Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking

The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe

With the Napoleonic Wars casting a long shadow over the 19th century, Queen Victoria had her own ideas about how to stop Europe’s wars: marriage. Her many children and grandchildren -whatever their limitations – gained automatic entry into what amounted to the world’s most exclusive dating agency where one good looking princess could be courted by the heirs to several thrones – the queen herself manipulating the outcomes. Her big idea: to spread British liberal values and ‘British peace’ across the continent – and increase her own power and prestige. 

‘Engrossing… Cadbury engagingly presents [Queen Victoria] as a mesmerising Mrs Bennet, summoning her children and then her grandchildren to Balmoral…’ The Times.

Such was her success, that by the late 19th century, the heir to the British throne, the German emperor and even the Russian tsar himself – all called her ‘granny’.

‘Rest assured, there will be mistresses, euphemisms for sexually transmitted infections (poor Eddy’s ‘gout’) and general disobedience. Ultimately however, this is a rich history of Queen Victoria’s canny use of political power’ Catherine Hollis, Book Page

But by the 1890s an indefinable human element had entered her plans – embodied in the form of the very grandson on whom she had pinned her highest hopes: the German emperor, known as Kaiser Bill. Dire warnings of his ‘systematic enmity’ to Britain reached Queen Victoria. His determination to rival all things British threatened the entire royal edifice.

By the time the building of dreadnoughts marked the twentieth century’s first arm’s race, Queen Victoria’s crowned grandchildren stood on the brink of a precipitous descent. With the outbreak of the First World War, thrones would topple and empires fall – the outcome shaping global geopolitics to this day.

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Reviews

‘Wonderfully compelling and packed with new material… A gripping story beautifully told’ Jane Ridley

‘Cadbury’s account of Victoria’s attempts to bend her unruly grandchildren to her matrimonial will is the stuff of melodrama…covered with verve and insight by Deborah Cadbury in her new history’ Daisy Goodwin, The Sunday Times

‘Deborah Cadbury is an adroit story teller. Her lively colourfully written book…begins in the 1880s and ends in the toppling thrones of the First World War, a panoramic family saga, its players by turns pragmatic and romantic, wilful, dutiful, misguided and, occasionally tragic’ Matthew Dennison, The Daily Telegraph

‘[An] absorbing book… The fall of the Romanovs occupies the superb last pages of Cadbury’s book… Dynastic mergers, we may deduce from Deborah Cadbury’s account, offer no defence against the whims of history. This catastrophe-laced slice of royal history offers a ripping read.’ Miranda Seymour, The Observer

Engrossing…Cadbury engagingly presents [Queen Victoria] as a mesmerising Mrs Bennet, summoning her children and then her grandchildren to Balmoral. ..The stories of [Queen Victoria’s] descendants are mesmerising and often stranger than fiction…From the pen of a writer of skill and style, this surprising narrative leaves you wanting more’ Paula Byrne, The Times

An entertaining, well-written and well-conceived book… the work as a whole is perceptive and revealing in the light it throws on the mind and attitudes of Queen Victoria. Cadbury has consulted sources in numerous archives, including the Royal Archives at Windsor and chosen her quotations with skill. Beyond her fascinating account of intra-family relationships, punctuated by horrific assassinations and massacres, lie the events leading up to the First World War.  Sarah Bradford, Literary Review.

‘Captivating and totally absorbing…Cadbury is a skilled and vivacious writer, painting an engaging and memorable portrait of an indomitable queen in a real-life story of tragedy, scandal and catastrophe, threaded through with pathos, passion and melodrama. Fascinating and revealing, this is a gripping read for fans of royal politicking and anyone with a keen interest in British and European history’ Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Post

In this enjoyable story for fans of royal machinations, Cadbury ably shows not just the successes, but also the damage inflicted by Victoria’s single-mindedness. An instructive European history…”  Kirkus.

‘While royal matchmaking implies spectacular weddings and the enhancement of power, Cadbury’s engrossing family history proves that it was a deadly serious proposition.’  Publishers Weekly

Rest assured, there will be mistresses, euphemisms for sexually transmitted infections (poor Eddy’s “gout”) and general disobedience. Ultimately however this is a rich history of Queen Victoria’s canny use of political power. Catherine Hollis, Book page.

‘There are many surprises…A skillfully woven account of Queen Victoria’s attempt to bring peace and democracy to Europe by marrying her descendants to European royalty’ Stephen Halliday, Times Higher Educational Supplement

Cadbury (Princes at War) weaves a captivating history featuring tidbits from letters and journals of sexual proclivities, unrequited love, delusions of grandeur, and the pushback of several of Victoria’s grandchildren to her matches. By telling the story of how interrelated royal families and their relationships shaped history, Cadbury offers a scintillating portrait of the major royal matches Victoria pursued and their far-reaching effects. A perfect choice for history buffs as well as the average reader; a must-have for libraries.—Stacy Shaw, The Library Journal Review

‘Ms Cadbury stresses the human element of her story, not least the wayward personalities and unforeseen family rivalries that thwarted Victoria’s designs as a monarch and matriarch… Many vivid pen portraits’ William Hay, The Wall Street Journal

Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking is a look at royalty when it still had a somewhat mystical aura—these people who were both the state and their own particular selves—and a fascinating angle on a time of ferment, when the wheels were finally, permanently coming off this way of running nations…In some ways, the story is a real “Ozymandias” situation, a tale of grand aims that came to naught. …Forget The Crown—what I really want is a Netflix show based on all these royal grandchildren. Jezebel, Pictorial.

Monarchy manipulations, love connections (or not), and world-changing tragedy unfold in the fantastic new book “Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe.” In lively and page-turning prose, author Deborah “Chocolate Wars” Cadbury confirms her place as a leading historian of Britain as she pulls Queen Victoria out of caricature and into our hearts.  Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor

Cadbury (of the famous chocolate family), a BBC producer and author of fine histories such as Chocolate Wars, dug deeply into the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle for her research …These marital alliances elevated the queen on the world stage, and Cadbury engrossingly chronicles them against the backdrop of power struggles on the eve of World War 1, Hot Books, The National Book Review