An interesting book about this storied family.
I enjoyed the format of focusing on one person, written in the first person perspective.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

This book was described as:
“Written entirely in the first person and fully based on accurate historical accounts, Michael Farah imagines how this royal family would have described the events of their extraordinary existence, scandals, loves, triumphs and tragedies”

There is definitely a unique angle in that he writes in the first person, so we “hear the voices” of the people - I found myself thinking that these would make great little monologues & could imagine a good actor dressed in period costume sitting on a chair talking to the camera in this “voice”. These short monologues are written in very short sentences, in quite a repetitive way (all start with “My name is …. My parents were …”) and whilst this does make them accessible, it also makes them feel informal and quite childish in their tone. The author specialises in royal, church and European history, so I was excited that I would get new insights as I read, but unfortunately there was little evidence of research & certainly nothing new in this book. I was expecting a lot more.
Overall, if you know nothing about Queen Victoria’s children & Grandchildren, this is a nice overview and the short chapters make it accessible & not overwhelming, but you are literally getting a taster of the people with no more information than can be found in a quick Wikipedia search for Queen Victoria’s grandchildren. I was disappointed.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.
#ChildrenOfTheEmpire #NetGalley

Very informative overview of nine children and 38 grandchildren of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and how would they describe their own lives in their own words as though they are writing short autobiography at the end of their lives.

Based on hystorical facts and sources, mainly letters,

As I already said, the facts are interesting, but the language is pretty dull, almost encyclopedic.

This is a nice little omnibus about the children and grandchildren of Queen Victoria. There’s a unique angle in that each individual subject is “composing” a letter at the end of their life. The letter is created using source documents so very well done.

I think this is a good entry as a general history lesson, a good foundational update for those of us the love reading royal histories. Some of the entries get repetitive, when you’re on the 5th grandchild by child X and the opening is the same except for birth order and the name/birthplace but outside of that jar a nice little read.

I received an advance copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.