queen victoria's mysterious daughter a biography of princess louise

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Queen Victoria's mysterious daughter : a biography of Princess Louise

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Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise

The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumor and gossip than hard facts? When Lucinda Hawksley started to investigate, often thwarted by inexplicable secrecy, she discovered a fascinating woman, modern before her time, whose story has been shielded for years from public view. Louise was a sculptor and painter, friend to the Pre-Raphaelites and a keen member of the Aesthetic movement. The most feisty of the Victorian princesses, she kicked against her mother's controlling nature and remained fiercely loyal to her brothers-especially the sickly Leopold and the much-maligned Bertie. She sought out other unconventional women, including Josephine Butler and George Eliot, and campaigned for education and health reform and for the rights of women. She battled with her indomitable mother for permission to practice the "masculine" art of sculpture and go to art college-and in doing so became the first British princess to attend a public school. The rumors of Louise's colorful love life persist even today, with hints of love affairs dating as far back as her teenage years, and notable scandals included entanglements with her sculpting tutor Joseph Edgar Boehm and possibly even her sister Princess Beatrice's handsome husband, Liko. True to rebellious form, she refused all royal suitors and became the first member of the royal family, since the sixteenth century, to marry a commoner. She moved with him to Canada when he was appointed Governor-General. Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance.

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Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter

NB This is the US version of the biography published in the UK as The Mystery of Princess Louise .

The secrets of Queen Victoria’s sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumor and gossip than hard facts? When Lucinda Hawksley started to investigate, often thwarted by inexplicable secrecy, she discovered a fascinating woman, modern before her time, whose story has been shielded for years from public view.

Louise was a sculptor and painter, friend to the Pre-Raphaelites and a keen member of the Aesthetic movement. The most feisty of the Victorian princesses, she kicked against her mother’s controlling nature and remained fiercely loyal to her brothers-especially the sickly Leopold and the much-maligned Bertie. She sought out other unconventional women, including Josephine Butler and George Eliot, and campaigned for education and health reform and for the rights of women. She battled with her indomitable mother for permission to practice the “masculine” art of sculpture and go to art college-and in doing so became the first British princess to attend a public school.

The rumors of Louise’s colorful love life persist even today, with hints of love affairs dating as far back as her teenage years, and notable scandals included entanglements with her sculpting tutor Joseph Edgar Boehm and possibly even her sister Princess Beatrice’s handsome husband, Liko. True to rebellious form, she refused all royal suitors and became the first member of the royal family, since the sixteenth century, to marry a commoner. She moved with him to Canada when he was appointed Governor-General.

Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance.

You can buy Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter from all good bookshops and by clicking below:

Hawksley … does a yeoman’s service providing an illuminating biography of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise (1848-1939)…. Hawksley conveys Louise’s story fully and clearly, but just as importantly, she shows the devastating damage Queen Victoria inflicted on her extensive family. Kirkus

Hawksley, a British historian and biographer (and Dickens descendant), addresses rumors head-on in this sympathetic portrait of Queen Victoria’s ‘unconventional’ daughter, the accomplished sculptor Princess Louise…. Hawksley shows that Louise was ahead of her time supporting women’s rights and was one of the most intriguing of Victorian women. Publisher’s Weekly

The fullest biography yet of a princess who was friends with Josephine Butler, a feminist and advocate for the health of sex workers, well deserves its place on the shelf. Lucy Worsley in The Sunday Express

With royal biography the reviewer’s task can sometimes be a disappointing one, faced with little more that the updated retelling or, worse still, hagiography. The Mystery of Princess Louise stands out as a bold and insightful portrait of a remarkable woman. Jonathan Taylor in Royalty

It’s these whispers that make Lucinda Hawksley’s new biography such an intriguing prospect. Satisfyingly replete with eye-popping stories of life at the various palaces [I was] caught up with this improbable princess, a beautiful, charming woman who loved to bicycle and to smoke, who was always happy to share her recipe for oyster pat. Rachel Cooke, The Observer

The Mystery of Princess Louise is a fascinating read and provides a rare look at Queen Victoria’ feisty, rebellious daughter. The mysteries that surround her can only increase both our interest and our appreciation for the life that she lived and her attempt to live it free from her mother’s control. Stephanie Piña, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

I’ve always wanted to know more about Princess Louise… Biographies of Kate Perugini and Elizabeth Siddal – who moved in similar artistic circles – drew Hawksley to her. Court secrecy meant that resourcefulness was needed to write it. Ruth Richardson, Times Higher Education

Hawksley’s entertaining and lengthy book gives a vivid insight into Victorian royal life and the repressions and sexual hypocrisies of those days. Anthony Looch, UK Press Syndication

Is there anything more compulsively inviting than a file marked “SECRET”? Lucinda Hawksley encountered this irresistible lure when she began research on a complete artistic biography of Queen Victoria’s sixth child. How very peculiar, creepy and revealing that royal muscle should still be exercised about long-dead figures in the 21st century. Christopher Hirst, The Independent

Lively, engaging and buoyantly enthusiastic, Hawksley’s gallant but necessarily speculative book should encourage the royal archivists to stop being so protective. Miranda Seymour, The Sunday Times

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Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise Hardcover – Jan. 1 2015

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Print length 374 pages
Language English
Publisher Thomas Dunne Books
Publication date Jan. 1 2015
Dimensions 16.28 x 3.3 x 23.98 cm
ISBN-10 1250059321
ISBN-13 978-1250059321
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“[I]lluminating Hawksley conveys Louise's story fully and clearly, but just as importantly, she shows the devastating damage Queen Victoria inflicted on her extensive family” ― Kirkus “[A] sympathetic portrait of Queen Victoria’s 'unconventional' daughter… Hawksley shows that Louise was “ahead of her time” in supporting women’s rights and was “one of the most intriguing of Victorian women” ― Publishers Weekly “Strong in its presentations of its subject’s personality and social circles” ― Library Journal "Hawksley gives a lucid description of Princess Louise's life as well as a rare glimpse into the backstage workings of the Victorian Era, particularly as it applies to the early 20th century. The book is a very entertaining read and is bound to intrigue those with an appetite for Royalty and Royal gossip." ― Rochelle Christopher, Executive Director Victorian Vanities, Inc. “It's these whispers that make Lucinda Hawksley's new biography such an intriguing prospect.... Satisfyingly replete with eye-popping stories of life at the various palaces.... [I was] caught up with this improbable princess, a beautiful, charming woman.” ― The Observer “Lively, engaging and buoyantly enthusiastic, Hawksley's gallant but necessarily speculative book should encourage the royal archivists to stop being so protective.” ― The Sunday Times

