Bertie: A Life of Edward VII - Jane Ridley
Bertie: A Life of Edward VII - Jane Ridley
Non-Fiction
Pages: 624
Edward VII is probably one of the few monarchs who is best remembered for his life before he ascended to the throne than after. Part of the reason is that he succeeded his unusually long-lived mother Victoria and was 59 when he became king; and part is because his life was very much a Prince Hal/Henry V story, the libertine playboy prince becoming a mature and responsible monarch. There is a reason why he is remembered best as 'Bertie' and not King Edward VII.
Prince of Wales is no doubt a thankless task at the best of times, as I'm sure Prince Charles could attest - monarch-in-waiting, stuck in a holding pattern, no real defined role or task, effectively waiting for a loved parent to die before being able to fully come into one's own. It is no wonder that as a young man, and indeed well into his middle-age, Bertie was somewhat dissolute - enjoying house parties, enormous dinners, horse racing, shooting and the attention of the ladies. His position was all the more difficult as a result of his mother's utter refusal to share power or responsibility with her son, with whom she had a very fraught and tempestuous relationship. Victoria was very harsh with Bertie, never regarding him as very bright or capable, and blaming him in large part for his father's death.
However, it is largely thanks to Bertie that the monarchy survived Victoria's reign at all. After Prince Albert's death and Victoria's retreat into solitude at Osborn, Windsor and Balmoral, the monarchy would have been scarcely visible at all had it not been for Bertie and his wife Alix establishing an alternative court based on their home at Marlborough House. There was very real disaffection in these times of poverty, turbulence and great inequality and wealth, and it is likely without a focus for their patriotism, the British populace could have turned against their royal family. That the fledging republican movement died a death in these years is thanks largely to Bertie and Alix, and not Victoria herself.
Jane Ridley was the first biographer of Edward VII ever to have complete access to all the papers held at Windsor and many letters and documents are quoted here for the first time. She reveals Bertie 'warts and all' and he comes across as quite a sympathetic character, not at all like the stereotype posterity has left us of a wilful, immature, dissolute cad utterly under his mother's thumb. The only aspect of this book that irritated me was her insistence on anglicising Kaiser Wilhelm's name to William; given history knows him best as Kaiser Wilhelm, it threw me every time he was mentioned, which, given he was Victoria's eldest grandson, Bertie's nephew and Emperor of the German Empire, was quite often!
Non-Fiction
Pages: 624
Edward VII is probably one of the few monarchs who is best remembered for his life before he ascended to the throne than after. Part of the reason is that he succeeded his unusually long-lived mother Victoria and was 59 when he became king; and part is because his life was very much a Prince Hal/Henry V story, the libertine playboy prince becoming a mature and responsible monarch. There is a reason why he is remembered best as 'Bertie' and not King Edward VII.
Prince of Wales is no doubt a thankless task at the best of times, as I'm sure Prince Charles could attest - monarch-in-waiting, stuck in a holding pattern, no real defined role or task, effectively waiting for a loved parent to die before being able to fully come into one's own. It is no wonder that as a young man, and indeed well into his middle-age, Bertie was somewhat dissolute - enjoying house parties, enormous dinners, horse racing, shooting and the attention of the ladies. His position was all the more difficult as a result of his mother's utter refusal to share power or responsibility with her son, with whom she had a very fraught and tempestuous relationship. Victoria was very harsh with Bertie, never regarding him as very bright or capable, and blaming him in large part for his father's death.
However, it is largely thanks to Bertie that the monarchy survived Victoria's reign at all. After Prince Albert's death and Victoria's retreat into solitude at Osborn, Windsor and Balmoral, the monarchy would have been scarcely visible at all had it not been for Bertie and his wife Alix establishing an alternative court based on their home at Marlborough House. There was very real disaffection in these times of poverty, turbulence and great inequality and wealth, and it is likely without a focus for their patriotism, the British populace could have turned against their royal family. That the fledging republican movement died a death in these years is thanks largely to Bertie and Alix, and not Victoria herself.
Jane Ridley was the first biographer of Edward VII ever to have complete access to all the papers held at Windsor and many letters and documents are quoted here for the first time. She reveals Bertie 'warts and all' and he comes across as quite a sympathetic character, not at all like the stereotype posterity has left us of a wilful, immature, dissolute cad utterly under his mother's thumb. The only aspect of this book that irritated me was her insistence on anglicising Kaiser Wilhelm's name to William; given history knows him best as Kaiser Wilhelm, it threw me every time he was mentioned, which, given he was Victoria's eldest grandson, Bertie's nephew and Emperor of the German Empire, was quite often!