Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera [Paperback]

Michael Nelson (Author), Asa Briggs (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2007

Queen Victoria fell in love with the Riviera when she discovered it on her first visit to Menton in 1882 and her enchantment with this 'paradise of nature' endured for almost twenty years. Victoria's visits helped to transform the French Riviera by paving the way for other European royalty, the aristocracy and the very rich, who were to turn it into their pleasure garden. Michael Nelson paints a fascinating portrait of Victoria and her dealings with local people of all classes, statesmen and the constant stream of visiting crown heads. In the process we see an unexpected side to Victoria: not the imperious, petulant, mourning widow but rather an exuberant girlish old lady thrilled by her surroundings. Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera is an absorbing and revealing account that makes an important contribution to both our understanding of Victoria's character and personality and our view of the late Victorian period.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As head of a worldwide empire and as someone who maintained close lifelong ties with high-born relatives all over Europe, "[t]he Queen has to be placed in more than a British setting," declares noted Victorianist Briggs in his foreword. Nelson, a 19th-century historian, follows Victoria from London to the French Riviera, where she spent several extended vacations during her last 20 years. Apart from this geographic repositioning, however, he provides few truly new insights on Victoria as a monarch or an individual. Though he purports to focus on how Victoria's patronage stimulated the tourist economy in the Riviera, Nelson doesn't conclusively explore that topic or explain why it merits book-length treatment. Yet despite its thin, lackluster central premise, this is quite a charming read. Nelson peppers his narrative with amusing anecdotes and rambling tangential stories about the Queen and her retinue that afford a wide-ranging, slice-of-life perspective on Victoria and her milieu. Six days worth of journal entries about the death of Elizabeth Reynolds, her personal maid, reveal her sympathy and devotion for her entourage. In a letter, maid of honor Marie Adeane describes "some very good fireworks... which the Queen enjoyed like a child." At times breathlessly gossipy (on various royal sex scandals), at other times astutely analytical (of the Queen's negotiations of foreign policy crises), this is an enjoyable portrait of one of the modern era's most important monarchs. 16 pages of photos.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Victorian scholar Nelson has uncovered a rich store of information on Queen Victoria's many trips to the Riviera. These trips, beginning in 1882, popularized an area that had seen only slowly developing tourism in the 19th century. Following suit, crowned heads and European high flyers transformed the Riviera into a major vacation venue. Nelson had access to the queen's journals, which are housed at Windsor. The result could have made for dreary reading, but Nelson chose just the right entries from Victoria's journals and sprinkled the text with letters from other aristocrats, making this a lively read. Nelson's own style allows the reader to vividly imagine being in the hotel drawing rooms right alongside Victoria's entourage. In the introduction, a gem of succinctness and anecdotal charm, Nelson outlines the development of tourism in southern France. One would hardly expect yet another book on Queen Victoria to be amusing, but this one's a rare treat. For public and academic libraries. Gail Benjafield, St. Catharines P.L., Ont.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845113454
• ISBN-13: 978-1845113452
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,162,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > Queen Victoria

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Queen Victoria amused, April 19, 2010

By 

Paul Magnussen (Campbell, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera (Paperback)

This delightful, well researched and eminently readable book carried me along so effortlessly that I had trouble putting it down.

The Queen first came to the Riviera in 1882, and was so pleased with it that she returned whenever she could: 'Oh, if only I were at Nice, I should recover', she said as she was dying.

This story of her sojourns there, far from being a mere travelogue, draws on her journal and on the accounts of many other people to give a fascinating picture, not only of H.M. herself in her lighter moments, but also of many other figures of the day such as the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), Lord Salisbury, Kaiser Bill and King Leopold of the Belgians; and of contemporary events such as the Fashoda incident and the outbreak of the Boer War.

Since she presided over a snobbish era, one might imagine that Victoria was herself a snob. But that is shown clearly not to be the case, and she emerges as compassionate, intelligent, conscientious and rather endearing lady -- although not of course without her quirks!

There are many contemporary photographs, illustrations and cartoons, some in colour.

Oh, and if you were wondering in exactly what circumstances H.M. said 'We are not amused', that's here too.

I now intend to read all of Michael Nelson's books. Next, obviously, is the sequel: Americans and the Making of the Riviera.