert must have had some pre-marital sexual experience in order to so quickly satisfy his wife and sire children. She also provides some intriguing and surprising speculations on the couple's erotic history, using as evidence the large number of artworks featuring naked subjects in arresting poses installed in the couple's private residences. Prince Albert's vaunted political abilities are cut down to size with some well done discussions of political and foreign policy issues of the period.Despite some revisionism, what emerges from We Two is pretty much the same story we've heard all along: Albert was a not very popular foreigner with uncertain political skills who nevertheless managed to encourage scientific and technological development, while Victoria was a highly emotional and deeply possessive woman whose personal needs irritated her husband at times and estranged her from her children.We Two is well written, scholarly and witty at the same time, particularly in the notes where Gill allows herself a few snickers. There are some small errors of fact: children are misidentified in some of the pictures, foreign rulers get the wrong roman numerals attached to them in some cases, and a few over generalizations, as when Gill assers that after Albert's death Victoria always wore black and never wore jewels again. This ignores, among many others, the famous Diamond Jubilee photograph of 1897 which shows the aged Queen showered with gems. But these are small errors which do not detract from the overall excellence of the book.

I am really enjoying this - I love non-fiction that reads like novels, and this story is delivering in spades (at least so far - I'm about 75 pages in)... I recently read a novel about her early life (Victoria, by Daisy Goodwin - review coming, it's due to NetGalley any day now teehee...) and it was fantastic - it inspired me to pick this one up (I bought it on a kindle daily deal a while ago) and so far I'm loving it as much as the novel. Interesting though, that the stories diverge in a few important ways (not going to spoil either) - I'm used to historical novels that track real life pretty tightly, so the differences have been quite unusual to note and are inspiring me to do some more research. So far I'm inclined to go by this one as the authority - it seems well done, at least so far, and the reviews I've seen support the author's veracity. The writing style is supremely easy-going, while still detailed and nuanced in its presentation - it helps, I'd imagine, when the underlying story is so compelling and the characters such a mixture of sympathetic and ridiculously over-the-top... I'm really looking forward to moving into the years of their marriage - the novel covered her ascension through their engagement, and I'm familiar with her post-Albert years from other reading, but I don't know much about their actual partnership. From what I've seen, it sounds like it should make for more fascinating reading, especially in the hands of a talented author like this one...UPDATE AFTER FINISHING: I'm pleased to report that the book continued to hold my interest throughout and that the later sections about the partnership between the Queen and her Prince Consort were as interesting as I hoped they'd be. Albert really was quite a convoluted personality - misunderstood by pretty much everyone (largely due to his own desire to maintain a particular persona before the world, including Victoria) and simultaneously under-appreciated (by much of the external world) and over-appreciated (by most of the women in his family, including Victoria), he was clearly brilliant at book-learning/intellectual pursuits, but rather lacking in what one might call common sense street-smarts. Theirs is a love story for the ages, as I'd believed before reading - but not exactly the story I expected, which made the book a delightful and educational experience!

Ce livre présente une histoire très détaillée de la vie de la reine Victoria et du prince Albert. Non seulement de leur vie, mais il y a aussi une histoire assez détaillée d'autres personnages importants de l'époque victorienne.J'ai aimé lire ce livre et je le recommanderais à tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'histoire de cette importante période de l'histoire britannique.

An interesting book and an easy read. Especially enjoyed how the author described Albert and his role in the monarchy and in the U.K. It was nice to read about Albert's accomplishments which have often been ignored.

Testo davvero ricco di informazioni e di svariati spaccati sulla vita pubblica e privata di una delle coppie reali che più hanno lasciato il segno sulla modernità. Insegno letteratura e cultura inglese, questo libro mi ha permesso di approfondire accuratamente e in modo leggero al tempo stesso l'età Vittoriana. Lo raccomando.

5 because there is no higher mark!! Great book nd perfect conditions. Although the shipment took a little longer than expected... (due to Holidays and Spanish postal service) HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Nettes Buch über das Leben Viktorias und Albert vom Beginn bis zu Ende. Schade das es nur in Englisch erhältlich ist.