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Jump to navigationJump to searchSons, Servants and Statesmen: The Men in Queen Victoria's Life by John Van der Kiste (view source)
Revision as of 18:19, 5 December 2009
, 18:19, 5 December 2009no edit summary
On the other hand her relationships with her Prime Ministers were generally cordial although some faired better than others. Albert had been expert at hiding his political leanings, but Victoria found the fine line between impartiality and partiality difficult to navigate and occasionally strayed to the wrong side. The swing of the political pendulum was particularly rapid in Victoria's reign and Van der Kiste does an excellent job of distinguishing the political views of the Prime Ministers and bringing out their individual personalities.
Given that she had cordial relationships with her ministers but problems relating to her children it comes as something of a surprise to find that she allowed herself to be dominated by servants. The most famous is, of course, John Brown – Victoria's 'Highland servant' and Van der Kiste gives an excellent over-view of the relationship situation whilst carefully avoiding some of the more lurid speculation about the precise nature of the relationship.
In essence Brown comes across as a good man devoted to his Queen but lacking in some of the finer points of Court etiquette which might have smoothed his path with others. The same could not be said of the Munshi – Abdul Karim, - an Indian servant who rose far above his capabilities and who was trusted by Victoria far beyond his trustworthiness. It was perhaps one of the first signs that Victoria was not the woman she had been.
Van der Kiste takes us through the sons, statesmen and servants separately and I did wonder if having Victoria die three times might become tedious but this is handled with flair. The book would be particularly useful to those with little prior knowledge of Victoria's reign as it gives an excellent overview not only of the Queen but also of the ever-changing political situation and the lives of her subjects.