About the Author

Product details.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Dunne Books (Jan. 1 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 374 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250059321
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250059321
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 717 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.28 x 3.3 x 23.98 cm
#475 in British Biographies
#643 in United States Biographies
#33,630 in European History (Books)

About the author

Lucinda hawksley.

Hello and thanks for visiting my Amazon page. I love bringing into the present stories of forgotten women from history, such as my biographies ‘Dickens’s Artistic Daughter Katey’, ‘The Mystery of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s Rebellious Daughter’ (a very talented sculptor with a scandalous life) and ‘Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel’ (Lizzie is usually remembered as a model, but was an artist in her own right), as well as ‘March, Women, March: Voices of the Women’s Movement’ and ‘Letters of Great Women’. I’ve also written several books about my great great great grandfather, including ‘Charles Dickens and his Circle’, ‘Dickens and Christmas’ and ‘Dickens and Travel’. My other titles include ‘The Writer Abroad’, which I wrote for the British Library, ‘Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper and Arsenic in the Victorian Home’, ‘Elizabeth Revealed: 500 Facts and the Queen and Her World’, and ‘Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards’, about facial hair in art, which I wrote for the National Portrait Gallery.

Check out my Audible podcast, ‘The Real Sherlock’, a series about Arthur Conan-Doyle, and my interviews with fellow authors on The Goldster Podcast.

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The Mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter by Lucinda Hawksley – review

P rincess Louise was the sixth child of Queen Victoria , a woman who famously loathed babies, and from her very first wail, Her Majesty was apt to see her as odd and difficult. When she was feeling generous, she would attribute her daughter's determined, sparky personality to the fact that she had come into the world in 1848, the year of revolution: "She was born in the most eventful times & ought to be something peculiar in consequence." When she was not feeling generous, which was most of the time, she would insist that "Loosy" was backward: "God bless the dear child – who is so affectionate and has so many difficulties to contend with," she wrote to Louise's older sister Vicky in 1864. "I hope and trust she will get over them… and still become a most useful member of the human family."

Even by the mendacious, self-deceiving standards of Victoria , this was some lie. Not only was Louise more intelligent than the majority of her eight siblings, she was also, in spite of her loopy upbringing, emotionally adept, and though this would later cause her some pain when it came to matters of the heart, it made her popular with the public, even as the rumours swirled.

It's these whispers that make Lucinda Hawksley's new biography such an intriguing prospect. In old age, Louise was just another of the batty Victorian relatives (copyright: the Duke of Windsor) who rattled around the great royal retirement home that was Kensington Palace. But as a young woman, her life was complicated and modern. Did the teenage Louise have a baby by Walter Stirling, the devoted tutor of her haemophiliac brother, Leopold? Did she enjoy a long love affair with Sir Joseph Boehm , the Queen's sculptor in ordinary, a romance that only ended when he died as they made love in his London studio shortly before Christmas 1890? And was her husband, the Marquess of Lorne (later 9th Duke of Argyll), whom she married at the insistence of her mother in 1871, a homosexual whose night prowls she tried to prevent by bricking up the windows of her apartment?

Hawksley has answers to all these questions. In essence: yes, yes and yes. But her assertions are based on instinct, contemporary gossip and the matching up of dates, times and places rather than revelatory new documents. The princess's files at the royal archives remain closed, while at Inveraray Castle, the seat of the Argylls, the family papers are strictly off-limits. Hawksley doesn't waste precious time on the various ways she was thwarted, but the reader will consider this bizarre. Louise died in 1939; she had no legitimate children; the boy she purportedly gave up for adoption died in 1907. Why shouldn't the truth come out? It's not as if she murdered anyone.

What she did murder was the idea of what a princess should be. Louise was a practical girl; in the Swiss Cottage built for the children at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, she learned to cook, a skill she practised, to the amazement of her staff, for the rest of her life. She wove a carpet for her beloved brother, Bertie (later Edward VII). But art was her first love and once she'd persuaded her mother that she might have her own studio – no mean feat, given that the widowed Victoria wanted her daughters to breathe the same miserable air as her 24 hours a day – there was no holding her back. She studied hard, and became a sculptor; wanting to be taken seriously, she insisted on being paid for her work. Was she any good? Opinions vary, but the magnificently chilly statue of Victoria she made to mark the golden jubilee, and which still stands outside Kensington Palace, pulls off the trick of flattering its subject even as it suggests the iceberg that stood in for the Queen's heart.

Art and life, for Louise, were intimately connected. Her friends and associates included Rossetti, Millais, Whistler and, more controversially, George Eliot (who was living in sin). Her clothes were fashionable, her jewellery sometimes homemade. A supporter of suffrage for women, she was in touch with both Josephine Butler and Elizabeth Garrett . No wonder, then, that she enjoyed her share of love affairs. No wonder, too, that she refused to be married off by her increasingly panicky mother to a European royal; exile was not for her. Lorne, offered as an alternative, was not precisely a catch. He washed rarely, his clothes were eccentric, he was convinced he had second sight, and he refused to let his wife use his billiard table. But she accepted him as the least bad option and went with him to Canada when he was appointed its governor – even if she didn't stay long. The marriage was not happy. But it was convenient. They could live apart, together.

