A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy
Exclusive interview with author Helen Rappaport and a review of her new book about Queen Victoria and Albert
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Gabrielle Pantera
“I had not long finished The Last Days of the Romanovs, and began pondering what other famous, dramatic deaths there were in history that might be worth looking at,” says A Magnificent Obsession author Helen Rappaport.
“And immediately the death of Prince Albert came to me. Prince Albert is still greatly underrated in this country for his considerable contribution to British cultural life. His 150th anniversary in December last year passed almost unnoticed and that made me very sad. He remains a neglected figure and my book is an attempt to redress some of that.”
Helen Rappaport’s A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy, like her previous book The Last Days of the Romanovs, will immerse you in history. Many people don’t remember Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Rappaport’s book brings alive an almost forgotten time. A must-read if you love British history.
Queen Victoria and her prince consort Albert were married for twenty years. In the beginning the people of Britain didn’t take to Albert. Albert helped Victoria with the government. Over time, prime ministers and the people of Britain grew to appreciate his good sense in matters of government. When he died the British grieved for him almost as much as when Princess Diana died over 135 years later.
The idea for A Magnificent Obsession came to Rappaport flying to Austria to visit her daughter who lives there. “Love, death and tragedy are great subjects for historians and this story has it all,” says Rappaport.
Rappaport says there are always surprises when researching a book in primary sources, using archives or previously unpublished or neglected material. “I love the process of discovery. In the course of writing and researching any book one frequently shifts one’s perspective on the subject one is writing about. It has certainly happened to me with all my books.”
Research for the book covered sources at the Royal Archives and an exhaustive speculative search of Victorian letter writers and diarists, as well as the newspapers and magazines of the day. “Such searches are essential if one is to have anything new to say,” says Rappaport. “The Royal Archives were fundamental but other archives, such as the Special Collections at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, also turned up interesting things.”
Rappaport’s previous books include Beautiful for Ever, Lenin in Exile, The Last Days of the Romanovs, No Place for Ladies, Dark Hearts of Chicago, Queen Victoria, Joseph Stalin and the Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers, which won an Award from the American Library Association as an Outstanding Reference at RUSA, 2002.
Rappaport’s next book is titled Capturing the Light. Written in collaboration with Roger Watson, Curator of the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey, it’s the story of the intense efforts by photography’s two founding fathers, Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre, in their separate attempts to create the first photographs. To be published in the UK by PanMacmillan, Spring 2013, and in the USA by St Martin’s Press.
Helen Rappaport is based in Oxford, England. She was born in Bromley, Kent. A list of her upcoming appearances and events is on her web site. She says she hopes to get to the East Coast of USA for a lecture tour either autumn 2012 or Sprint 2013. “I very much want to come to the USA to give some author talks and meet my American readers, whose enthusiastic support and interest means a great deal to me.” www.helenrappaport.com
Helen Rappaport A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy. Hardcover, 352 pages, Publisher: St. Martin’s Press; First Edition edition (March 13, 2012), Language: English, ISBN: 9780312621056 $26.99
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