Serving Victoria

Life in the Royal Household

De: Kate Hubbard

Narrado por: Kate Hubbard

During her 63-year reign, Queen Victoria gathered around herself a household dedicated to her service. For some, royal employment was the defining experience of their lives; for others it came as an unwelcome duty or as a prelude to greater things. Serving Victoria follows the lives of six members of her household, from the governess to the royal children, from her maid of honor to her chaplain and her personal physician.

Drawing on their letters and diaries - many hitherto unpublished - Serving Victoria offers a unique insight into the Victorian court, with all its frustrations and absurdities, as well as the queen herself, sitting squarely at its center. Seen through the eyes of her household as she traveled among Windsor, Osborne, and Balmoral, and to the French and Belgian courts, Victoria emerges as more vulnerable, more emotional, more selfish, more comical, than the austere figure depicted in her famous portraits. We see a woman who was prone to fits of giggles, who wept easily and often, who gobbled her food and shrank from confrontation but insisted on controlling the lives of those around her. We witness her extraordinary and debilitating grief at the death of her husband, Albert, and her sympathy toward the tragedies that afflicted her household.

©2012 Kate Hubbard (P)2020 Tantor

The Queen

I’ve followed many stories on the life of Queen Victoria and have enjoyed them. I particularly, at long last, found it delightful to have a portion of her biography read to me.
I look forward to many more selections on Audible

Good history about a fascinating subject

There were a lot of names to remember who weren't relevant to the telling of the story, but it DID show how many people were essential to Victoria. She led a very strange existence and her story was told well in this book. The narration was excellent, which helped get through the boring parts.