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Queen Victoria Matchmaking The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe CADBURY DEBORAH 9781408852828 Books

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Queen Victoria Matchmaking The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe CADBURY DEBORAH 9781408852828 Books

Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were the parents of nine children who all lived to adulthood, in those days a rarity even in royal families. Victoria and Albert were dutiful though not overly affectionate parents, and they saw in their brood a chance not only to encourage successful marriages but to influence the political development of Europe as well. Albert died just as their plans were beginning to unfold, but Victoria kept them firmly in mind during the remaining forty years of her life. By the time she died in 1901 her descendants were either on the thrones or in line to inherit the thrones of Britain, Germany, Russia, Greece, and sundry grand duchies and principalities, and by the late twentieth century more distant descendants also reigned or had formerly reigned over Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Deborah Cadbury's history of Queen Victoria's matrimonial efforts on behalf of (sometimes in spite of) her children and grandchildren is an interesting and often amusing (though sometimes tragic as well) account of a period when a royal marriage sometimes influenced alliances and high politics.

Cadbury's book examines several of the most pivotal marriages of Victoria and Albert's descendants beginning with their eldest daughter Victoria, who married the Crown Prince of Prussia as a teenager in 1858. From the beginning this was an important match, but it gained even more prominence when Prussia unified all of Germany and its Kings became Kaisers or Emperors. The original idea behind the match was that young Vicky could influence her husband into turning Prussia and all of Germany into democratic constitutional monarchies similar to Britain. This plan failed due to the ironclad resistance of Vicky's father in law Kaiser William I, his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and especially her own eldest son Kaiser William II. That failure was a harbinger of other failures to come. Marriages between Victoria's children and those of the King of Denmark and Tsar of Russia failed to influence those countries or to be of much benefit to Britain, and unions with minor Grand Dukes, Princes, and Princesses from small German courts also made little difference in power politics.

When Victoria's grandchildren grew old enough to marry their grandmother made use of them as well. She encouraged some of their marriages to foreign royalties, but others she actively worked against, often to little avail. Her most pressing concern seems to have been her heir presumptive Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, for whom she sought a good steady wife who could overcome his lethargic manner and tendency to seek low amusements (fortunately for Britain Prince "Eddy" died young.) Similarly, she was determined to keep her favorite granddaughter Alix from marrying Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, but was foiled by Alix's own sister Elizabeth who had married a Grand Duke and worked hard to bring her sibling to Russia (tragically for both, as it turned out.) Other grandchildren were married to spouses (sometimes their own first cousins) with whom they had little rapport.

Victoria did not live to see the failure of her hopes of encouraging European peace through her descendants' marriages. World War I saw cousins fighting other cousins, invading and destroying each others' territories and in many cases ending up exiled or murdered alongside their spouses and children. Cadbury does a superlative job of chronicling Victoria's machinations and the marriages that resulted from them. I've been a long time student of royal histories, yet I came across a number of stories and anecdotes in this book which I had never read before. If after reading Cadbury you are eager for more information on Queen Victoria's crowned descendants I suggest a hunt through used bookstores for Theo Aronson's "Grandmama of Europe." Also, Robert K. Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" is a good biography of the most tragic of Queen Victoria's granddaughters.


Tags : Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe [CADBURY DEBORAH] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted the most international power and influence: as a matchmaking grandmother.</b><div> </div><div>As her reign approached its sixth decade,CADBURY DEBORAH,Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe,Bloomsbury,1408852829

Queen Victoria Matchmaking The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe CADBURY DEBORAH 9781408852828 Books Reviews

An interesting look at the lead up to the First World War. Victoria had many grandchildren and she and the late Prince Albert had ideas to liberalize and safeguard Europe through their marriages creating family ties across the globe. This was not to be though and we see how Victoria tried until the end. Each chapter except the last focuses on one potential pairing. The last sums up how things turn out. Really interesting way to look at the end of an age and the build up to war.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a little sad to read how royalty really had no idea how fortunate they were, while everyone else was suffering. It does give the reader a good idea of why society was changing due to royal expectations. I wish there had been more photographs, in this book, of the royals that were written about. Of course not all of Victoria’s grandchildren could be covered in one book. There were so many of them. But the grandchildren who most influenced early 20th century history are written about. If you enjoy reading about European history in late 19th and early 20th century, then you will enjoy this book.
This was a Great Book!!! I read it in a day & a half & it's almost 400 pages! This is the 5th book I've read on Queen Victoria, but the first I've read on her grandchildren. A sometimes intense read & written extremely well. Of all the books I've read on Queen Victoria this book grabbed my attention from the first page & I was not able to put it down! If you're looking for a book on the history of the Victorian Era & LOVE a good story on top of that, then this is for you... Highly Recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite book on the subject...
Queen Victoria - Britain's second-longest reigning monarch - died on January 22, 1901. She'd been a widow since December, 1861 and had worn widows-weeds ever since, mourning her beloved husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Gotha. They had had nine children. At the time of her death, Victoria had 20 some-odd grandchildren. It was these children and grandchildren whose marriages with other members of European royalty Victoria plotted as almost her legacy. She and Prince Albert had seen their children as marrying into the other (Protestant) royal houses and bringing along their shared sense of liberal rule. In some marriages they succeeded, in others they failed. Victoria's grandchildren - often first cousins - were then married off to each other. Historian Deborah Cadbury explains Victoria's chess board and players in her new book, "Queen Victoria's Matchmaking The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe".