Hawksley puts her facts in the service of her hunches with aplomb. I wasn't entirely convinced by her thesis about Louise's illegitimate son. It's hard to believe that the tyrannical, outwardly prudish Victoria knew of her daughter's pregnancy; if she had, would she really have been so happy to holiday with her so soon after the child was supposedly born? But I bought everything else, and the book is satisfyingly replete with eye-popping stories of life at the various palaces, even if they're not all new. Victoria, as usual, comes out of it exceedingly badly, something that makes Louise's evident sanity all the more impressive.

It's odd that while Hawksley tells us that Louise worried about her niece Alexandra and her obsession with a monk called Rasputin, she fails to mention the murder of the Romanovs. But I noticed the omission only when I'd put the book down. I was, I'm afraid, far too caught up with this improbable princess, a beautiful, charming woman who loved to bicycle and to smoke, who was always happy to share her recipe for oyster paté and who holidayed, at the end of her life, in Sidmouth, where she enjoyed the table d'hote at the exclusive Fortfield hotel.

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Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise

Lucinda hawksley. st. martin’s/dunne, $27.99 (384p) isbn 978-1-250-05932-1.

Reviewed on: 08/03/2015

Genre: Nonfiction

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Queen victoria's mysterious daughter: a biography of princess louise by lucinda hawksley.

Author: Lucinda Hawksley
Published: 2015

It's been quite a while since I read a book that plunged me into the depths of desperate obsession; of hours of internet research and buying obscure documentaries on the subject; of having no wish in the world except to know every tiny detail of the subject. This was one of those books. Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is gripping, spell-binding, magnificent. Princess Louise is fascinating; to use Victorian slang she would have understood in her day, she was a bricky basket of oranges, quite a proper bit of frock, and the absolute jammiest bit of jam.

Little has been known in the past about Louise, Queen Victoria's sixth child and fourth daughter, or her remarkable long life in the years between 1848 and 1939. Intriguingly, and in contrast to all her other siblings, Louise's files in the Royal Archives are locked, and many other sources about her are closed to scholars. In Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter , Lucinda Hawksley acts as a historical detective, as well as a skilled biographer, to discover what Louise's life was really like and what scandals she may have been involved with that would warrant a lock-down of her historical files to this day. And what she finds will not disappoint.

Right away I have to say, the beginning of this book is almost more about Queen Victoria than it is about Louise. I have been trying recently to find out why I have feelings of loathing and disdain for Victoria, and to see her in a more positive light...but this book did NOT help me in that regard. Hawksley may even dislike Victoria as much as I do! Victoria's policies and thoughts are documented thoroughly with her own diaries and letters, and show how she detested and fought against the Women's Rights movement, how she resented her children because they kept her from being alone with her husband Albert, and how she wanted to Germanise England as a tribute to Albert after he died. In case that isn't bad enough, she kept her children from having friends because seeing them happy and laughing infuriated her after Albert's death, she never gave special care to her hemophiliac son Leopold, nearly causing his death on many occasions with her thoughtlessness, and she considered her babies to be "physically repulsive" and "froglike". Wow. And I thought I was no fan of babies! Despite my own low level of maternal instinct, I found myself desperately wanting to go back in time and just hold Victoria's children, giving them some much-needed love. Sad as this part of the book is, it really sets up Louise's character and early life by showing the environment she grew up in.

Despite this atrocious upbringing, Princess Louise was strong, beautiful, and very out of place in Victorian England. She had a passion for equalizing education, so that girls could reach the same standards as boys. She was passionate about Women's Rights, and tried to improve the situation of prostitutes in London, much to the horror of her prudish, stuffy mother. She loved the art of sculpture, so she insisted on studying it and became an accomplished sculptor in the days when it was very much a solely masculine occupation. She steadfastly refused to marry a foreigner because she didn't want to leave England, so she married a Scottish lord who was at times her warden and at times her best friend, and all of the time a homosexual. Louise got a motorcar in her 70's and loved racing at top speeds, terrifying all her friends who rode with her. Basically she was a fascinating, badass woman who was powerful and kind, and who was adored by the British public more than anyone else in her family.

Of course the scandals that have kept Louise's life whitewashed cannot be proven until her files are released to the public. However, Hawksley presents good evidence to support her theories, and they are groundbreaking. I don't want to give too much away, but between a secret illegitimate child that could pose a threat to the British monarchy and an illicit affair in which her lover died literally during the act of love, I guarantee that any reader will be captivated and spellbound throughout the length of the book.

Princess Louise died at 91 years of age, and what a remarkable life she led, what a remarkable person! She was way ahead of her time, and she was loved and adored for it by everyone except her own family. While reading this book I got a sense that Louise provided a bridge between the archaic, distant 1800's and our own modern era, with one foot in each realm, belonging to both and neither of those realms at the same time. At first Louise seemed more historical than real, a shadowy figure in the dusty court of Queen Victoria. But Hawksley's work is so animated and lively that I felt I could reach out and touch Louise, that I could magically understand her. Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is fantastic, addictive, and it made me obsessed with getting to know Louise, looking at every available photo online. Every word and image in Hawksley's book evoked delight and fascination in me, and I envy all those who have yet to read it for the first time.

In the days when no one contradicted Queen Victoria and her reign of melancholy grief, Louise remarked that her mother was "not too unwell to open Parliament, simply too unwilling". With those words I fell in love with the amazing, complicated person Louise was, and those feelings only grew throughout this thrilling and artful biography of one of the most interesting Princesses who ever lived.

About The Author

Lucinda hawksley.

Lucinda Hawksley is a British biographer, art historian and public speaker. She specializes in literature and art from the 19th and early 20th centuries and in the history of London. Hawksley is the great great great granddaughter of famous Victorian author Charles Dickens, and she is passionate about her family history. She is a patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London and of the Norwegian... Read more...

Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter

A Biography of Princess Louise
By: Lucinda Hawksley
Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
4.4 out of 5 stars 4.4 (177 ratings)

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December 11, 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after.

