bookscrystals93's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book that I was excited about when I found out about it. I figured it was going to be a mixtures of letters, diary entries, and other things. Turns out it’s not. With the title being Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking you would think there would have been more about her involvement in some of these matches. This to me seemed to be more of a look into the couples themselves with some of Queen Victoria’s views thrown. I did learn from this book. Which is why it has a 4 Star rating. The only couples I actually knew anything about where Nicky and Alix and Sergei and Elizabeth. I did know a little about George v and Queen Mary but not as much as I knew about the previous couples. So this was definitely an interesting read.
hekate24's review against another edition
5.0
2021 Popsugar reading challenge: A book whose title starts with “Q,” “X,” or “Z”
So on the You're Wrong About... podcast, they have a series of episodes on Princess Diana. They talk about how reading about long ago royalty problems feels weirdly relaxing in these times, even if said problems were actually really consequential. And that was basically my experience with this book. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading [b:A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III|17286774|A Royal Experiment The Private Life of King George III|Janice Hadlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380964036l/17286774._SY75_.jpg|23906837] about half a decade ago. Or, weirdly, [b:Fire & Blood|39943621|Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532828095l/39943621._SY75_.jpg|61841009] even if that one is fictional. There's just something weirdly soothing to me about going down the family tree of a royal family for a while, exploring how the world stage is often influenced by the intra-family squabbles of a bunch of cousins.
Oddly, although George III and Victoria had a ton of children, their approach to their children's adulthoods could not be more different. The royal family of George III's day was very unhealthily enmeshed and the daughters were highly discouraged from marrying solely because their parents did not want to let them go. Likewise, the male sons were not terribly keen to produce children with their wives. Due to this, there was actually a struggle to find an heir to George III's heir, which was how we wound up with Queen Victoria in the first place. She was one of the only ones available.
Meanwhile, Albert and Victoria hit upon the idea of marrying their children and grandchildren throughout royal courts in order to nudge all of Europe in the direction they thought the continent should go. While this seems like a great idea in theory, in practice it only works if your descendants want to play along. And a lot of their grandchildren did not want to play along, ranging from Kaiser Wilhelm (who was aggressively autocrat, almost in an "own the libs!!" way at his other cousins), to Tsarina Alexandra who struck me as incredibly insular and woefully unprepared for the role she wound up in. This plan also requires one's sons-in-law and daughters-in-law to want to play along, and they often didn't. Some of the grandchildren - like the last queen of Romania - were married off almost entirely to spite Queen Victoria and her attempt at control over the whole brood.
This is a great book to read if you want a bit of escapism - the descriptions of those Romanov weddings! - but also something that demonstrates how the personal really is political.
So on the You're Wrong About... podcast, they have a series of episodes on Princess Diana. They talk about how reading about long ago royalty problems feels weirdly relaxing in these times, even if said problems were actually really consequential. And that was basically my experience with this book. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading [b:A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III|17286774|A Royal Experiment The Private Life of King George III|Janice Hadlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380964036l/17286774._SY75_.jpg|23906837] about half a decade ago. Or, weirdly, [b:Fire & Blood|39943621|Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History #1)|George R.R. Martin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532828095l/39943621._SY75_.jpg|61841009] even if that one is fictional. There's just something weirdly soothing to me about going down the family tree of a royal family for a while, exploring how the world stage is often influenced by the intra-family squabbles of a bunch of cousins.
Oddly, although George III and Victoria had a ton of children, their approach to their children's adulthoods could not be more different. The royal family of George III's day was very unhealthily enmeshed and the daughters were highly discouraged from marrying solely because their parents did not want to let them go. Likewise, the male sons were not terribly keen to produce children with their wives. Due to this, there was actually a struggle to find an heir to George III's heir, which was how we wound up with Queen Victoria in the first place. She was one of the only ones available.
Meanwhile, Albert and Victoria hit upon the idea of marrying their children and grandchildren throughout royal courts in order to nudge all of Europe in the direction they thought the continent should go. While this seems like a great idea in theory, in practice it only works if your descendants want to play along. And a lot of their grandchildren did not want to play along, ranging from Kaiser Wilhelm (who was aggressively autocrat, almost in an "own the libs!!" way at his other cousins), to Tsarina Alexandra who struck me as incredibly insular and woefully unprepared for the role she wound up in. This plan also requires one's sons-in-law and daughters-in-law to want to play along, and they often didn't. Some of the grandchildren - like the last queen of Romania - were married off almost entirely to spite Queen Victoria and her attempt at control over the whole brood.
This is a great book to read if you want a bit of escapism - the descriptions of those Romanov weddings! - but also something that demonstrates how the personal really is political.
srash's review against another edition
3.0
This book rotated between a 2 and a 4 at different stages. The premise is interesting, and the author clearly did a lot of archival work, with letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts. I liked how she chronicles Queen Victoria's overly optimistic vision of a peaceful Europe, united by marriage ties, and the grim reality of what happened fewer than 20 years after her death. Some of her schemes to marry off her grandchildren sound like something out of a bad romantic comedy and were weirdly funny.
That being said, I think the author was out of her element in trying to write about the war and revolutions that brought down monarchies in the early 20th century. It's just way too much to cover in a book that already had its own focus, and the final half of the book is pretty scattershot as a result. I also found some distracting typos. Overall, an interesting book, but it could have been even better.
That being said, I think the author was out of her element in trying to write about the war and revolutions that brought down monarchies in the early 20th century. It's just way too much to cover in a book that already had its own focus, and the final half of the book is pretty scattershot as a result. I also found some distracting typos. Overall, an interesting book, but it could have been even better.
vee615's review against another edition
3.0
A really interesting book that improved my knowledge of the events that led up to World War I, the thought process behind various marriages, and what Queen Victoria's vision and influence was.
Keeping everyone straight even with nicknames was difficult, it also didn't help that everyone was related in someway.
Overall I enjoyed it, I would recommend to anyone who loves historical nonfiction that reads almost like a fiction novel.
Keeping everyone straight even with nicknames was difficult, it also didn't help that everyone was related in someway.
Overall I enjoyed it, I would recommend to anyone who loves historical nonfiction that reads almost like a fiction novel.
sgtraum's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The connectedness of European monarchies and aristocracy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also the brazen egotism of the same. And the encouragement of first-cousin marriage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
rhodesee's review against another edition
3.0
If you are interested in Queen Victoria and her children or the history of the royal families of Europe in [b:Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe|35182350|Queen Victoria's Matchmaking The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe|Deborah Cadbury|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499759238s/35182350.jpg|56519364] you will find an interesting and well-researched read.
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
jmodeez's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed this. It satisfied all my cravings for history, politics, smut and the crown.