49-Day Book Challenge: Day 18, Favorite Biography

After quite a long hiatus, I've decided to return to my 49-Day Book Challenge. I started this blog as a book blog, and I think it's high time to go back to its roots. Here we go!

This was the first biography I actually read, and it led to my fascination with the era. I loved the 1890s-early 1900s because it seemed like it teetered between the past and the present. Royals travelled via trains and automobiles, but most of the time preferred the old-fashioned horse and carriage. I've always thought that if I had to live in another time, I would live then: there was already such a thing as indoor plumbing and electricity, but it was still well into the past that I could dance the night away in a big poufy ballgown and tiara.

This biography looks into the lives of five granddaughters of Queen Victoria who ended being queen consorts of Europe: Queen Maud of Norway, Queen Ena of Spain, Queen Marie of Romania, Queen Sophie of Greece, and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia. The best part of this bio is that it highlights the fact that these five women, far apart as they were geographically and politically, they were still family. I also found a new favorite royal in Marie of Romania. What I loved about her is that she was brave in little ways: she never commanded an army like Boudicca or Elizabeth I, but she fought for her children, and her countrymen. Like most royal women of the time, she served as a nurse during the first World War. I've been looking for a proper biography devoted to just her, but alas, there is yet to be one published.

What are some of your favorite biographies? Leave a comment below! Happy Tuesday, all!