A Magnificent Obsession · The Death That Changed the Monarchy

As she did in her critically acclaimed _The Last Days of the Romanovs_ , Helen

Rappaport brings a compelling documentary feel to the story of this royal

marriage and of the queen's obsessive love for her husband - a story that

began as fairy tale and ended in tragedy.

After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the queen and her nation were

plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would

dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just

lost a prince: during his twenty year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince

Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The

outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme, that its like would

not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later.

Drawing on many letters, diaries and memoirs from the Royal Archives and other

neglected sources, as well as the newspapers of the day, Rappaport offers a

new perspective on this compelling historical psychodrama **\--** the crucial

final months of the prince's life and the first long, dark ten years of the

Queen's retreat from public view. She draws a portrait of a queen obsessed

with her living husband and - after his death - with his enduring place in

history. _Magnificent Obsession_ will also throw new light on the true nature

of the prince's chronic physical condition, overturning for good the 150-year

old myth that he died of typhoid fever.