very interesting story. ( )

Born in 1848, Princess Louise was the fourth daughter and sixth child (of nine) of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert; she lived to the age of 91, dying in late 1939, thus witnessing the two World Wars and a number of “smaller” wars in which the UK was involved. She traveled extensively, became a noted sculptor and artist, served on innumerable boards overseeing “good works,” championed women’s rights, led the fashionable world, and was friendly with and patronized some of the Victorian era’s most bohemian and feted artists. She married slightly late in Victorian terms, at age 23, and her husband, the 9th Duke of Argyll, was considered by her family to be a “commoner” because all the other siblings married European royalty and a mere Duke was, well, practically a peasant in their eyes, but Louise was determined to marry a Brit and to stay in England. However, her husband was soon appointed Governor General of Canada, and Louise traveled with him to that country, although she appears to have disliked the cold and didn’t really spend much time there. Also, her husband was most probably gay, and they seemed to have gotten along the best when they saw each other the least. Her life was unconventional by Victorian standards, and given its longevity and her wealth, it was full of interesting events, people and activities; she herself, having been unloved by her mother (as were all Victoria’s children except Beatrice, the youngest) seems to have gone to great lengths to be loved by “the people,” for the most part successfully so. This biography is very entertaining and full of interesting tidbits about life in the 19th and early 20th Century, but there is one major flaw (which I hasten to add is not the author’s fault): the royal archives concerning and by Louise have long been sealed and the author had no access to them, meaning that she had to rely on secondary sources entirely. This means that the book is full of speculation: Princess Louise “must have” felt this way or that, or “given situation A, it’s likely that her response was B,” and so on. I also noted, as an immigrant to Canada, the author hasn’t done her homework completely, as she refers to the country’s first Prime Minister as “John McDonald,” when even I am fully aware that he was always referred to as “Sir John A. McDonald,” that middle initial being utterly necessary. But she *does* note that Louise steered clear of him after he drunkenly propositioned her, and as all Canadians know, the man was a famous drunkard even during his lifetime, let alone in the annals of history. As an entertaining read about an historical time and place, recommended; as a thoroughly documented biography of one of the more interesting characters of Victorian Britain, alas we will have to wait for the files to be unsealed. ( )

The sixth child of Victoria and the fourth girl was Princess Louise, who although constrained by Victoria's view of what was suitable for her. She was a sculptor and artist who sculpted her mother and other subjects and was quite well-regarded. However there was some controversy about her life, including the circumstances of the death of the sculptor Bohem, where she was apparently present at his death. The controversies gain some weight when the author reveals that she was denied access to documents in both the Royal and Argyll (her husband Lorne was the Duke) records, which leads to questions.
Louise was smart and worked within the systems, despite dealing with some health issues (an accident that was understated left it's aftermath) she did her best with her life.
It doesn't sound like she had it easy but she kept trying to be relevant until her death and I would have loved to sit down and have a good chat with her. She would be a great friend to Terry Pratchet's Lady Sybil. ( )

Mostly this was interesting because information about Princess Louise is still restricted. Files are closed and private, making the public record insubstantial. The author draws some well-researched conclusions, but that isn't really the book I wanted to read.

I thought the author did a tremendous job of digging, researching and sorting out what little information exists on Queen Victoria's oft-forgotten daughter, Louise.

Hawksley took a daughter that the queen basically shoved aside literally and figuratively, and made Princess Louise a woman of character. A caring, independent, feisty woman who lived life on her own terms.
Victoria wanted mini-me robots for kids, and Louise had the guts and determination to break the mold.

She was born a few generations too early.... ( )