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Queen Victoria's Youngest Son
The Untold Story of Prince Leopold
by Charlotte Zeepvat 2005, Paperback, 282 pages, 23 illustrations, 2 family trees, index |
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-1884), is acknowledged to have been the most intelligent and in the words of one writer, "by far and away the most interesting" of Queen Victoria's four sons. He was a strong-willed, attractive character, with an immense thirst for life. However, he was also the first royal haemophiliac and suffered continual ill health: in addition to haemophilia, Leopold was thought to have suffered from epilepsy.
Leopold's biography is a compelling human story which also touches on the wider worlds of late nineteenth-century Oxford and of litterature, art and politics in the Victorian period. When did Victoria and Albert realise that their youngest son was ill and how much did they understand of his illness? Zeepvat also presents a full and balanced picture of Leopold's troubled relationship with his mother, and his struggle to assert his independence. Finally, it examines Leopold's life at Oxford, the varied and interesting friendships he developed there with, among others, Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde; his political views; and the importance of his work as unofficial secretary to the Queen.
Leopold's biography is a compelling human story which also touches on the wider worlds of late nineteenth-century Oxford and of litterature, art and politics in the Victorian period. When did Victoria and Albert realise that their youngest son was ill and how much did they understand of his illness? Zeepvat also presents a full and balanced picture of Leopold's troubled relationship with his mother, and his struggle to assert his independence. Finally, it examines Leopold's life at Oxford, the varied and interesting friendships he developed there with, among others, Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde; his political views; and the importance of his work as unofficial secretary to the Queen.
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