Queen Victoria Grandsons 18591918 eBook Christina Croft
Download As PDF : Queen Victoria Grandsons 18591918 eBook Christina Croft 
Born into eight very different families, the upbringing and fortunes of Queen Victoria's grandsons varied widely. Some died in childhood, some were killed in action, and others lived to see grandchildren of their own. There were heroes and villains, valiant soldiers and dissipated youths, but their lives were interconnected through the tiny Queen for whom their welfare and happiness was a constant preoccupation. As part of a wide, extended family, they lived through the halcyon days of the late nineteenth century European monarchies, witnessing the most spectacular and the most tragic events of the age.
Queen Victoria Grandsons 18591918 eBook Christina Croft
Having already read ‘Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters’ by the same author, I was delighted to see this new book and was not disappointed. Although, of course, there is a natural overlap between the granddaughters and the grandsons, this book provided lots of new information and was, again, a most enjoyable read. The author’s understanding of Kaiser Wilhelm was particularly interesting to me and helped me to see him in a different light; and I also enjoyed reading about some of the lesser-known grandsons, especially Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. A really good read – highly recommended!Product details
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Queen Victoria Grandsons 18591918 eBook Christina Croft Reviews
A well put-together overview of the interesting lives of Queen Victoria's grandsons.
Generally chronological except where it was necessary to follow particular events, it kept one interested.
I gained an appreciation of the key royals at the turn of the previous century and the interactions between them.
I'm addicted to reading about English and Russian history so I was looking forward to reading this book. I've read one other book by this author (Queen Victoria's Grandaughters) so I was looking forward to reading about the "Grandsons". Although I have read many books about Queen Victoria and her children it's always good to get a different perspective or perhaps get new information.
This book has serious flaws
1) Editing is one - there are many typos, bad sentence structure, and titles given to people that seem to be made up (Duke of Coburg?).
2) the book appears to be self-published which is not a bad thing in itself, but it visually looks like a textbook.
3) there is way too much narrative spent on Kaiser Wilhelm - practically the entire 2nd half of the book is devoted to him and all other grandsons are given mere paragraphs, at best.
4) this author also glosses over Kaiser Wilhelm's nasty, overbearing, and downright mean personality. The author actually states that Wilhelm never wanted World War I and appealed to everyone who would listen that they should not get involved. Really?? In all the books I've read about him - in particular, Hannah Pakula's "Uncommon Woman", a bio of his mother who was Queen Victoria's daughter, Vicky - Wilhelm was practically a narcissistic sociopath. Yet Croft writes very sympathetically about him.
5) the author actually references - in a footnote - another book she wrote.
6) NO photos -- are you kidding me?? Writing about all of these grandsons, daughters, etc. and not one photo inside (probably because it was self-published).
If you are familiar with the history of Queen Victoria and her extended family - this book has nothing new in it. Had I seen the book in a bookstore, I would not have purchased it.
If you have none or little knowledge of the subject matter, this book will give you interesting insight but be warned that it's mostly devoted to Kaiser Wilhelm - and as I stated above, it gives a very subjective view of him which is not entirely real.
Christina Croft does an excellent job narrating the intertwining lives of Queen Victoria's grandsons. I found this a little easier to follow than the companion book, Queen Victoria's Granddaughters, perhaps because the men were more directly involved in the pivotal events of the late 19th and early 20th century.
There are some poignant childhood memories that have special significance in this royal biography - I particularly liked the story about Victoria's young grandchildren coming to visit Grandmama at Christmas, where they would "play" battles in the garden. Ironically, these same children would grow up to take sides in World War 1. There was also a brief moment at Victoria's funeral where there was a catastrophe with the horses pulling the carriage that held the coffin, which was saved by one grandson who quickly arranged for the naval carriage to pull the coffin. This has become a feature of royal processions. Through it all, the pervading tragedy of haemophilia keeps appearing in families, generation after generation across Europe.
The general family distrust of Victoria's eldest grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II is well portrayed here, although Croft gives an interestingly objective and empathetic portrait, disputing some of the myths about Willie's cruel treatment of his mother. Croft also claims that Willie was actually eager to avoid war and especially "dreaded" a war between England and Germany. I'm not so sure about that argument, as at least one world leader must have been keen for World War I or it would never have happened.
The other profiles are equally good, although some of the minor characters are difficult to keep straight. It is so fascinating to see what a lottery of fate it was being a grandchild of Queen Victoria - you could be a respected monarch, or assassinated by revolutionaries; die in childhood or live until the 1980s (that was a granddaughter); marry one cousin and/or declare war on another.
This book must have been particularly cheap when I bought it because I expected it to be a quick read, but it was quite lengthy and detailed and extremely well researched. I loved reading it, and I am keen to read Queen Victoria's Granddaughters again. Recommended to anyone who is fascinated by Victoria's tangled legacy across Europe and in seeing how World War I started as a game in Grandmama's garden.
Rather than writing a series of separate biographies, I very much appreciated the way Christina Croft interwove the stories of the various grandsons by dividing the book into sections about their childhood, military service, marriages and fatherhood, and the aftermath of the death of Queen Victoria. It made for very interesting reading, and created a fuller picture of the era in which these princes and kings lived, as well as showing what they were like in private as well as in public. The First World War was made all the more tragic by the realization that none of Queen Victoria’s grandsons wanted it to happen, and yet several of them were blamed for the parts they played during the conflict. Their divided loyalties and the tensions within their families were quite heart-breaking really, and the author presented the facts in a very engaging manner which kept my interest from the first page of the book, until the very end.
Having already read ‘Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters’ by the same author, I was delighted to see this new book and was not disappointed. Although, of course, there is a natural overlap between the granddaughters and the grandsons, this book provided lots of new information and was, again, a most enjoyable read. The author’s understanding of Kaiser Wilhelm was particularly interesting to me and helped me to see him in a different light; and I also enjoyed reading about some of the lesser-known grandsons, especially Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. A really good read – highly recommended!
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