For Sale First Edition

For Sale Reprint

For Sale

Cloth, dj, F/F. iv+201pp, 16pp b/w plates, index, fore edge a little spotted, otherwise a fine copy in a fine dustjacket. Bookclub edition as trade edition. ~ book club edition. ~ Biography of Lady Jane Grey [ 1537 - 1554 ] and the Brandon Family.

'I delight in this work', wrote the young Victoria shortly after she became Queen. She was an engaging creature, high-spirited and eager to be 'amused'. But her early years were difficult ones. Fatherless from the age of eight months, she was brought up at Kensington Palace in a atmosphere thick with family feuds, backbiting and jeaously - the focus of conflicting ambitions. Though her uncle William IV was anxious to bring her into Court circles, her German mother and the calculating John Canroy were equally determined that she should remain under their control.The 'little Queen', who succeeded to the throne a month after her eighteenth birthday, was greeted by a unanimous chorus of praise and admiration. Guided by her 'excellent Lord Melbourne', she threw off the restraints imposed by Mamma and the Kensington System and plunged joyfully into the exciting business of reigning. Nevertheless, she resisted Peel;s attempt to dismiss some of her household in the infamous Bedchamber Crisis, and was compelled to accept a reduced Civil List for Albert of Ł50,000 she had requested. Her marriage, 'the happiest day of my life', at the age of twenty, to her cousin, marked the end of childhood and the beginning of the glorious legend.

Alison Plowden draws on contemporary memoirs, diaries, newspapers and state papers to reveal what it was like to live during this unique period of England's history. Family life, religion, culture, literacy and trade are just some of the topics covered in this lively and entertaining look at the reality of Cromwell's republic.