A BBC documentary will shed some light on the domestic life of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert:
Helen Rappaport, author of Magnificent Obsession and a contributor to the three part series, said Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were “pretty awful parents” to their four sons and five daughters.
“She hated being pregnant. She had prenatal and postnatal depression. She didn’t breastfeed her children who she thought were horrible dribbling little things. She was not in the least bit maternal.
“Queen Victoria liked sex, but she didn’t like the result.”
[. . .]
Queen Victoria’s relationship with Prince Albert was a tempestuous one, punctuated with rows.
Prince Albert, who chided Queen Victoria in a letter. “It is a pity you find no consolation in the company of your children.
“The trouble lies in the mistaken notion the function of a mother is to be always correcting, scolding and ordering them about” he wrote.
