Long live “The Young Victoria”

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:15:00 +0000

There's a reason Queen Victoria, who ruled Great Britain from 1837 to 1901, inspired one of the Kinks' most joyous songs: The band's 1969 "Victoria" opens with the words "Long ago life was clean/Sex was bad and obscene," a recognition of England's stuffy, repressive past that sounds like a rebuke -- until the point, in the next verse, where the songwriting brothers Ray and Dave Davies declare, with irony-free affection, "I was born, lucky me/In a land that I love." Victoria, the country's longest-reigning queen, spent much of the 19th century getting her country ready for the 20th, preparing, unwittingly but dutifully, for two destructive and horrific wars, for the collapse of the empire she herself helped build, even for free love and rock 'n' roll. No wonder the Kinks loved all she represented, flaws and attributes alike.

Queen Victoria to literature: Where is the love?

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:15:00 +0000

She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, presiding over not only the establishment of an empire but also the greatest flowering of the English-language novel. Yet when it comes to literature, Queen Victoria might well ask, where is the love? The opening of the film "The Young Victoria" this week comes as a reminder that books in which the queen plays a leading role are few and far between.

This is all the more surprising when you consider that virtually every other British queen or princess has been celebrated in multiple historical novels and narrative histories. My neighborhood Barnes & Noble has an entire display table permanently devoted to such titles. The Tudors are, hands down, the great favorites of the genre; Phillipa Gregory has produced a string of bestselling novels about the wives, daughters and other assorted noblewomen surrounding Henry VIII, most notably the twice-filmed "The Other Boleyn Girl." Historians like Alison Weir have moved successfully between fiction and nonfiction in writing about female royals ranging from the ever-popular Ann Boleyn to the relatively obscure Isabella of France, who was married to the 13th-century King Edward II. And let's not even get started on Princess Di.

Salon.com > The Young Victoria

Long live “The Young Victoria”

Queen Victoria to literature: Where is the love?