George III's Children

Rating:
Summary: All of them!
Review: Ever since Amanda Foreman's excellent "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" I have shopped around for a similar book detailing the lives of King George III's children, not just the two who happened to occupy the throne.

This book is the best to be had, and Van Der Kiste did a comendable - if not thrilling - job of detailing the significant known details of the lives of George III's entire brood. The portrayal is sympathetic, and realistically so, something rarely seen in biography of George IV, whose biographers either tend to be either slaveringly forgiving or bent on burning him in effigy. Van Der Kiste does neither.

This account is thorough, informative, well-written, and as far as my history of the period can determine, it is accurate, especially useful for tying all of these lives (there were 15 children of George III and Queen Charlotte) together, as opposed to an account here or there popping up in the midst of a history with broader scope.

The author does not go into great depth, however, and refuses to speculate even conservatively on _why_ the Hanoverians were behaving in the way that they were. Presentation is factual, but a bit dry because of this. Also, it gets very confusing to keep which brother was which straight, with all the switching (with no rhyme or reason I could determine) back and forth between their titles (Sussex, Cambridge, et al) and their first names (George, Augustus, Frederick, etc.).

These two flaws can make even the juiciest accounts somewhat tough going to read. There are plenty of juicy and interesting historical tidbits that delighted me - such as one of the Princesses (possibly two) giving birth to bastard children, or a Prince being attacked in his bed and accused of murder when the assailant cut his own throat - but I had to go digging for them through the dryish prose and random name/title flip flops.

On the whole well worth reading, but definitely not one of those works that brings a period or a historical figure alive to the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, as usual.
Review: If you're looking for detailed biographies of George III's children, this isn't the book, but it's excellent as a resource for basic information regarding the lives. It gets very, very complicated, trying to remember which child is the Duke of whatever, so I had to keep referencing the family tree, but that's not the fault of the author, it's simply a result of the king and queen's fertility.

Rating:
Summary: Not the most thorough bio but very good synopses
Review: If you're looking for detailed biographies of George III's children, this isn't the book, but it's excellent as a resource for basic information regarding the lives. It gets very, very complicated, trying to remember which child is the Duke of whatever, so I had to keep referencing the family tree, but that's not the fault of the author, it's simply a result of the king and queen's fertility.

Rating:
Summary: All in all, quite a good book
Review: It was interesting to read about King George and Queen Charlotte's fifteen children. The author tells us about all fifteen, and portrays some of them, for instance King William, in a more positive way than in the case of other books. Van der Kiste claims that King William was positive for British politics. At the same time, we are told that he was a very good father to his ten children born out of wedlock. And van der Kiste claims that his younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, was not a murderer. This also contradicts versions I have read before. The author tells us that most of King George's fifteen children had their flaws, but at the same time they had their good sides. In this way I do believe that van der Kiste gives us a more balanced view than many other authors.

As for the King's many daughters, I must say that I really feel sorry for them. They had to stay with their possessive parents, and none of them were allowed to marry until they were old. They were expected to obey their parents, and seemed to have had rather boring and restricted lives.

I agree with some of the the critics that it is often confusing to keep track of who is who, as the author keeps switching between their christian names and their titles. When there were so many of them, it is hard to remember what son or daughter had which title. But, all in all, this is quite a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, as usual.
Review: Writer John Van der Kiste not only knows his history, but also knows how to present it in a fascinating manner. I was prepared to be bored by the large brood of mad King George, but I couldn't put it down. It was wonderful!