All That is Glamour can be Rotten

By Joe France on 08-26-22

Astor Audiobook By Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe cover art

The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 920
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 862
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 861

From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic .

3 out of 5 stars

A family first made, then destroyed by wealth.

By Barbara W. on 09-23-23

By: Anderson Cooper , and others

Lady in Waiting

My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

By: Anne Glenconner

Narrated by: Anne Glenconner
Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,974
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,703
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,679

Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact.

1 out of 5 stars

Horrible Reading

By Teddy hall on 03-27-20

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking

The Royal Marriages That Shaped Europe

By: Deborah Cadbury

Narrated by: Charlotte Strevens
Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 162
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 141
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 142

A captivating exploration of the role in which Queen Victoria exerted the most international power and influence: as a matchmaking grandmother. Queen Victoria's Matchmaking travels through the glittering, decadent palaces of Europe from London to Saint Petersburg, weaving in scandals, political machinations, and family tensions. It is at once an intimate portrait of a royal family and an examination of the conflict caused by the marriages the Queen arranged. At the heart of it all is Victoria herself: doting grandmother one moment, determined Queen Empress the next.

Beautifully written and narrated

By LitLadyK on 01-08-19

Queen Mary Audiobook By James Pope-Hennessy, Hugo Vickers cover art

The Official Biography
By: James Pope-Hennessy, Hugo Vickers
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 90
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 78
Story 5 out of 5 stars 78

When Queen Mary died in 1953, James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write an official biography of her - unusual for a queen consort. Queen Mary's life, contrary to popular belief, was essentially dramatic, and she played a far more important and influential role in the affairs of the British monarchy than her public image might have otherwise suggested. Using material from the Royal Archives, private papers, and Queen Mary's personal diaries and letters, Pope-Hennessy's biography was a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman and received rave reviews across the press.

Excellent! UPDATED review after 2nd listen.

By Geri A on 07-31-21

By: James Pope-Hennessy , and others

The Queen Mother

The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

By: Lady Colin Campbell

Length: 25 hrs and 35 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 164
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 146
Story 4 out of 5 stars 144

For the first time, Lady Colin Campbell reveals the fascinating and moving life of The Queen Mother. With unparalleled sources, including members of the Royal Family, aristocrats, and friends and relatives of Elizabeth herself, this mesmerizing account takes us inside the real and sometimes astonishing world of the royal family.

A Real Person

By The Barbster on 01-05-19

The Palace Papers

Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil

By: Tina Brown

Narrated by: Tina Brown
Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,370
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,062
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,038

Tina Brown has been observing and chronicling the British monarchy for three decades, and her sweeping account is full of powerful revelations, newly reported details, and searing insight gleaned from remarkable access to royal insiders. Stylish, witty, and erudite, The Palace Papers will irrevocably change how the world perceives and understands the royal family.

2 out of 5 stars

Tina Brown reads her book

By Karen on 04-26-22

The Husband Hunters

American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy

By: Anne de Courcy

Narrated by: Clare Corbett
Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 670
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 572
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 569

Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....

Bondfide Valuable History Lesson

By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18

The Mountbattens

The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 49
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 41
Story 4 out of 5 stars 40

The intimate story of a unique marriage spanning the heights of British glamour and power that descends into infidelity, manipulation, and disaster through the heart of the 20th century.

He oughta be ashamed!

By Just Penelope on 04-17-22

The Rival Queens

Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom

By: Nancy Goldstone

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 794
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 716
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 713

Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.

Definitely not a dull bio!

By Nella on 07-04-15

Daughter of Empire

My Life as a Mountbatten

By: Pamela Hicks

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 262
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 230
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 232

Few families can boast of not one but two saints among their ancestors, a great-aunt who was the last tsarina of Russia, a father who was Grace Kelly's pinup, and a grandmother who was not only a princess but could also argue the finer points of naval law. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born at the very end of the Roaring Twenties.

Beautifully Impressive Narrative of Aristocracy

By Robert W Bruso on 08-31-17

Agatha Christie

An Elusive Woman

By: Lucy Worsley

Narrated by: Lucy Worsley
Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 475
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 408
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 403

Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was "just" an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of a massively, internationally successful writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman. With access to rarely seen personal letters and papers, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realize what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was—truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.

A delight and a revelation

By theenglishmajor on 12-02-22

If Walls Could Talk

An Intimate History of the Home
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 411
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 361
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 360

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.

Compelling.

By Kirsten on 06-05-12

Catherine de Medici

Renaissance Queen of France

By: Leonie Frieda

Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 452
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 385
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 382

Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.

Narrator didn't get one name right

By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19

Victoria's Daughters

By: Jerrold M. Packard

Narrated by: Heather Wilds
Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 217
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 185
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 183

Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by 19th-century women of less-exulted class.

Terrible Narrator

By Kijana Mayfield on 03-28-17

Publisher's summary

Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance.

Louise was a sculptor and painter, friend to the Pre-Raphaelites and a keen member of the Aesthetic movement. The most feisty of the Victorian princesses, she kicked against her mother's controlling nature and remained fiercely loyal to her brothers - especially the sickly Leopold and the much-maligned Bertie. She sought out other unconventional women, including Josephine Butler and George Eliot, and campaigned for education and health reform and for the rights of women. She battled with her indomitable mother for permission to practice the "masculine" art of sculpture and go to art college - and in doing so became the first British princess to attend a public school.

The rumors of Louise's colorful love life persist even today, with hints of love affairs dating as far back as her teenage years, and notable scandals included entanglements with her sculpting tutor Joseph Edgar Boehm and possibly even her sister Princess Beatrice's handsome husband, Liko. True to rebellious form, she refused all royal suitors and became the first member of the royal family, since the 16th century, to marry a commoner. She moved with him to Canada when he was appointed Governor-General.

