Not Logged in.
Book Jacket

Victoria


"A hit…The research is impeccable, the attention to detail, perfect." - The ...
Summary and Reviews
Excerpt
Reading Guide
Author Biography

In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Created: 01/11/17

Replies: 14

Posted Jan. 11, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel that the relationship changed over the course of the novel?


Posted Jan. 13, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
irisf

Join Date: 01/16/12

Posts: 136

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Victoria saw her mother totally under Conroy's thumb. I believe Victoria would never have allowed that in her relationship with Albert.

Victoria was resentful of her mothers relationship with Conway and the intent from them to take over. Obviously she get over that. Likewise, could her mother ever forgive Victoria for her part in getting rid of Conroy?


Posted Jan. 14, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

That's a good question, Iris. I don't know what the rest of the story may have been, but the book seemed to lean toward mother and daughter reconciling. I hope that's the case, at any rate!


Posted Jan. 14, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Marcia S

Join Date: 02/08/16

Posts: 505

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Her mother and Conroy had controlled her for so long, that she really cherished her independence and acted on that. Initially as the queen, she pushed her mother away because she saw Conway using her mother to try and gain control and influence. It also caused her to go after Lady Fliora, which backfired and put her in a bad light. Once Victoria got rid of Conroy, who revealed his true colors to her mother by choosing the title and money, her mother (and Victoria) softened toward each other and the two again became closer.


Posted Jan. 14, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lea Ann

Join Date: 04/20/11

Posts: 99

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

As Victoria grew, her understanding of her mother grew. Now, this didn't mean, IMO, that she became the typical loving daughter to her mother. Rather, she understood a bit more about her mother's character and even felt sorrow for her when Victoria sent away her long time companion, Conroy. But, Victoria felt it was necessary to do so to maintain the integrity of her ruling. I suspect that after her marriage to Albert and the many children which followed, Victoria may have become even closer to her mother. I doubt they would ever become fast friends, but I suspect most animosity would fade with time. That fading would leave a hole, as it were, in Victoria's life, but with her duties as queen (aided by Albert) and as a mother to her many children, that hole would be filled.


Posted Jan. 14, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lorrainep

Join Date: 07/13/16

Posts: 26

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Don't think Mama had any control over her decisions. Melbourne was her teacher and she valued his opinions. I think once she had broken the umbilical cord she was able to love and accept her mother and not judge her so harshly.


Posted Jan. 14, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kdowney25

Join Date: 01/25/16

Posts: 183

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Victoria felt so controlled by her mother, who was herself controlled and manipulated by Conroy. As soon as she became queen, Victoria immediately acted to sever the umbilical cord that she felt still tethered her to her mother. She asserted her independence at every opportunity. Victoria rejected any advice her mother gave her, simply because it came from her mother. I think their relationship began to change once her mother Conroy was out of the picture, although there was resentment on both their parts. I don't know what really happened in history, but I got the impression that they probably healed their relationship a bit.


Posted Jan. 15, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
clairelm

Join Date: 01/15/17

Posts: 16

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Like any young woman coming of age Victoria chaffed against the constraints her mother placed on her. Above all her isolation must have been suffocating to her lively mind and social sensibilities- having only servants and nannies for company. Her limited access to physical activities and her mother's insistence on her taking assistance when walking downstairs seems quite ludicrous. She's eager to spread her wings yet knows she needs guidance. At her age it's quite natural to turn away from her mother and seek a mentor outside her family. Her mother's vacillation between dependence on Conroy and her daughter was vexing but understandable as she herself was brought to marry in order to provide an heir. She clearly saw her role as shepherding Victoria to the throne and sacrificed any possibility of a life of her own after her husband's death. Ultimately Victoria comes to understand and sympathize with her mother's plight even as she orchestrates Connroy's departure.


Posted Jan. 15, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Rebecca L.

