The Mystery of Princess Louise
Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter
Book - 2013
"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 rumour 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 rumours of Louise's colourful love life persist even today, with hints
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Publisher:
London : Chatto & Windus, c2013.
ISBN:
9780701183493
Characteristics:
xii, 374 pages, [16] pages of plates :,illustrations, portraits ;,25 cm
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Add a CommentAn excellent read which covers the relatively unknown life of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s second youngest daughter.
There are many interesting facts about Louise, including she was an accomplished sculptor, excellent cook, nurse, progressive thinker and she spent a good amount of her life in Canada.
Louise ate little to stay thin (had three brussel sprouts at one dinner) as she wanted to avoid the "Hanoverian" figure of her mother. Louise was in better health than younger sister Beatrice who was overweight. I'm sure she would have appreciated Michael Moseley's book "Fast Life" a great read.
Well worth reading in addition to the other Queen Victoria books that are around, as it gives a close point of view of one the Queen's off-spring.
Filled with historical detail, this book takes the reader inside the childhood and adult life of a very memorable but largely forgotten royal princess. Ruled with an iron fist by her mother, deserted by the early death of her father, Princess Louise grew up in a brood of siblings that were also emotionally abused by their mother and sometimes the servants, she never truly came into her own until well into her adult years. Then she became a wonderful advocate and patron to the arts as well as entering into what she could have been all along.
Queen Victoria was quite the woman, and this book concentrates on her most artistic, and open-minded daughter, whose personality was as strong as her mother's but who also possessed a strong thread of compassion and the ability to overcome her royal background and relate to regular people. It's a good read.