Unabridged Audiobook
Categories: Biographies & Memoirs

The Churchills: In Love and War

By: Mary S. Lovell

Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 46

The first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) was a soldier of such genius that a lavish palace, Blenheim, was built to honor his triumphs. Succeeding generations of Churchills sometimes achieved distinction but also included profligates and womanizers, and were saddled with the ruinous upkeep of Blenheim. The Churchills were an extraordinary family: ambitious, impecunious, impulsive, brave, and arrogant. Winston - recently voted "The Greatest Briton" - dominates them all. His failures and triumphs are revealed in the context of a poignant and sometimes tragic private life.

Grand! In it's own wonderful way.

By Cookie on 12-05-11

George and Marina

Duke and Duchess of Kent

By: Christopher Warwick

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 82
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Story 4 out of 5 stars 68

For eight brief years, before he was tragically killed in a mysterious air crash during the Second World War, Prince George, Duke of Kent, son of King George V and Queen Mary, and his beautiful wife, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, were the British monarchy's - indeed, high society's - most glamorous royal couple; and as golden royal icons, they are still remembered.

By Jean on 06-02-17

Queen Victoria's Children

By: John Van der Kiste

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 63
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 55

Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, had nine children, who, despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families, their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the story of their lives in terms of world impact but also of personal achievements in their own right, individual contributions to public life in Britain and overseas, and as the children of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.

Was the narrator just too bored?

By James Bruce on 03-16-18

By: A. N. Wilson

Narrated by: Clive Chafer
Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 200
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 184
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 184

The longest reigning British monarch and female sovereign in history, Queen Victoria was a figure of profound paradox who has mystified historians for over a century. Now in this magisterial biography, A.N. Wilson rebukes the conventional wisdom about her life - that she was merely a "funny little woman in a bonnet" who did next to nothing - to show she was in fact intensely involved in state affairs despite a public façade of inaction.

This book has old and new info

By Dr. A. on 10-29-14

The Mistresses of Cliveden

Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home

By: Natalie Livingstone

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
Overall 3.5 out of 5 stars 141
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 124
Story 4 out of 5 stars 122

Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.

disappointed

By Galina M. on 11-14-16

The Romanov Sisters

The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

By: Helen Rappaport

Narrated by: Xe Sands
Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 878
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 778
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 780

They were the Princess Dianas of their day—perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses—Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov—were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle. Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography.

Made you want to change the ending

By MissSusie66 on 01-23-15

Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals

By: Gillian Gill

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 324
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 249
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 249

It was the most influential marriage of the 19th Century - and one of history’s most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager, when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chronicler Gillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing a strong, feisty queen, and a brilliant, fragile prince working together to build a family.

I found it extremely moving.

By Cheryl on 08-07-09

The Sisters

The Saga of the Mitford Family
Narrated by: Annie Wauters
Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 216
Performance 3.5 out of 5 stars 187
Story 4 out of 5 stars 189

This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.

Great story, terrible reader

By Victoria on 02-27-14

Wallis in Love

The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy

By: Andrew Morton

Narrated by: Molly Parker Myers
Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 154
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 131
Story 4 out of 5 stars 131

For fans of the Netflix series The Crown and from the author of the New York Times best seller 17 Carnations comes a captivating biography of Wallis Simpson, the notorious woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne.

This one is being returned

By Rita T on 02-15-18

Becoming Queen Victoria

The Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch

By: Kate Williams

Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 205
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 176
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 176

In 1819, a girl was born to the fourth son of King George III. No one could have expected such an unassuming, overprotected girl to be an effective ruler - yet Queen Victoria would become one of the most powerful monarchs in history. Writing with novelistic flair and historical precision, Kate Williams reveals a vibrant woman in the prime of her life, while chronicling the byzantine machinations that continued even after the crown was placed on her head.

Extremely Well Written and Readable

By Wren on 04-01-17

Those Wild Wyndhams

Three Sisters at the Heart of Power

By: Claudia Renton

Narrated by: Claudia Renton
Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 119
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 104
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 104

They were confidantes to British prime ministers, poets, writers, and artists, their lives entwined with the most celebrated and scandalous figures of the day, from Oscar Wilde to Henry James. They were the lovers of great men - or men of great prominence... They lived in a world of luxurious excess, a world of splendor at 44 Belgrave Square and later at the even more vast Clouds, the exquisite Wiltshire house on 4,000 acres, the "house of the age", designed in 1876 by the visionary architect Philip Webb - the model for Henry James' The Spoils of Poynton .

SLOW START BUT STICK WITH THIS ONE

By The Louligan on 01-22-19

Finally, the Complete Story

By: Sarah Bradford

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 133
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 100
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 98

An icon remembered as vividly in death as she appeared in life, Diana, Princess of Wales, is one of the most enduring personalities of the 20th century, and one of the most enigmatic. Admired, almost worshipped, a forceful presence in society and fashion and a devoted mother, she was also plagued by rumor and scandal throughout her brief life. Using exclusive new interviews and eyewitness testimony, Sarah Bradford now casts aside the gossip and lies to separate myth from truth.

Andrew Morton’s book does not even compare

By LAtoLondonPlz on 07-31-20

Marie Therese, Child of Terror

The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter

By: Susan Nagel

Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 217
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 179
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 178

Nagel tells a remarkable story of an astonishing woman, from her birth, to her upbringing by doting parents, through to Revolution, imprisonment, exile, Restoration, and, finally, her reincarnation as saint and matriarch.

Essential reading for students of Bourbon history

By Adeliese Baumann on 03-07-13

Marie Antoinette

The Journey

By: Antonia Fraser

Narrated by: Donada Peters
Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 559
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 393
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 394

France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake", was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history.

Annoying Narration

By LaFemmeRouge on 10-28-06

The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais

By: Suzanne Fagence Cooper

Narrated by: Sophie Ward
Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 196
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 172
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 173

Effie Gray, a beautiful and intelligent young socialite, rattled the foundations of England's Victorian age. Married at 19 to John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless, union after Ruskin rejected her on their wedding night. She met John Everett Millais, Ruskin's protege, and fell passionately in love with him. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie's previously unseen letters and diaries to tell the complete story of this scandalous love triangle.

