North York Central Library Blog

Monday, May 21, 2012 is Victoria Day to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday and observed by Canadians as the unofficial day to welcome in the summer season.  Toronto events for this long weekend are updated regularly on Toronto Hogspot, Toronto.com, and About.com.

For history buffs wanting to read up on Queen Victoria, here are some suggested titles from our collection. 

The Young Victoria

Alison Plowden (1931-2007), biographer and historian, has written several popular titles on the Tudor period including this impressive biography on Queen Victoria's early reign as taken from Victoria's own personal letters and family portraits.

A brief synopsis from the History Press Publisher website is provided below: 

'I delight in this work', wrote the young Victoria shortly after she became Queen. She was an engaging creature, high-spirited and eager to be 'amused'. But her early years were difficult ones. Fatherless from the age of eight months, she was brought up at Kensington Palace in an atmosphere thick with family feuds, backbiting and jealousy – the focus of conflicting ambitions. Though her uncle William IV was anxious to bring her into Court circles, her German mother and the calculating John Conroy were equally determined that she should remain under their control. The 'little Queen', who succeeded to the throne a month after her eighteenth birthday, was greeted by a unanimous chorus of praise and admiration. She embraced the independence of her position and often forced her will on those around her.  She met and married Albert, marking the end of her childhood and the beginning of a glorious legend." (information retrieved May 5, 2012)

Here is the link to the ebook title:

Also,

there is a (2009) DVD movie based on Allison Plowden's book starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend. 

Who was Boy Jones?

According to Jan Bondeson, author of Queen Victoria's stalker: the strange story of the Boy Jones, he may have well been the first reported stalker in history.  Boy Jones was fascinated with Queen Victoria and Buckingham Palace to have successfully broke into the Palace three times.  In one visit, he stole a pair of Her Royal Highness' underwear.  Boy Jones was only 14 years old when he started his illegal visits and was arrested after each visit.  The authorities decided to ship him off to Australia after the third time.  Eventually Boy Jones fell off a bridge in a drunken stupor and landed on his head on Boxing Day in 1893.  He was 70 years old when he fell to his fate.  For a detailed review of this title, check out the Guardian UK article.

Abdul Karim

Queen Victoria developed many interests in her life but in her last remaining years, Karim Abdul became a major focus as a companion, teacher, and a close confident to the Queen until her death in 1901.  Shrabani Basu, in her 2010 book, Victoria & Abdul : the true story of the queen's closest confidant tracked down Queen Victoria's diaries that were smuggled out of England to India then finally back to Pakistan and she describes what these diaries reveal about the relationship between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim. 

The BBC News South Asia wrote an (March 13, 2011) article, Queen Victoria and Abdul: Diaries Reveal Secrets and provides an excellent summary of this title.

HowStuffWorks.com houses a weekly podcast show called, Stuff You Missed in History Class with hosts Sarah Dowdey and Deblina Chakaraborty.  The (May 23, 2011) podcast episode called, Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim is based on Ms. Basu's book which is worth listening to.  You may listen to the podcast episode from CastRoller here or access the podcast episode from the iTunes directory here.

Have a wonderful Victoria Day weekend spending it reading, viewing, or listening to some Victorian history or spending it outdoors and enjoying the warm weather with family and friends.