Queen Victoria loves to swim--but how can a queen bare herself and maintain her regal dignity?
Prince Albert comes up with a royally creative solution to Queen Victoria’s modesty concerns in this true story that reveals an overlooked splash of history.
Poor Queen Victoria! She loves to swim, but can’t quite figure out how to get to the water without her devoted subjects glimpsing her swimming suit. (Because, of course, such a sight would compromise her regal dignity.) Fortunately for the water-loving monarch, it’s Prince Albert to the rescue with an invention fit for a queen!
This quirky tale about the longest reigning monarch in British history is as fun as it is authentic, and the book includes a picture of the actual bathing machine Prince Albert created.
* Poor Queen Victoria gazes longingly at the sea from her balcony while being tightened into a sweaty corset and petticoats at the start of this lilting picture book from the author of Small Acts of Amazing Courage (2011). It would be indecent, after all, “to see more of the queen than her hands and her face,” but taking a dip in her full regalia would mean a quick trip to the seafloor. How can the queen enjoy a summer swim while still retaining her royal modesty? After abandoning his idea of a catapult to fling Her Majesty into the ocean, industrious Prince Albert devises a cart to be wheeled into the surf, so Victoria can change into her bathing costume and step into the water hidden from nosy onlookers. Carpenter’s jaunty illustrations, digitally rendered line drawings with colorful washes, depict the hot, uncomfortable queen surrounded by her beloved, rambunctious gaggle of children, who all pitch in to help build Albert’s invention. Based on Prince Albert’s real invention (a photo of the bathing machine and a brief biography of Queen Victoria is appended), this swingy, silly story in rhyming couplets offers a cheery glimpse into the life of a queen and a charming lesson on how necessity is the mother of invention. The informative author’s note and bibliography lead readers on to more.