Fascinating Story--Victoriana

By Cariola on 06-29-12

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It well informs you but agree on abrupt ending

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Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
Overall 3.5 out of 5 stars 10
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 9
Story 3.5 out of 5 stars 9

Since 1066, when William the Conqueror took the throne, English and Scottish kings have sired at least 150 children out of wedlock. Many were acknowledged at court and founded dynasties of their own. Others were only acknowledged grudgingly or not at all. In the 20th century, this trend for royals to father illegitimate children continued, but the parentage, while highly probable, has not been officially recognized. This book is a genuinely fresh approach to British kings and queens, examining their lives and times through the unfamiliar perspective of their illegitimate children.

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The grass isn't greener on the other side: Heiresses have always been viewed with eyes of envy. They were the ones for whom the cornucopia had been upended, showering them with unimaginable wealth and opportunity. However, through intimate historical biographies, Women of Means shows us that oftentimes the weaving sisters saved their most heart-wrenching tapestries for the destinies of wealthy women. Women of Means is bound to be a non-fiction best seller, full of the best biographies of all time.

Did an editor read this?

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Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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a very good listen

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Overall 4 out of 5 stars 106
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Story 4 out of 5 stars 83

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (1912-1993) was an international celebrity in her youth. But in 1963, the year of the Profumo Affair, the 11th Duke of Argyll shocked the country when he alleged that his adulterous wife had slept with over 80 men behind his back. The duke won a divorce, and Margaret was abandoned by most of her friends. Lyndsy Spence tells a tragic story of the life and downfall of this fascinatingly complex woman, and shows how she fell victim to a cruel husband, harsh social mores, and an unforgiving class.

Delicious from start to finish!

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Costume, Movement and Manners...

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Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Her Little Majesty is a fresh and fascinating portrait of the diminutive monarch who ruled the vast British empire for over 60 years. Award-winning biographer and historian, Carolly Erickson, transports you behind the walls of Buckingham Palace to introduce you to the quirky, loveable Queen Victoria—revealed only to her closest associates. Emotionally deprived, inadequately educated, and socially isolated for much of her life, young Victoria felt ill-prepared to ascend the throne.

Disappointing after Josephine.

By Debra V on 08-24-21

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Overall 4 out of 5 stars 44
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 41
Story 4 out of 5 stars 41

...And What Do You Do? is a hard-hitting analysis of the royal family, exposing its extravagant use of public money and the highly dubious behaviour of some among its ranks, whilst being critical of the knee-jerk sycophancy shown by the press and politicians. Baker also considers the wider role the royals play in society, including the link with House of Lords reform, and the constitutional position of the monarch, which is important given Prince Charles’ present and intended approach.

Good information

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good read, bad listen

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Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 124

In Royal Sisters , Anne Edwards, author of the best-selling Vivien Leigh: A Biography and Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor , has written the first dual biography of Elizabeth, the princess who was to become Queen, and her younger sister, Margaret, who was to be her subject. From birth to maturity, they were the stuff of which dreams are made.

Where's The Rest?

By Simone on 12-19-17

Society's Queen

The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry
Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 16
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Story 4 out of 5 stars 12

At the age of 21, Edith Chaplin married one of the most eligible bachelors of the day, the eldest son of the sixth marquess of Londonderry. Her husband served in the Ulster cabinet and was air minister in the National Government of 1934-5. Edith founded the Women's Legion during the First World War and was also an early campaigner for women's suffrage. She created the renowned Mount Stewart Gardens in County Down that are now owned by the National Trust.

Disappointing

By Etoile NEOhio on 02-02-22

What listeners say about Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter

4.5 out of 5 stars 4.4 out of 5.0
5 Stars 105

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Overall 5 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 5 out of 5 stars

Marcus Ray Dillon

An Avid Listener

Thank you for such a wonderful Biography! She Truly was a Princess Indeed! Queen Victoria would be proud! Very Proud!

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Overall 4 out of 5 stars
Performance 4 out of 5 stars
Story 4 out of 5 stars

Princess Louise - Who Knew???

An interesting look at an unknown royal. Princess Louise deserves to have her day in the sun and for the rest of the world to know her. She is a hoot!

1 person found this helpful

Performance 1 out of 5 stars

No1Treehugger

Fascinating

How did I not know about Princess Louise? So few female artist get recognized in history even if you are a princess. Great listen and as always the narrator delivers a superb read.

Great fan of British royalty, going all the way back to Queen Elizabeth I (but not so much these days). The book is well written and well narrated. I enjoyed and appreciated this audible selection and would happily read/listen to the author and narrator. Highly engaging.

Overall 3 out of 5 stars
Story 2 out of 5 stars

Julie Swaab

Who Is This Really About?

The first half is about Queen Victoria and not much else. The second half is salacious and gossipy. It seems the second half was written mainly to point out that she was the favorite Aunt and had mainly relationships with men, romantic and familial. I kept waiting to hear more about the mystery but it never came. I feel as though someone was paid to write a pro-Louise book. And here it is.

fascinating life

Fascinating life of a woman not known to others. She attempted to break from royal protocol. Lived a good life.

3 people found this helpful

Captivating

I have listened to this twice. Well performed and so informative. The narrator with the writing brings life into the princess.

Story 3 out of 5 stars

All over the place

There is a lot of great information in this book however the author jumps all over the timeline making it confusing to follow the princess’s life.