Join Date: 02/08/16

Posts: 56

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Victoria's relationship with her mother was very interesting. While I understand that she felt like her mother was constantly deferring to Conroy, once Victoria became Queen I feel like she should've grown up a bit. She spent a lot of the book complaining that people were trying to constantly tell her what to do and how she wasn't a little girl anymore, but its pretty obvious in her interactions with her mother that she is still very much a little girl. If her mother thinks something is a good idea, Victoria is automatically against it before she's even considered whether its actually a good idea or not. I think that in the later part of the book their relationship did change but there was still a lot of anger and tension between them.


Posted Jan. 16, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

I think the estrangement of sorts fueled her desire to do a good job and prove she was capable of filling the role of queen without the help of the despised Conroy.

I wanted to know how their relationship panned out in history, so I did a fair amount of checking things out online. (And now I'd like to read some biographies too.) I learned that with Conroy's departure, and with the mediation of Albert after her marriage, Victoria and her mother were indeed reconciled, even though her mother was given different homes outside of Buckingham Palace. I mention this because I think the author did a good job of pointing us in that direction without making it happen prematurely within the time frame of the novel: several times Victoria is shown to be welcoming of some maternal tenderness, but then a fight ensues when Conroy's "advice" is brought up. And we see Albert, before the proposal, showing genuine appreciation for the Duchess. All consistent with what happened in real life.

But it also seems that Conroy's leaving was not due to any "deal" he made with Victoria-- he was persuaded by the Duke of Wellington to leave his post with the Duchess of Kent in 1839 (according to a biography by Elizabeth Longford).


Posted Jan. 16, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
janeh

Join Date: 06/15/11

Posts: 222

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

As a mother myself, I learned that the best way to teach your child responsibility was to give a little each year, so that by the time they went off to college, they were comfortable in their decision making ability. If you keep making all their decisions, the minute they leave they want to immediately try everything they've been denied up to that point .... many times with disastrous results. Victoria's mother said she kept Victoria close, even to sleeping with her, to protect her from others in the court who might want to harm her. There most likely was some of that in her decisions, but it seemed to me that she mostly wanted to keep her close to be able to keep her own position in place as the years passed. She was an insecure, needy woman, but I think Victoria, as she aged, began to see that in many instances her mother had just done the best she could do with the abilities she had. I think all of us can look back and see that most of our mothers did the same.


Posted Jan. 17, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

janeh, I think you've hit on an important point about the Duchess, her insecurity and neediness, for attention and for power. I think it must have been very hard for women in those times; we all have a need to feel important, valued, to matter to others, to exercise some kind of power or authority over our own lives. But women of her class, in her day, could only do this through motherhood or through their relationships with men. She was vulnerable to Conroy just as much as Victoria was. And she couldn't really advocate for herself either, in her financial dependency; she had to rely upon men. In her position many of us might feel insecure in all sorts of ways.


Posted Jan. 17, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lea Ann

Join Date: 04/20/11

Posts: 99

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Has there been more than one or is Seattle just late coming to the party? We watched the first episode this past Sunday. I felt that it followed the Daisy Goodwin book very closely with the exception of Victoria's visit to Lord M. to beg him to be Prime Minister once more. I believe that so far it has followed the book much more diligently than most films do and it was fun for me to recognize scenes from the book in the tv adaptation.


Posted Jan. 17, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

Hi Lee Ann - No, last Sunday was the first episode, although it was two hours long (I believe the rest of them are just an hour). I was delighted to see that they're available on-demand after the preview of the episode. I kind of wanted to see how the series would go, but not terribly keen about watching TV until 10:00 on a "school night." Thrilled I have options!


Posted Jan. 20, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
annar

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 114

RE: In what ways do you think Victoria's relationship with her mother influences her decisions as queen? Do you feel the relationship changed over time?

I think she resented the control her Mother and Conroy had over her in her early years. She wanted to prove to them that she could make her own decisions. Conroy wanted to continue to control Victoria as Queen. Her Mother was a weak person and let Conroy control her too.


Reply

Please login to post a response.