Cadbury does an excellent job in picking several children and grandchildren to follow through the diplomatic and personal paths to love and marriage. Some paths were more difficult than others and some marriages turned out better than others. But that is the way it is in most families, isn't it? Victoria, though, was playing for the future of Europe and personal happiness might not have always taken first place in her consideration of which cousin would go with which cousin. Victoria was marrying off first and second cousins to each other and wasn't concerned - or knowledgeable - about the genetic dangers of kissing cousins going further than kissing.

A side concern of Victoria's was the growing acts of anarchist terrorism in Europe. Russia, in particular, was the scene of several horrific political assassinations and Victoria worried about her favorite granddaughter, Alix of Hesse (daughter of her late daughter, Alice) and her choice of Nicholas of Russia as her husband. She also oversaw the marriage of her heir Bertie's first son (and then second son when the first died at a young age) to May of Teck. Now, that was a long, double courtship!

Deborah Cadbury's book is very readable. She's an easy writer and doesn't waste a sentence. The reason I mention that is because I had started her previous book, "Princes at War", but didn't finish it. I may go back and try again. In any case, she does a great job laying out the complicated chessboard of British royal marriages.
Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were the parents of nine children who all lived to adulthood, in those days a rarity even in royal families. Victoria and Albert were dutiful though not overly affectionate parents, and they saw in their brood a chance not only to encourage successful marriages but to influence the political development of Europe as well. Albert died just as their plans were beginning to unfold, but Victoria kept them firmly in mind during the remaining forty years of her life. By the time she died in 1901 her descendants were either on the thrones or in line to inherit the thrones of Britain, Germany, Russia, Greece, and sundry grand duchies and principalities, and by the late twentieth century more distant descendants also reigned or had formerly reigned over Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Deborah Cadbury's history of Queen Victoria's matrimonial efforts on behalf of (sometimes in spite of) her children and grandchildren is an interesting and often amusing (though sometimes tragic as well) account of a period when a royal marriage sometimes influenced alliances and high politics.

Cadbury's book examines several of the most pivotal marriages of Victoria and Albert's descendants beginning with their eldest daughter Victoria, who married the Crown Prince of Prussia as a teenager in 1858. From the beginning this was an important match, but it gained even more prominence when Prussia unified all of Germany and its Kings became Kaisers or Emperors. The original idea behind the match was that young Vicky could influence her husband into turning Prussia and all of Germany into democratic constitutional monarchies similar to Britain. This plan failed due to the ironclad resistance of Vicky's father in law Kaiser William I, his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and especially her own eldest son Kaiser William II. That failure was a harbinger of other failures to come. Marriages between Victoria's children and those of the King of Denmark and Tsar of Russia failed to influence those countries or to be of much benefit to Britain, and unions with minor Grand Dukes, Princes, and Princesses from small German courts also made little difference in power politics.

When Victoria's grandchildren grew old enough to marry their grandmother made use of them as well. She encouraged some of their marriages to foreign royalties, but others she actively worked against, often to little avail. Her most pressing concern seems to have been her heir presumptive Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, for whom she sought a good steady wife who could overcome his lethargic manner and tendency to seek low amusements (fortunately for Britain Prince "Eddy" died young.) Similarly, she was determined to keep her favorite granddaughter Alix from marrying Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, but was foiled by Alix's own sister Elizabeth who had married a Grand Duke and worked hard to bring her sibling to Russia (tragically for both, as it turned out.) Other grandchildren were married to spouses (sometimes their own first cousins) with whom they had little rapport.

Victoria did not live to see the failure of her hopes of encouraging European peace through her descendants' marriages. World War I saw cousins fighting other cousins, invading and destroying each others' territories and in many cases ending up exiled or murdered alongside their spouses and children. Cadbury does a superlative job of chronicling Victoria's machinations and the marriages that resulted from them. I've been a long time student of royal histories, yet I came across a number of stories and anecdotes in this book which I had never read before. If after reading Cadbury you are eager for more information on Queen Victoria's crowned descendants I suggest a hunt through used bookstores for Theo Aronson's "Grandmama of Europe." Also, Robert K. Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" is a good biography of the most tragic of Queen Victoria's granddaughters.