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Hannah Pakula

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Christina
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Hannah Pakula

Post by Christina » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 12:04 am

Hannah Pakula is an author about whom I would like to know more. Her beautiful books about Vicky, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, (An Uncommon Woman) and Marie of Roumania (The Last Romantic) are among the favourite books on my shelves. The author, however, is very difficult to locate and, unlike most authors nowadays, she seems to hide behind a cloak of anonymity - at least as far as the internet is concerned. Her books are wonderfully thick, substantial reads and packed with interesting anecdotes, too. Even for those who have litlle interest in the era, I recommend "An Uncommon Woman" as a thorougly absorbing read about Vicky! :)

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Post by Susan » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 1:01 am

[quote=""Christina""]Hannah Pakula is an author about whom I would like to know more. Her beautiful books about Vicky, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, (An Uncommon Woman) and Marie of Roumania (The Last Romantic) are among the favourite books on my shelves. The author, however, is very difficult to locate and, unlike most authors nowadays, she seems to hide behind a cloak of anonymity - at least as far as the internet is concerned. Her books are wonderfully thick, substantial reads and packed with interesting anecdotes, too. Even for those who have litlle interest in the era, I recommend "An Uncommon Woman" as a thorougly absorbing read about Vicky! :) [/quote]

Agreed! Pakula's books mentioned above are among my favorites in my royalty library, especially An Uncommon Woman. Hannah Pakula is the widow of the late film director Alan Pakula. As far as I know those were the only books she ever wrote. The Last Romantic (Marie of Romania was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria) was published in 1986 and An Uncommon Woman was published in 1995.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 10:44 am

Thank you, Susan. I do hope she will write another, as these are so wonderful. It is impossible to find any interviews with her or any of her own commentaries on her books. Perhaps she prefers to allow them to speak for themselves. Do you also have - in your royalty library - any Theo Aronsen? He is one of my favourite royalty authors - his beautiful "The Heart of a Queen" captures Queen Victoria's romantic nature so wonderfully; and "The King in Love" (about some :-) of Edward VII's mistresses is an equally good read. I am not so keen on his biography of Alice of Athlone, which I found rather dull, but "Crowns in Conflict" (particularly with its references to Marie of Roumania) is wonderful!

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Post by Susan » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 11:43 am

[quote=""Christina""]Do you also have - in your royalty library - any Theo Aronsen? He is one of my favourite royalty authors - his beautiful "The Heart of a Queen" captures Queen Victoria's romantic nature so wonderfully; and "The King in Love" (about some :-) of Edward VII's mistresses is an equally good read. I am not so keen on his biography of Alice of Athlone, which I found rather dull, but "Crowns in Conflict" (particularly with its references to Marie of Roumania) is wonderful![/quote]

Yes, I have Theo Aronsen's biography of Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone. I read it years ago, so I can't recall how I felt about it. I do own and did enjoy Princess Alice's memoir For My Grandchildren. BTW, tomorrow is the anniversary of Princess Alice's death in 1981. She was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria. I post royal dates on the royalty message board I help moderate.
http://www.etoile.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11740

This is an excellent listing of books about Queen Victoria, her family and her descendants.
http://users.uniserve.com/~canyon/royalty_books.htm
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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Post by Telynor » Tue January 6th, 2009, 4:17 pm

I've enjoyed both of Pakula's books very much, and the biography of Victoria, the Princess Royal was amazing, and really did help me get a better grasp of relationships in her family. What staggers me is the incredible amount of letters that were written between Vicky and her mother.

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Post by Christina » Wed January 7th, 2009, 4:53 pm

Telynor, poor Vicky had a very unfortunate time, didn't she, when she first arrived in Prussia? Her mother's demands (and I write that as someone who loves Queen Victoria :-) ) were so excessive. If she didn't write every day, the Queen was annoyed and distressed. Prince Albert was forced to intervene to ask the Queen to put less pressure on her, but when he died I think Vicky found solace in those daily epistles - particularly as, by that time, she was very unpopular in the Prussia Court.
Vicky is someone I admire tremendously - she was so talented and brilliants and how tragic that all that brilliance found so few outlets. She initiated so many charities and institutions but, whereas her younger sister Alice who did the same in Hesse gained appreciation for it, Vicky was treated with nothing but suspicion. Saddest of all was the way that she was allowed so little say in the upbringing and education of her 3 elder children....no wonder she remained so much close to her younger ones. A life that was so tragic in so many ways!!
Btw. if you ever go to Osborne House, there is a beautiful 'children's museum' next to the Swiss Cottage, in which Vicky's collections of fossils etc. are kept. It is very moving :-) .
Do you also like the original letters of Vicky and her mother (all of Fulford's books, and Agatha Ramm's later one)? I find them endlessly absorbing :-) .

