Buying Options

Kindle Price: $5.99

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: Queen Victoria's Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor by [Van der Kiste]

Follow the Author

John Van der Kiste

Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: Queen Victoria's Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor Kindle Edition

by Van der Kiste (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

53 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$5.99

—

Kindle, July 18, 2002

$5.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$2.28

—

$2.28

Paperback

"Please retry"

$6.53

$43.29

$2.56

This work tells the love story of the royal couple against the changing background of 19th-century Germany. It looks at the differing political sympathies of the couple, revealed through letters, and re-examines the prevailing view that the domineering Vicky never bothered to conceal her distaste for everything Prussian and flaunting her sense of British superiority. In many ways ahead of her time, she was something of a pioneer feminist, refusing to accept the oft-accepted maxim that women were second-class citizens. Insufficient consideration has been given to her health and the possibility that her judgement and reason may sometimes have been affected, albeit mildly, by the family's inheritance of porphyria that led to the 'madness' of her great-grandfather George III.

Print length

339 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The History Press
Publication date

July 18, 2002
File size

1205 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Jane Ridley
297
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $16.99
Marie Queen of Roumania
63
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $7.30
Andrew Cook
372
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.49
Nancy Goldstone
185
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $15.99
Elisabeth Basford
579
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $11.49
Coryne Hall
276
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $11.99

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping. Register today

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Van der Kiste, who lives in South Devon, has made a particular study of British and European royalty, and also writes on and reviews music. He has written many books, his most recent being Kaiser Wilhelm: Germany's Last Emperor and Georgian Princesses. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08W1VYH8Y
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The History Press (July 18, 2002)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2002
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1205 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 339 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,312,916 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,306 in Biographies of Royalty (Kindle Store)
- #3,286 in Royalty Biographies

Customer Reviews:
53 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

John Van der Kiste

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

John Van der Kiste read Librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the student librarian journal Stamp Out. The author of over seventy books, including historical and royal biography, popular music, true crime, local history, plays and fiction, he has also contributed articles to and reviewed books and records for local and national publications, was a consultant to the BBC documentary 'The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar', and is a contributor to 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' and 'Guinness Rockopaedia'. He lives in Devon, and his spare time interests include reading, music and painting. His latest titles are 'James II and the First Modern Revolution' (Pen & Sword), '1970: a Year in Rock: The Year Rock Became Mainstream', 'Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter in the 1970s', and 'Free and Bad Company in the 1970s' (Sonicbond). Due in 2022-3 are titles on King William IV, Queen Victoria's daughters-in-law, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the 1970s. He has also edited an English translation of 'Ena and Bee' by Ana de Sagrera, previously published in Spain in 2006, due later in 2022.

Customer reviews

5 star		53%
4 star		18%
3 star		22%
2 star		8%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Kindle Customer

Heavenly but Hellish

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

The fascinating story of a couple whose marriage should have been a "made in heaven" event but which turned out to have more hellish than heavenly elements. Fritz and Vicky's strong, enduring love towards one another to the end was the heavenly factor. The hellish events began soon after the young beautiful princess Vicky arrived in Berlin to meet her in-laws. Even though the reigning Prussian family had given their approval of the marriage, that did not extend to even treating the English princess with common courtesy. Of course Vicky's attitude didn't help the situation. The 17-year-old, the apple of her father's eye, had been entrusted with the liberalizing of the Prussian politics, and her efforts in that direction were received with hostility. Her darling Fritz, second in line for the throne, was marginalized in Prussian politics and accused of being dominated by his English wife. The birth of their first child, Willie, with a dislocated left shoulder, was another strong blow. The efforts effected by his parents to fix his arm were tragic and unsuccessful. In this book you will learn how Willie's peculiar upbringing turned him into the Kaiser Wilhelm II, perpetrator of World War I. During Frtiz's long term as the Crown Prince of Prussia, later Germany, his health failed, and when his father finally passed away at age 90, Fritz only had 3 months left of life in which to reign. Young Willie came to the throne, treated his mother shamefully, and took the country in a strong militaristic and autocratic direction. In this book John Van der Kiste not only makes the main characters live, but his very thorough treatment of the political situation makes it understandable but not boring. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the history of the early 20th century.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

