Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918

  • By: Christina Croft
  • Narrated by: Fleur Edwards
  • Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (44 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918 cover art

Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918

By: Christina Croft
Narrated by: Fleur Edwards
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Grandmama of Europe cover art
Queen Victoria's Cousins cover art
Bertie: A Life of Edward VII cover art
Philip cover art
Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars cover art
Queen Victoria's Mysterious Daughter cover art
Alexandra Feodorovna cover art
The Real Queen Charlotte cover art
The Quest for Queen Mary cover art
The Turbulent Crown cover art
War and Peace cover art
The Six Wives of Henry VIII cover art
Secret Lives of the Tsars cover art
Great Ladies cover art

Summary

On 6 July 1868, when told of the birth of her seventh granddaughter, Queen Victoria remarked that the news was "a very uninteresting thing for it seems to me to go on like the rabbits in Windsor Park". Her apathy was understandable - this was her 14th grandchild, and, though she had given birth to nine children, she had never been fond of babies, viewing them as "frog-like and rather disgusting...particularly when undressed".

The early years of her marriage had, she claimed, been ruined by frequent pregnancies, and large families were unnecessary for wealthy people since the children would grow up with nothing worthwhile to do. Nevertheless, her initial reaction to the birth of Princess Victoria of Wales belied the genuine concern that Queen Victoria felt for each of her 22 granddaughters. "As a rule," she wrote, "I like girls best," and she devoted a great deal of time to their well-being and happiness, showering them with affection she had seldom shown her own children.

By 1914, through a series of dynastic marriages, the queen's granddaughters included the empress of Russia; the queens of Spain, Greece, and Norway' and the crown princesses of Rumania and Sweden. As their brothers and cousins occupied the thrones of Germany, Britain, and Denmark, Prince Albert's dream of a peaceful Europe created through bonds of kinship seemed a real possibility. Yet in little more than a decade after Queen Victoria's death, the prince consort's dream would lie shattered in the carnage of the First World War. Royal cousins and even siblings would find themselves on opposing sides; two of them would die horrifically at the hands of revolutionaries, and several others would be ousted from their thrones. They had lived through the halcyon days of the European monarchies, but their lives, like the lives of millions of their people, would be changed forever by the catastrophe.

©2013 Christina Croft (P)2017 Christina Croft

What listeners say about Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A whole lot of Princesses

If you are a royal history lover this is a book for you. You'll learn more about minor European royalty and family ties. The granddaughter who became a saint, 2 who supposedly married gay men, and the dedication to hospital works and causes. But be warned the name listing of family members at the start of each chapter is about irritating at first, but you soon find you need the lists to keep up with whose who.
An interesting and engaging listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • EM
  • 19-07-17

Really intriguing

I found this book to be a captivating look in to this time period and in to the varied lives of these women.

The pivotal role in which Queen Victoria and her family played across the European royal houses and political climates of the time lead to many fascinating and dramatic stories, some times comic but often very traumatic, as seen through the eyes of her Granddaughters.

Great writing by the author and excellent read by the Narrator kept me gripped throughout, I loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Victoria's Granddaughters

What did you like best about Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918? What did you like least?

Interesting story - how can it not be? Let down by the dreadful narration.

Would you be willing to try another one of Fleur Edwards’s performances?

No. She seemed to manage the tough Prussian and German names really well and then spent a period of times pronouncing 'Cannes' as 'Cans'. It just threw me completely. And she also seemed to need to take breathy pauses in the wrong places. Not impressed at all. Great shame.

Any additional comments?

This will never fail to be interesting as a history - the way that Victoria knitted Europe together with her breeding programme, but I really feel it was let down by the narrator, and very badly so. Such a shame.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely listen

Really interesting account of the trials and tribulations of Queen Victoria's Granddaughters. Fascinating insights and stories too.

Lovely read by the narrator too, really helped to make the subject come alive. Spot on with the variety of strange pronunciations and names.

Would highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent content, bizarre narration

Clear and well written. The repetition of relevant genealogy at the beginning of each chapter was really helpful.
The only downside was the robotic style of the narration with some strange emphasis in some sentences and bizarre pronunciation of some words. Not enough to put me off listening, but not a narration I’d go out of my way to hear again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read

Amazingly, although it is a big book, with lots of information about lots of people, it is incredibly interesting for anyone who is curious to what happened to Queen Victoria's children and their children. I trully enjoyed every chapter and found out an incredible amount of new information.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative book

Love this book, the story of the lives of Victoria's granddaughters (unfortunately the same book on her grandsons is not yet available as an Audible book). Good narration too, an easy listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A moving story

Too complex a list of characters and this leads to a superficial analysis of their lives. Stylistically quite good.
However, the narration spoiled it for me. Several words were mispronounced - dowager, Ypres, for example - and the voice was monotonous and rather plaintive.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

some interesting parts

Great story, marred by the appalling narration. You'll almost stop listening when you hear her terrible accent and weird pronunciation of every other word. Plus some weird conspiracy theories at the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

If you have an interest in Royalty and European history you will love this book

This book tells the fascinating story of the dynasty of Queen Victoria and Albert. Their grandchildren mainly, but it covers much more. This is the most interesting period in Royal history ever. Queen Victorias decedents married into most of Europes royal families and influenced history and tradition from the UK to Russia and from Norway to Italy. It is thanks to Queen Victoria that we today have the Christmas tree and white wedding dresses. The book is long but then there is a lot to tell, and when I had finished reading it, it just left me wanting more. So I have purchased more books by the same author and I am looking forward to learning more about the individual families and what happened around them culturally and politically. If you have an interest in the Royal Family and in history, you will love this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!