Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE STORY OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S FIVE SPECIAL GRANDDAUGHTERS begins with the birth of the eldest of the group, the future Queen Maud of Norway..." (more)
Key Phrases: former tsarina, future tsarina, special granddaughters, Queen Victoria, Queen Marie, Queen Sophie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lively page-turner covers the 100-year period between the birth of Queen Maud of Norway in 1869 and the death of Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain in 1969. Suffering only from the inevitable repetition and melodramatic foreshadowing caused by the five-in-one setup of this biography, Gelardi's book features liberal quotations from fascinating correspondence and diaries that reveal both the intimate and the public faces of the women featured. Tales of the girls' romances and weddings spice up the early pages, followed by descriptions of marital relationships, childbirths and the early seeds of conflict-both personal and political. World War I and the Bolshevik revolution dominate the third part of the book, after which Gelardi describes the poignant twilight years of the four granddaughters who lived past the end of the Great War. Lurking behind these stories is the legacy of Queen Victoria, the cruelty of Kaiser Wilhelm in Germany and the specter of hemophilia. It is Marie, "Missy," who plays the favorite in the book, just as she did as Queen of Romania. More than the others, she inherited her grandmother's will, charisma, generosity and political acumen, along with the ability to adapt to changing times and circumstances. The granddaughters were "raised in an era where responsibility, commitment, sacrifice and duty before self were elevated as the highest ideals and embodied admirably by their grandmother," but the era that encompassed their rule would see the decline in monarchy throughout Europe as citizens of various countries came to believe that it was not the divine will of God that appointed their leaders, but the will-wise or foolish-of the people.
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Review

“Engaging and lively...highly recommended.” ---Library Journal

 

“Solemn, sometimes frisky, but always captivating.” ---Kirkus Reviews

 

“A diligent researcher who gets her facts straight and documents them properly with footnotes...Born to Rule has much interest in it and can serve as an introduction to these four queens and an empress.” ---The Washington Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324243
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324247
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,683 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Glimpse of A Vanished World, April 5, 2005

By	John D. Cofield - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria (Hardcover)

Born to Rule is a joint biography of five royal consorts, all first cousins and granddaughters of Queen Victoria, who reigned over their countries during the early to mid twentieth century. Although Maud of Norway (called Harry in the family), Sophie of Greece, Victoria Eugenie of Spain (Ena), Alexandra of Russia (Alix), and Marie of Rumania (Missy) were cousins who knew each other fairly well, their personalities and ultimate fates were very different.

Most readers will be at least somewhat familiar with Alix's story, which has been told and retold many times on paper and on film, but Ena's struggles with the same hereditary disease of hemophilia, which she passed on to at least two of her sons, are less well known than those of her Russian cousin. Similarly, while the story of Alix's overthrow in the 1917 Revolution and her subsequent death with her family has been described at length, few readers will be as familiar with Ena's long exile from Spain and Sophie's on again off again career as Queen of Greece. Harry's great success as the democratically chosen monarch of Norway and Missy's extensive struggles on behalf of Rumania deserve to be remembered as well.

One of the most interesting achievements of this joint biography are the numerous parallels and comparisons that can be drawn between the five women. We can see, for example, how Harry's natural modesty and informality made the Norwegians fall in love with her, and how Missy's beauty and elegance endeared her to the Rumanians. On the other hand, Sophie, Alix, and Ena's shyness and natural reserve were not well received by their husband's subjects and helped lead to the downfalls of the monarchies in their countries. The cousins' origins outside of the countries they eventually ruled were also worthy of comparison. Alix and Sophie's German blood were black marks against them (poor Sophie was on the outs with the Greeks for being German, and with her brother the Kaiser for not being German enough!), as was Ena's English reserve in Spain. As far as homelife goes, Alix seems to have had the only genuine love match among the five, since Sophie and Missy were married off for political considerations (to husbands they eventually came to love or at least respect), Ena for generally the same reasons (to a husband she eventually came to detest), and Harry married her cousin primarily to avoid being an old maid (but had a happy marriage regardless).

Of all these women only Harry has been consistently remembered with love and respect by her adopted country. Alix and Ena have been rehabilitated to a degree by the twists and turns of twentieth century history in their countries, and while Sophie and Missy are practically forgotten in Greece and Rumania today, it is to be hoped that their many contributions will eventually be recalled in Athens and Bucharest.

None of these women were well educated or exceptionally intelligent, but the circumstances of their births and marriages gave them influence at a critical moment in world history. Born to Rule enables us to remember them and to better understand their impact.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fitting Tribute to Five Memorable Queens, March 6, 2005

By	Ponette (Audubon, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria (Hardcover)

This book is a must-have for any fan of royalty. It profiles the lives of five granddaughters of Queen Victoria, four of whom suffered greatly in the name of duty, either by their spouse's infidelity, the betrayal by their children or the instability of their country. The life and death of the tragic Alexandra is, of course, well known, but this chronicles four other queens as well -- Sophie of Greece, Maud of Norway, Marie of Roumania and Victoria Eugenie of Spain -- who may not be so well known. The effect Queen Victoria had on all these women could not be underestimated. Julia Gelardi did a great job bringing all these women to life. I can't recommend this book enough.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous first book from Ms. Gelardi!, April 6, 2005

By	Arturo Beeche "Arturo Beéche/ books@eurohisto... (Richmond, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria (Hardcover)

As a specialist royalty bookseller and publisher of a royalty journal, I receive many royalty-themed books for review every year. Many are middle of the road productions on the same over-studied topics. Then and again comes a book such Ms. Gelardi's, a marvelous first book by a tremendously promising author.

I am not a stranger to the story of Queen Victoria's five granddaughters who sat on European thrones. However, Ms. Gelardi's research brought many episodes to light and considerably expanded my own knowledge about these amazing women. Not only did she research extensively, but she was fortunate enough to be able to personally interview children and grandchildren of these royal ladies. That alone makes BORN TO RULE a must have for anyone interested in European royalty. Five huge stars must be granted to Ms. Gelardi...KUDOS!

Arturo Beéche @ [e-mail]