CRG

Poor Vicky

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2002

Verified Purchase

It was a rarity indeed that a royal marriage would be a happy one; that was never the idea of alliances such as the one between Victoria, Princess Royal, and Crown Prince Frederich of Prussia--but a happy marriage is exactly what they had. A partnership between a good man and an exceptionally intelligent, perceptive, loving woman. Vicky was maligned in her adopted country, gossiped about, belittled, and ultimately emotionally abused by her two eldest children, but she remained a remarkable woman nonetheless. This is a fascinating book about a devoted couple.

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Carmela

Well written

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

The thorough research allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the political struggle this couple suffered. Queen Victoria's eldest daughter was,a sacrificial lamb yet she left many imprints in the path of history.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Courtney Rabideau

Very Sad Story-But Good

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2003

Verified Purchase

Dearest Vicky Darling Fritz was a very interesting book and also very informative. When reading it I felt very sad for Vicky and Fritz for all the things they had to go threw, such as children who made trouble for them, a minister who did not like them, Fritz's father who would not give them the respect they diserved, and to top it off Fritz's death of cancer four months after becoming Kaiser Fredrick III.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sylvia F Keyser

Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: The Tragic Love...

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

A sad emotionally book. The story about Queen Victoria's oldest daughter, her family lives, were loving, sad and tragic! Thank you!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Jentinks

I use the word "ploughed" as it sometimes becomes tedious reading. From a historic point of view I ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

I have ploughed through this book as I am interested in the history of the British royals. I use the word "ploughed" as it sometimes becomes tedious reading. From a historic point of view I found it interesting as facts regarding German politics of that time leading to the 2 World Wars.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

S. D. Simmons

JUST SO SAD

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2008

Verified Purchase

i felt so bad how vicky and fritz were treated by his family and country,if given a chance they could had did many great things for their country.they marriege was one few love matchs in europe.but the cruelity by their oldest son who belittled undermine his own parents.vicky losing two childern brought tears to my heart.

Helpful

Genevieve R. Thompson

Very Educational and Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

I have this on my Kindle and enjoyed reading about the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria. A lot of details I never knew.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Livvy M

More Prussian history than human interest.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have various criticisms of this book. Firstly, it purports to be the story of the relationship between Vicky and Fritz, but a very great deal of the work is taken up with detailed accounts of Prussian politics. Of course the background political situation impacted on their lives, but it tends to dominate the book ahead of the personal relationships.

Secondly the author uses seemingly at random both the German and English versions of names, for example Fritz is both “Friedrich” and “Frederick”; his son is sometimes “Henry” and sometimes “Heinrich”; his father is sometimes the “Kaiser” and sometimes the “Emperor”; the royal family’s church is sometimes the “Friedenskirche”, sometimes the “Church of Peace”. This is confusing to say the least. Also when he mentions “Kaiser Wilhelm”, especially towards the end of the book, it is unclear whether he is referring to Fritz’s father Wilhelm l or his son Wilhelm ll.

Thirdly the author consistently uses the terms “England” and “English” when referring to the United Kingdom and British interests. He even describes a visit by Crown Prince Wilhelm to Balmoral as part of a visit to England. This is appalling in a so-called historian. If he doesn’t know the difference between England and the United Kingdom, he shouldn’t be setting himself up as an expert on history. Or else he just doesn’t care about the sensibilities of people in other parts of these islands.

Fourthly there are no photographs of the participants and the family trees are illegible on a Kindle.

The parts of the book which actually deal with Vicky and Fritz’s life, especially the hostility faced by Vicky in Berlin and the interference in their lives by Queen Victoria, and what happened to Vicky after Fritz died are interesting, but the book’s flaws outweigh its good points.

4 people found this helpful

RailwayChristina

Very good supplier

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great book and promptly dispatched -thank you

Alice Williamson

A really informative and interesting read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

A very good historical book would highly recommend.