Just finished reading: Becoming Queen Victoria
I just finished reading Becoming Queen Victoria: The Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams.
Depending on how much of a history buff you are, you may or may not know that Queen Victoria was never President of the United States. Nevertheless, she does pop up from time to time in my presidential biographies. Always in an entertaining way.
I didn’t anticipate drawing so much while reading this book. Or that it would immediately spark so many posts. But here we are.
Despite the title, I expected that the book to take me through Queen Victoria’s entire life. Nope. The last four decades were covered in a few short pages. I mean no disrespect to Kate Williams, but I was disappointed (not for the first time) by my inability to deduce from the title what a book promises.
Back toward the beginning of my journey, I was floored that The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams ended before he was president. Never before or since have I been so shocked by the death of a 17th century figure. It forced me to add an amendment to the rules governing my project.
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Flip through my sketchbook
Becoming Queen Victoria is one of a giant pile of books I bought at a library book sale, when I thought parking far away and not bringing a bag would prevent overbuying. It didn’t.
Here are a few completely random things that jumped out at me.
A perfect blend childishness + civility
Lady Wharncliffe believed Princess Victoria to be “the most perfect mixture of childishness and civility.” I’m not entirely sure why that’s a selling point. But it makes more sense than her awe of Victoria’s fondess for her dolls, adding “in short, I look to her to save us from democracy.”
Hmm…
I, too, loved my dolls as a child, but I don’t think it helped me build the skills to save anyone from democracy. (Or why one would want to be saved from democracy.) But hey — I animated the flourishes in my lettering, so that’s something!
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Be taller
Victoria noted that a doctor’s exam found her “unhappily very fat.” Her Uncle Leopold wrote back with some spectacularly useless advice. He had “not been able to ascertain that [she had] grown taller lately — I must recommend it.”
Just be taller.
He had to be joking, right…? Right??
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Queen Victoria used a standing desk
This blew my mind.
When she was recovering from illness, her doctor prescribed her fresh air, walks, open windows, weight training, slow chewing, warm baths, and working at a standing desk.
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Treadmills used to be for torture
For real!
After Edward Jones hid in the palace for two weeks, secretly rolling around the Queen’s bed and whatnot, his punishment was three months on the treadmill.
A few points of interest:
Not Edward Jones the financial services firm.
It’s possible Jones didn’t actually hide out in the palace. He was later declared criminally insane.
Not the kind of treadmill you’d see at a gym. Check it out! And guess what?! The guy who invented this torture mechanism was knighted by Queen Victoria! (That wasn’t even in the book. I found that out by accident. I love when that happens.)
PS But wait! There’s more!
I family-treed the heck out of this bunch. If you need visual aids to help you figure this family out and/or you want to a peek into the chaos of my brain, check out this post.
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