The biography of Queen Victoria opens with the unhappy life of Princess Charlotte who is in the care of her father. She is betrothed to a man of her father's choosing but has fallen in love with a married man. O the scandal! As a result Charlotte is exiled to Windsor Park. When all the other suitors fall away due to her absence she ends up marrying Prince Leopold and having a baby girl. Thus begins Victoria's royal lineage. Victoria became queen in 1837 at the age of eighteen. Much like any new political leader, there were high hopes for Queen Victoria's honest and scrupulous rule: the abolishment of slavery, the elimination of crime, and the improvement of education. Funny how some things never change.
This was a time when impulsive marriages could be made void with the stroke of a pen and uncles could fancy their nieces for matrimony. All marriages were open political and economical strategies. Marriage could alter friendships between entire nations. With arranged marriages it is usually the bride who feels trapped. Not so with the wedding of Albert and Victoria. It is the groom who does not want to go through with it. Too bad Victoria ended up marrying someone who wasn't all that popular. She had to deal with a "foreign" husband who could not be accepted by her ruling nation. After Albert's death, widowed at forty-two years old, she tried to bolster Albert's reputation posthumously. What she succeeds in accomplishing is a nation in love with her. She becomes one of the most adored royalty of all time. ( )

En palabras de Strachey, las mismas virtudes y defectos que solemos atribuir desde nuestra óptica actual a la época victoriana pueden encontrarse en la vida y actitudes de la reina que le prestó su nombre. ( )

Quite readable. I need to research why it was republished in 2013.
Strachey made it quite plain that he didn't think much of Victoria R. But was quite happy with Albert. Coming to this book with not having read anything else about her, I am loathe to buy everything in this book wholesale.

I found Strachey's profiles of the Prime Ministers interesting, but again, I have nothing to base my reactions upon.

Strachey, if I am not mistaken, was part of the Bloomsbury group with Virginia Wolfe, Bertrand Russell, and others. ( )

[Lytton Strachey]'s biography of Queen Victoria is not over the top in minute details. It is written more as a narrative or novel and is quite an enjoyable read. I do wish there was more information about her and her children's personal lives in lieu of detail of the relationship she had with each of her prime ministers. ( )

Este libro no es solo la mejor biografía que jamás se ha escrito sobre la reina Victoria de Inglaterra, sino además una de las obras maestras del género, uno de los grandes e imprescindibles libros de la literatura inglesa del siglo XX.

Miembro del llamado grupo de Bloomsbury, Lytton Strachey fue sobre todo un refinado y viperino ensayista, provocador, in-cisivo y capaz de enfrentarse sin complejos a las consagradas figuras de la historia política, intelectual y social de Inglaterra. En este caso, eligió biografiar al gran mito de la sociedad de su tiempo: la reina Victoria, la monarca que reinó a lo largo de casi todo el siglo XX. Desde la niñez hasta su ascenso al trono en 1830, pasando por el matrimonio con su adorado príncipe Alberto, su amarga y prematura viudez, su maternidad o la relación con los distintos primeros ministros, Lytton Strachey, con un estilo minucioso y elegante, traza el retrato de toda una era, moldeada al gusto de esa mujer pequeña, tiránica, que pasó los últimos cuarenta años de su vida vestida de riguroso luto, intransigente y autoritaria, Victoria I, reina del Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda y emperatriz de la India.