Children's Book Written by Queen Victoria

[beth]

Children's Book Written by Queen Victoria Published After 185 Years

A children's book penned by Britain's Queen Victoria when she was just 10 years old has finally been published almost two centuries after it was written.

"The Adventures of Alice Laselles" tells the story of a 12-year-old girl sent away to boarding school.

It features characters including a "poor little French orphan" called Ernestine Duval and Barbara, the clever daughter of a rich London banker.




The work is undated but the Royal Collection, which is now publishing the story, believes it was written around 1829 or 1830 when she was still a young princess.

"It reflects a lot of Victoria's feelings as a little girl," said children's author Jacqueline Wilson, who wrote the introduction to the book. "It humanizes a queen. Here she was, just a sweet, charming child."

She added: "The young queen Victoria really had a way with words. It's a fascinating story."


The story was written in a notebook and kept in the royal archives at Windsor Castle, near London. It bore the inscription: "To my dear Mamma, this my first attempt at composition is affectionately and dutifully inscribed by her affectionate daughter, Victoria."

Victoria's reign lasted 63 years and seven months — longer than any other British monarch, and the longest of any female monarch in history.

Alastair Jamieson


www.nbcnews.com/news/world/childrens-book-written-queen-victoria-published-after-185-years-n371591


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[Jessiealan]

Very interesting. She must have been quite accomplished for her age.

[mouse]

I think from what I have read she was a lonely child and pushed to keeping herself amused
but her drawings of her children do show some good work

[beth]

Jun 10, 2015 4:29:23 GMT -5 mouse said:

I think from what I have read she was a lonely child and pushed to keeping herself amused
but her drawings of her children do show some good work

She must have been tutored in art. That's a lovely drawing .. especially for a child.

[mouse]

it was a social thing..others might use the term class...middle class and upper class girls were educated lightly.... the skills things which would make them a good housekeeper or lady of the house able to manage accounts.. staff and also to be socially adept..conversational skills...management skills...needle work..pianoforte and art and dancing...reading and letter writing as well as how to set a table..arrange flowers some times language etc etc...it would largly depend on how educated their governess was as to whether they would need more in struction a little later
later in Victorias reign girls would attend finishing school set up by some unfortunate who had fallen on hard times usually...later still girls would go abroad to be finnished
I have my grandmothers art books some where... very much a draughtsmans way of drawing ancient figures..such as alexander etc stilted but clever..she also did languages French and German and dance
to put it in perspective my grandmother was born in the 1860,s and her mother in the 1830s and her mother around the turn of the century

[Jessiealan]

Then, by the time my generation came along, just before the mid-20th century war years - all those fine skills were dropped byn the wayside and we were expected to stand with our brothers, fathers, husbands and the rest of the males instead of painting pictures and writing poetry. We have indeed, come a long way.