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Post by Telynor » Sat January 10th, 2009, 1:46 pm

[quote=""Christina""]Telynor, poor Vicky had a very unfortunate time, didn't she, when she first arrived in Prussia? Her mother's demands (and I write that as someone who loves Queen Victoria :-) ) were so excessive. If she didn't write every day, the Queen was annoyed and distressed. Prince Albert was forced to intervene to ask the Queen to put less pressure on her, but when he died I think Vicky found solace in those daily epistles - particularly as, by that time, she was very unpopular in the Prussia Court.
Vicky is someone I admire tremendously - she was so talented and brilliants and how tragic that all that brilliance found so few outlets. She initiated so many charities and institutions but, whereas her younger sister Alice who did the same in Hesse gained appreciation for it, Vicky was treated with nothing but suspicion. Saddest of all was the way that she was allowed so little say in the upbringing and education of her 3 elder children....no wonder she remained so much close to her younger ones. A life that was so tragic in so many ways!!
Btw. if you ever go to Osborne House, there is a beautiful 'children's museum' next to the Swiss Cottage, in which Vicky's collections of fossils etc. are kept. It is very moving :-) .
Do you also like the original letters of Vicky and her mother (all of Fulford's books, and Agatha Ramm's later one)? I find them endlessly absorbing :-) .[/quote]

Poor Vicky had a dreadful time of it. Not to mention losing two of her sons at such young ages must have devastated her, and then Fritz's cancer and Willy's abomiable behaviour. But considering everything that she was up against, she never let it beat her down either -- she kept perservering, which is what makes her so interesting to read about.

I've been slowly collecting Fulford's books that have that collection of letters. I can't even begin to imagine writing that much -- it simply boggles the mind. There are also collections of Alice's letters to her mother as well, and they make for eye opening reading as well.

Queen Victoria had quite a hold on all of her children -- she was downright bullying to all of them, and her treatment of Beatrice is simply awful. No wonder all of them had some personality quirks -- and it's interesting to see that nearly all of them rebelled in some way or another.

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Post by Christina » Sat January 10th, 2009, 11:23 pm

Oh yes, but I can't help but love Queen Victoria :-) . I think she mellowed a great deal with her grandchildren. She loved them so dearly. In bringing up her own children, I think she went through a phase, which is rather the reverse of most people. Whereas - and this is a vast generalization!! - many men find it difficult when their young wives, who until then have devoted all their affection to their husbands, shift it to/share it with their babies, Queen Victoria felt she had to share Albert's affection with her children and in some ways resented it. Knowing that she had never been that close to anyone before Albert, I guess it's understandable and when he died so young, she was so self-absorbed that she had even less time for her children and was what might be described as a 'poor' mother. In time, though, I think she realized that. Realized that she loved them and they loved her. Unfortunately, it was usually after they died (how she mourned dear, lovely Alice and poor, deal Leopold! though, during their lifetime, she had constantly criticised them). And, in spite of her treatment of Beatrice, she did give way in the end - never able to resist a romance! - and 'allowed' her to marry Liko.
The Fulford collections are so wonderful. Also, Marie Mallet's letters and a wonderful little book by her granddaughter, Moretta of Prussia: "Queen Victoria at Balmoral and Windsor" - a brief collection of letters from Moretta to Vicky - which show the really kind and maternal side of Queen Victoria, when she took her granddaughter in hand and helped her over her unrequited love :-)
Don't you just love that family??? :-)

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Post by Telynor » Sat January 10th, 2009, 11:57 pm

The more I read about Britain's royals, the more interesting they get, to be honest. I find the relationships between Victoria and her descendants to be quite something -- I feel terrible for her children, having to labour under all of those expectations to be perfect little adults under mum's thumb; no wonder they were all neurotic in their own ways, especially Bertie and Vicky. I wish that the biographies on Alfred and Alice would be reprented, so far I've been able to find ones on the other children, but so little about these two that it is annoying.

And then there's Louise -- talk about a slashing rebel!

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Post by Christina » Sun January 11th, 2009, 12:13 am

But Queen Victoria wasn't all bad :-) Vicky and Bertie had the worst of it but Vicky also had the best of it! Vicky was so adored by her lovely father (my hero, Prince Albert :-) ). There is a not so good biography of Alice by Gerard Noel (it is depressing and doesn't capture her essence at all) and I think there is a bit of a danger in some of their biographies which make their childhood into some kind of terrible place.
If you ever have the chance to be at Osborne House, you see their toys, their gardens, their makeshift fort, their bathing machine...all the trappings of an ideal childhood and the whole atmosphere is so lovely. Their childhood wasn't as horrific as it is portrayed except, perhaps, for Bertie's because he came under the unfluence of Stockmar.
It's ironic that Prince Albert's childhood was spent mixing with all kinds of people, yet he felt Bertie had to be segregated, which was just the worst thing that could have happened for so gregarious a boy, whose talents were social rather than academic. But these 'children' (excepting Bertie!) loved their childhood and referred to it often in their letters. They weren't really so oppressed by their mother. She was full of fun, too...Have you been to Osborne? It's one of my favourite places in the world :-)

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