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Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

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Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

By: Jane Ridley
Narrated by: Carole Boyd
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About this listen

Entertaining and different, this is an enjoyable study of a flawed yet characterful Prince of Wales seen through the eyes of the women in his life. Edward Vll, who gave his name to the Edwardian Age and died in 1911, was King of England for the final 10 years of his life. He was 59 when at last he came to the throne. Known as Bertie, the eldest son of Victoria and Albert, he was bullied by both his parents. Although Bertie was heir to the throne, Victoria refused to give him any proper responsibilities, as a result of which he spent his time eating, betting, and womanising.

Bertie's numerous mistresses included the society hostess Daisy Brook ('Babbling Brook'), Lillie Langtry and Alice Keppel. When Bertie finally became king, he did a good job, especially in foreign policy. This colourful book gives Bertie due credit, while painting a vivid portrait of the age in all its excess and eccentricity, hypocrisy and heartbreak.

©2012 Jane Ridley (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Europe Great Britain England Royalty Heartfelt United Kingdom Imperialism Thought-Provoking
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Considering that Queen Victoria and Edward V11 kept voluminous diaries spanning over half a century I just don't know how the author of this book managed to construct a highly readable and enjoyable work. It must have taken years of work to plough through the wealth of material. This is a stunning achievement and through this story of one man you learn about the historical events of the time, the social mores, the mind set of the time and how the society evolved throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The first part of the book which deals with Bertie's childhood is really chilling and one wonders how he survived such ill treatment and emotional deprivation. If Charles Dickens had known of it he would have written a marvellous novel - full of melodrama. Victoria comes across in many ways as a monster but she also had a rather grim childhood. When poor Bertie can 'only' speak two languages by the age of six he is of course considered a 'slow learner' as his older sister is by that age begging for Latin lessons and of course is a brilliant student. I'm sure she was the pride and joy of Albert but I expect other people would have hated this little paragon!

Had Victoria been more trusting towards Bertie he might have been able to contribute far more in a worthwhile sense but all his life Victoria is interfering and dominating both in his public and private life. Edward was almost driven to a life of constant partying and pleasure seeking activities. His wife Alexandra is an adorable character and her early problem with deafness must have been such an isolating and terrible handicap. It sounds as if she did have a wonderful sense of humour and some of the quotes in the book are very amusing.

Another character is Bertie's nephew the Kaiser Wilhelm who is wonderfully portrayed by Carol Boyd in her narration. His sanity is questionable and it must have been hard for the extremely intelligent Vicky to produce this ghastly son!

This is a stunning book and I will be reading and re-reading it as the story is so rich and covers so many political and personal crises of this large family that it would be hard to take it all in on just one read. Carol Boyd does an excellent job and her narrating skills are peerless.

Biography at its best! Wonderful book.

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I knew very little about Edward VII before listening to this excellent biography. It is well narrated and easy to listen to. I thoroughly enjoyed learning so much about a fascinating King who reigned during such a pivotal period of modern history.

Detailed and absorbing

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loved the narrator fulll of surprising details great accents when portraying the German royalty.

excellent storytellinh

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Would you consider the audio edition of Bertie: A Life of Edward VII to be better than the print version?

I very much enjoyed the reader's ability to adopt appropriate accents and differentiate between the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Princess (later Queen) Alexandra was captured perfectly.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I enjoyed the books but felt quite angry at what I perceive to be a very unjust portrayal of Prince Albert and Princess Alice.

Any additional comments?

This is a really interesting book, filled with amusing anecdotes and packed with information. I believe that Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were treated too harshly (particularly Prince Albert) and also that Princess Alice was dismissed somewhat glibly as a sort of control-freak (as was her father). Nonetheless, I would recommend this book for the wealth of information about the eponymous 'hero'.

Brilliantly perfomed!

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Fantastically written with enough detail for me to feel as if I was there but not too much that it was boring. Oddly read, the reader change the volume of their speech quite a lot, sometimes almost couldn't hear it, sometimes deafened.

Brilliantly written, oddly read

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