This correspondence, hitherto unpublished, between Queen Victoria and her eldest daughter, the Crown Princess of Prussia gives an intimate picture of Royal life. We see exactly how the Queen felt in those bleak months which immediately followed her husband's death; we see how she faced the difficulty of guiding alone her large family with all the complications of courtiers, governesses, tutors and servants. The problem of "Bertie's" marriage dominates the beginning of the book, but the Queen is also harassed by the behaviour of "Affie"–the gay and attractive sailor-son-and by thoughts of suitable husbands for "Lenchen" and Louise.
The replies to her letters from the Crown Princess of Prussia, who was only twenty-one when the correspondence starts, are extraordinarily patient, sympathetic and helpful; in turn the letters from the Princess reveal her own problems among the hidebound and quarrelsome Prussian royal family and also the emergence of the characters of her own children–the eldest of whom was the future Kaiser. National politics especially the clash between Prussia and England over Prussia's aggression against Denmark–lead to very outspoken comments between mother and daughter and it is remarkable to notice how they avoid national quarrels from becoming family ones.
This correspondence covering two and a half years not only lets the reader inside the minds of the Queen and the Crown Princess, but gives a vivid insight into the play of events on the day-to-day lives of the royal letter-writers.
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