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Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera

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Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera
Author(s): Michael Nelson

Queen Victoria fell in love with the Riviera when she discovered it on her first visit to Menton in 1882 and her enchantment with this 'paradise of nature' endured for almost twenty years. Victoria's visits helped to transform the French Riviera by paving the way for other European royalty, the aristocracy and the very rich, who were to turn it into their pleasure garden. Michael Nelson paints a fascinating portrait of Victoria and her dealings with local people of all classes, statesmen and the constant stream of visiting crown heads. In the process we see an unexpected side to Victoria: not the imperious, petulant, mourning widow but rather an exuberant girlish old lady thrilled by her surroundings. Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera is an absorbing and revealing account that makes an important contribution to both our understanding of Victoria's character and personality and our view of the late Victorian period.

Review(s):

"Michael Nelson fully appreciates the subtle relationships between the private and the public, even in the life of imperial sovereigns, and his highly readable book will interest different kinds of readers. For me it is rich in texture as, I believe, it will be for them."--Lord Asa Briggs
"A distinctly original contribution to the studies of Queen Victoria. Those sections covering the extraordinary people the Queen met on the Riviera are most moving and human."--Elizabeth Longford
"This is a book full of fascinating and well-documented information."--Roy Jenkins

"One would hardly expect yet another book on Queen Victoria to be amusing, but this one's a rare treat."--Gail Benjafield, Library Journal

"...an enjoyable portrait of one of the modern era's most important monarchs."--Publishers Weekly

"A well-researched and highly readable account of the Sovereign’s love affair with the South of France…a great book which deserves a wide readership." – The Riviera Reporter

"This enjoyable and knowledgeable book explores many aspects of the later Victorian period from a new angle, and in a new context. It is particularly illuminating on the relations between Britain and France at this time, an area to which not enough attention is paid." -- Jacqueline Banerjee, The Victorian Web

ISBN: 9781845113452