An Indiscreet Princess by Georgie BlalockMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“A princess must always be semi-divine to everyone she encounters, but I'm not. Far from it.”
The fourth daughter and sixth child of Queen Victoria, An Indiscreet Princess, was a historical fiction imagining of Princess Louise's life. Starting in 1868 we see Princess Louise chafing against the restrictions of her position and the controlling nature of her mother. While she steps in to perform duties, like opening Parliament, for her grief obsessed mother, she also wants to pursue her artistic desires. As the reader follows around the princess and gets immersed into her life, historical figures like the current Prime Minister, Mr. Disraeli, her brothers Prince Albert (Bertie), Leopold, and sisters Helena (Lenchen) and Beatrice, and of course Queen Victoria make appearances. The beginning and first half work to establish Louise's familial relationships, the strain of public service life, and how she works the system she is in to gain her dream of attending the National Art Training School.
“We must find what happiness we can in our imperfections and restrictions.” She titled her head to view him from the side, too afraid to face him and give away the passion making her skin flush. “It's the most we can hope to achieve in our positions.”
When Louise gains permission to attend the school, her sculptor professor is Mr. Joseph Edgar Boehm. The two have an immediate attraction but are very careful of the positions that they are in. As Louise has some freedom by going to the training school, artistic historical figures come into the picture, notably James Whistler, Henrietta Montalba, critic Ruskin, and of course, Boehm. Louise and Boehm start their affair and their dangerous romance becomes the focus for a while, until 60% where Louise decides she will have to marry, hoping it will bring her some freedom from her controlling mother. As history tells us, Louise marries Lord Lorne, a marquess who Louise seems to start off having a friendship with and most importantly, an understanding of how each wants the marriage to go. Here is where I thought the story lost some of it's steam as Edgar breaks things off with Louise because of her marriage, he initially said he wouldn't care and is married himself, and Louise's friendship and understanding with her husband erodes as she fails to get pregnant (it's alluded to that a bout with childhood Scarlet fever rendered her unable to have children) and Lorne feels she hasn't lived up to her promise to secure him an important governmental position. The break with Boehm doesn't last long and they resume their affair.
She could pretend at being the art student, the artist, the lover, but in the end she was still the princess and bound to everything it meant.
Queen Victoria hints at knowing about Louise's affair and to save her siblings, friends, and especially Boehm from any blow back by the queen, she agrees to go to Canada for five years, as the Queen will bestow Lorne with a Governorship. Louise hates being in Canada and while she is able to repair her relationship with Lorne, she misses Boehm and her friends. A sleigh accident leaves Louise with, what sounds like a nasty concussion, and she gets sent back to England to recoup after a little over a year. There, she falls into a depression as she tries to regain her health and feels even more under her mother's thumb. Eventually, she finds her physical and emotional strength and quietly resumes the life she wants behind the royal curtain.
Each chapter began with a historical document, a letter from the queen, letters between royal siblings, a newspaper quote, etc. It was a nice way to bring in the historical real with the historical fiction. The author clearly did her research and stayed fairly true to recorded and rumored relationships, playing up and/or imagining some, namely the romance between Louise and Boehm for obvious entertainment purposes. The relationships between Louise and her siblings brought a humanizing affect and Queen Victoria's controlling, wallowing in grief, and rumored relationship with Mr. John Brown, has the author putting her in combat with Louise and finally in league. The story took place from 1868-1887, and as I mentioned, the last 30% lost some of it's steam as time jumps and the sense of story lost some of it's purpose. This historical fiction imagining had Princess Louise working in the system that helped and confined her, managing to pursue her passion for art, and finding love, entertaining historical fiction.
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