PositiveThe Literary Review (UK)Wilson wastes no time in putting us straight on any lingering illusions we might have. While admiring of Albert’s many gifts, he is uncompromising in laying bare the prince’s emotional shortcomings ... Wilson is particularly perceptive in his analysis of the complicated and often tormented relationship at the heart of the book: the ‘psychodrama’ of Albert’s marriage to Queen Victoria ... While Wilson is uncompromising in his assessment of Victoria’s high-voltage, high-maintenance personality, he also shows how Albert’s admonitory, censorious letters to her about her ‘bad’ behaviour were cold and often extremely manipulative ... One reaches the end of this incisive and entertaining study with an overwhelming feeling of sadness.
