Books in Brief: Victoria R.I.

Victoria R.I., by Elizabeth Longford (Harper, 287 pp., illus., $15). This is not a new book but, rather, an abbreviated pictorial version of Countess Longford’s 1964 biography of Queen Victoria, Born to Succeed—a work that fully lived up to its title. A sturdy, pleasantly illustrated volume, Victoria R.l. does its subject justice and retains the flavor and spirit of the longer original text, perhaps the best biographical treatment ever of the little lady who presided over Britain’s golden age. She could be stubborn, foolish, and petty at times, but she had a large heart and an often-underestimated brain, and, when properly primed by a man like Disraeli, she tackled her job with something close to zest, despite widow’s weeds and frequent soupy disclaimers. The Queen Empress was a woman of enormous energy who took her mission seriously in big things and small. At one point she even dashed off a detailed memo to Scotland Yard outlining stepped-up security measures to be taken against Jack the Ripper, little suspecting that some historical scandal mongers would later claim that the anonymous ghoul was none other than her grandson, the odd Duke of Clarence. That would hardly have amused her, but one suspects that Countess Longford’s perceptive and affectionate biography would.