Well-written and interesting biography

Queen Victoria had nine children (who all looked exactly alike, btw) between 1841 and 1857, although she was frightened of childbirth and didn’t like children. And she wasn’t a very good mother… Go figure. This is an interesting and well-written biography of Princess Louise, the sixth child and fourth daughter born to Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert. Louise was an artist, although her family didn’t always take her seriously in that respect. She fought for independence from her tyrannical mother and for more equality for women, while still performing many of the state duties of a royal princess. She was definitely the least “royal” of her family, in the way she interacted with people of all classes and was easy to talk to. The book doesn’t skip over the rough parts of her personality, either; Louise had a fiery temper and little patience at times. She also had quite an appetite for love, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, based on her upbringing. Her marriage was not a love match, and in fact, her husband was probably gay. They spent a lot of time apart, and Louise was rumored to have had several serious affairs, and even a child born out of wedlock. The reason for the “mysterious” part of the title is that many of the first-hand accounts of the family’s life were purged by Beatrice, the youngest princess, after the queen’s death. Letters and documents related to Louise were very difficult to find, and some conjecture is necessary. But Hawksley makes sure to note when that was the case, and the amount and quality of the research behind the known facts are quite amazing. The book is organized well and is mostly chronological. Even listening to the audiobook, I didn’t have a difficult time with the many names and titles of the royals, aristocrats, artists, and servants mentioned throughout. Jennifer M. Dixon does an outstanding job with the narration of the audiobook. The book will interest anyone who wants to learn more about the royal family in general, and especially about Victoria’s children. Louise was definitely a woman ahead of her time.

Boss Lady Gaby V8

I think this is the best book on a royal from Queen Victoria's children. Highly recommend it!

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Princess Louise: A Biography

By lucinda hawksley, the locock family secret – princess louise.

It was while looking into the rumors concerning Princess Louise’s illegitimate baby that I came into contact with the Locock family. I read newspaper accounts of two court cases, in which a man named Nicholas Locock had attempted to gain permission for a MDNA (Mitachondria DNA) test to prove he was descended from Princess Louise . After twice going through the high courts, the Locock family’s plea was refused.

The story of the Locock family and Princess Louise begins at the end of 1867, when a baby boy was adopted by the son of Queen Victoria’s accoucher (in today’s language he would be called a gynecologist). The accoucher , Sir Charles Locock, had five sons; the one who adopte d the baby was Frederick Locock. In the spring of 1867 Frederick moved into an apartment near St James’s Palace . Nick Locock believes it may have been a ‘grace and favor’ apartment. Two months later, the family suffered a bereavement, when Sir Charles’s wife, Amelia, died, yet in August 1867, just six weeks after the death of his mother, Frederick married his fiance Mary Blackshaw. They married in a register office, not a church, in unseemly haste after such a bereavement (the mourning period for the death of a parent was expected to be one year). Four months later, the couple adopted their son; he would be their only child. The baby, who was named Henry Frederick Leicester Locock, appears to have had no birth certificate – none has ever been found. The names of his biological parents are not included on any document (or, at least no documents that are in the public domain). In late December, Charles Locock wrote a letter to a friend in which he remarked that, unusually, he would not be able to have any of his sons with him for the end of the year and that he planned on taking a long holiday overseas. The letter suggests that he was shielding a secret and that he was unhappy about it.

Royal sources have been quick to refute the suggestion that Princess Louise was Henry Locock’s mother, because she could not have given birth on the date written in the Locock family’s Birthday Book, 30 December 1867. It seems likely that this was the date of the adoption rather than the baby’s birth. At the end of December 1867, Queen Victoria’s legal advisers were summoned to visit her. The newspapers reported that at this time 150 Scots Fusiliers were guarding the royal family, allegedly against the threat of Fenian attack. The Locock family believe that baby Henry was born at the end of 1866, or perhaps very early in 1867. It is probable that he was looked after by servants, with ‘access to his mother’. Henry Locock would later tell his own children that he was Princess Louise’s son and that his biological mother had ‘access’ to him in his boyhood years. Despite a seemingly happy marriage, Mary and Frederick had no other children; Mary’s health was poor and perhaps she already knew she would have trouble conceiving. The couple made no secret of the fact that the baby was not their biological child and Frederick wrote in several legal documents about his ‘adopted son’.

Mary and Frederick adopted their son at the end of December 1867. On 20 1867 the Isle of Wight Observer noted that Lady Stirling (the mother of Walter Stirling) had arrived on the island. She had come to stay with Sir Charles Locock. July On 1 December 1867 Alix sent a sympathetic letter to Louise from Sandringham , in which she wrote: ‘My poor little pet I am afraid you have not been enjoying yourself so very well lately.’ If, as Henry would later attest, he remained with his mother Princess Louise at the start of his life, Alix’s letter would have been sent as Louise was preparing to give him up. A year later, Alix would write to her again, worrying that Louise had been looking ‘quite worn and sad’ when they had seen each other. At Christmas in 1869, approaching the second anniversary of Henry Locock’s adoption, Alix wrote another supportive and suggestive letter to her sister-in-law: ‘I hope my poor pet has not been worried and bothered lately about that tiresome old affair of yours! and that your sisters have given you a little rest now.’

Henry Locock’s grandson, Nick Locock, was a six-year-old boy by the date of King George V’s jubilee celebrations . Princess Louise was regularly in the news at this time, partly because she was a loved relation of the new king, but also because she was still so newsworthy, thanks to her great age and the story of her life as an artist. Nick recalls his father telling him during the coronation that they were descended from Princess Louise. The family’s history, as it was told to Nick, was that his grandfather was the princess’s son and that, although the baby had then been adopted by the Locock family, he had been given ‘access’ to Princess Louise all through his childhood. Nick’s grandfather, Henry (who was always known in the Locock family by his middle name of Leicester), had died when his own children were still young, but Nick’s father recalled his stories of childhood parties with all the royal children. One story that always made his children laugh was Henry’s reminiscence of playing croquet on the lawn at Osborne House, when one of his royal cousins cheated. This infuriated the little boy so much that he hit his cousin with a croquet mallet: the cheater in question was the future Kaiser Wilhelm.

As he was growing up, Nick discovered that he was not the only Locock child to have been told what he describes as the ‘family legend’. ‘Subsequently,’ he told me when we met, ‘I realized that not only my brother and sister, but each of my eleven cousins had been told the same story by their parents. It was apparent that [Henry] had told each of his six children before his death in 1907, that his mother was Princess Louise.’

