Censoring Queen Victoria : how two gentlemen edited a queen and created an icon / Yvonne M. Ward.
Material type: TextPublisher: London, England : Oneworld, 2014Copyright date: ©2013Description: 208 pages : portraits ; 23 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 1780743637 (hbk.)
- 9781780743639 (hbk.) :
- Unsuitable for publication
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 941.081 W264 | Available | 33111007530310 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
'Fascinating' BBC History
'Remarkable and clever' New York Times
'Original and important' Sir David Cannadine
When Queen Victoria died, two gentlemen were commissioned with the monumental task of editing her vast correspondence. It would be the first time that a British monarch's letters had been published, and it would change how Victoria was remembered forever.
The men chosen for the job were deeply complex and peculiar characters: Viscount Esher, the consummate royal confidant, blessed with charm and influence, but hiding a secret obsession with Eton boys and incestuous relationship with his son; Arthur Benson, a schoolmaster and author, plagued by depression, struggling to fit in with the blue-blooded clubs and codes of the court. Together with King Edward VII these men would decide Victoria's legacy. In their hands 460 volumes of the Queen's Correspondence became just three, and their decisions and - distortions - would influence perceptions of Victoria for generations to come.
Originally published: Unsuitable for publication : editing Queen Victoria. -- Collingwood, Vic. : Black Inc., 2013.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-197) and index.
The editors. To publish the Queen's letters ; A peculiar genius : the second Viscount Esher ; It's very remarkable : A.C. Benson ; Preparing the ground ; The editing -- The Queen. Sir John Conroy and the ghost of Lady Flora -- King Leopold : the foreign adviser ; The welcome foreigner : Prince Albert -- women's business -- The Queen and her ministers -- The King's censors -- The editors' Queen.