Queen Victoria's Youngest Son [Paperback]

Charlotte Zeepvat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2005

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-84), is acknowledged to have been the most intelligent and, in the words of one writer, 'by far and away the most interesting' of Queen Victoria's four sons. He was a strong-willed, attractive character, with an immense thirst for life. He was also, however, the first royal haemophiliac and suffered continual ill health: in addition to haemophilia, Leopold suffered from epilepsy. A compelling human story which also touches on the wider worlds of late nineteenth-century Oxford and of literature, art and politics in the Victorian period, it examines the question of haemophilia and the royal family from a new angle, at the first appearance of the condition. For example, when did the Queen and Prince Albert realise that their youngest son was ill and how much did they understand of his illness? The book also presents a full and balanced picture of Leopold's relationship with his mother, looking beyond snapshots of individual quarrels between mother and son. Finally, it examines Leopold's life at Oxford, the varied and interesting friendships he developed there with Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde; his political views; and the importance of his work as unofficial secretary to the Queen.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlotte Zeepvat is a freelance writer and Deputy Editor of the magazine Royalty Digest. She is the author of Queen Victoria's Family, Romanov Autumn, The Camera and the Tsars and Royal Governesses. She lives in Sussex.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing (July 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750937912
• ISBN-13: 978-0750937917
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,347,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > Queen Victoria

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars - spoilers follow, April 22, 2008

By 

Andromeda (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Queen Victoria's Youngest Son (Paperback)

A very good biography on Prince Leopold who's mostly known for his bleeding disease. Unlike other biographies the author doesn't waste time on who his parents are and their backgrounds instead she begins right off with his birth which I really liked. Sometimes it gets tedious going through all the background information before getting to the main subject. I also liked how it completely focused on Leopold when a big event happened like the death of his grandmother and father it focused on the events in relation to Leopold and not the other way around. It was very refreshing. I would like to thank the author very much for this. I also liked how the author never took away from Leopold's story. Many biographies when they bring up one of his siblings or parents will launch into a long discription about the sibling or parent, not this author but this author thankfully doesn't.
You can't help feel sorry for Leopold after reading about all of his injuries. Leopold was always sick or injuried to the point he couldn't walk. He spent so much of his childhood in bed that had to be boring for a child. Especially a boy who just wants to be outside playing like any normal boy. You can't help but feel sorry for him when there's more and more things he's forbiddened to do out of fear he would get hurt. Perhaps Queen Victoria was over doing the restrictions but given how many illnesses and injuries the poor boy had and how close to death he was many times you can understand why. He struggles to try and live a normal life inspite of his disease which I found pretty admirable. This truly was a really good biography.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good book, June 11, 2008

By 

S. D. Simmons "s.d. simmons" (charleston ,s.c.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Queen Victoria's Youngest Son (Paperback)

the author focus on leopold completely.his haemophilia that he didn't let control the life ,or let his mother making him a invald.queen victoria was determin e to keep leopold home with her and beatrice.but he fought to make a life for him self.by going to oxford creating a family of friends who respect his intelligents and independence. he live a life he wanted to live no matter how short it was.of all victoria and albert childern i find leopold and alice the most interesting.