LUCINDA HAWKSLEY is the author of Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter and is a writer and lecturer on art history and nineteenth-century history. She has written biographies of the pre-Raphaelite muse Lizzie Siddal, Charles Dickens, and Katey, one of Dickens’ children. She is the great, great, great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens and is a patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London. Visit her Web site at www.lucindahawksley.com .

Why Lady Louise's birth was hugely significant for the royal family

The duke and duchess of edinburgh's daughter was born in 2003.

It was a joyous occasion for the royal family in November 2003 when the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh welcomed their first child, Lady Louise.

Their daughter arrived into the world by emergency caesarean section at 11.32pm on Saturday 8 November, weighing 4lbs 9oz. The official announcement read: "Her Royal Highness and her daughter are both stable. As a purely precautionary measure, the baby was taken to the regional neonatal unit at St George's Hospital, Tooting."

But did you know that Louise's birth was hugely significant in the British royal family's history? She was the first royal to be given the surname Mountbatten-Windsor at birth.

Edward and Sophie with newborn daughter Lady Louise Windsor

The hyphenated name was the brainchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip. While 'Windsor' had previously been the royal family surname, the late monarch tweaked the moniker to better reflect her marriage to Philip whose surname had been Mountbatten.

Official photograph of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their honeymoon at Broadlands, Romsey, Hampshire

In 1960, it was therefore declared in the Privy Council that the late Queen's descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the hyphenated name of Mountbatten-Windsor.

More Royalty

The antiquated rule Lady Louise Windsor has to follow with her brother James, Earl of Wessex

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Meet Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie's children: all about Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex

How royals overcame their unexpected health issues: Princess Eugenie, Meghan Markle and more

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IMAGES

Princess Louise (1848-1939)
Louise of the United Kingdom
Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria on her wedding day in 1871
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise by
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
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COMMENTS

Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
I love bringing into the present stories of forgotten women from history, such as my biographies 'Dickens's Artistic Daughter Katey', 'The Mystery of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter' (a very talented sculptor with a scandalous life) and 'Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel' (Lizzie is ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Princess Louise was Queen Victoria's 6th daughter. Shrouded in secrecy and largely unknown, Lucinda Hawksley wrote this book in an attempt to shed light on this mysterious figure. Breaking through some of the veils of secrecy surrounding Louise, Lucida introduces us to a woman before her time (which is part of the problem evidently).
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter
Book Details. Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever.
Queen Victoria's mysterious daughter : a biography of Princess Louise
She travelled widely, holidaying in Europe, Africa and North America, and she lived in Canada for five years as the wife of the Governor General. Here is our best evidence yet that Queen Victoria's many secrets have yet to be fully disclosed"--Originally published: The mystery of Princess Louise. London : Chatto & Windus, 2013
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumor and gossip than hard facts? When Lucinda Hawksley started to investigate, often thwarted by inexplicable secrecy, she discovered a fascinating woman, modern before her time, whose ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Louise was a sculptor and painter, friend to the Pre-Raphaelites and a keen member of the Aesthetic movement. The most feisty of the Victorian princesses, she kicked against her mother's controlling nature and remained fiercely loyal to her brothers-especially the sickly Leopold and the much-maligned Bertie.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
This book is effectively a reprint of the earlier title by Lucinda Hawksley "The Mystery of Princess Louise - Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter" which was published in 2013, but which has been re-titled and rebranded. I bought this in good faith believing it to be a "new" biography as described in the Amazon blurb.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter
Reviews. Hawksley … does a yeoman's service providing an illuminating biography of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise (1848-1939)…. Hawksley conveys Louise's story fully and clearly, but just as importantly, she shows the devastating damage Queen Victoria inflicted on her extensive family.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. Read more. Previous page. Print length. 384 pages. Language. English. Publisher. Thomas Dunne Books. Publication date. Dec 8 2015.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Born in 1848 the year of revolutions Queen Victoria had become tired of pregnancies by this point, Louise grew up close to her eldest brother Bertie but both were made to feel like a disappointment. She's described as suffering night terrors and being the difficult middle child. 1848 was an interesting with the feeling of revolution in the ...
The Mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter by
P rincess Louise was the sixth child of Queen Victoria, a woman who famously loathed babies, and from her very first wail, Her Majesty was apt to see her as odd and difficult.When she was feeling ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter
The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumor and gossip than hard facts? ... Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter ebook &mid; A Biography of Princess Louise By Lucinda Hawksley ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Hello and thanks for visiting my Amazon page. I love bringing into the present stories of forgotten women from history, such as my biographies 'Dickens's Artistic Daughter Katey', 'The Mystery of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter' (a very talented sculptor with a scandalous life) and 'Lizzie Siddal: The Tragedy of a Pre-Raphaelite Supermodel' (Lizzie is ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise by
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise Lucinda Hawksley. St. Martin's/Dunne, $27.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-250-05932-1
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is gripping, spell-binding, magnificent. Princess Louise is fascinating; to use Victorian slang she would have understood in her day, she was a bricky basket of oranges, quite a proper bit of frock, and the absolute jammiest bit of jam.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter. A Biography of Princess Louise. By: Lucinda Hawksley. Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon. Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins. 4.4 (177 ratings) Try for $0.00. Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance. The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever.
Princess Louise: A Biography
Louise posed for the society photographer Alexander Bassano several times. This photograph dates from the early 1880s and emphasizes the princess's role as a leader of fashion. "Reprinted with the permission of St. Martin's Press from Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter by Lucinda Hawksley."
Why Lady Louise's birth was a huge turning point in royal history
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's daughter was born in 2003. It was a joyous occasion for the royal family in November 2003 when the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh welcomed their first child ...
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise
Spirited and lively, Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals, and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance.The secrets of Queen Victoria's sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been ...

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