Blog Tour: Giveaway + Character Interview with Fidi from VICTORIA REBELS

Queen Victoria’s personal journals inform this captivating first-person account of one of history’s most prominent female leaders. Queen Victoria most certainly left a legacy—under her rule as the longest reigning female monarch in history, the British Empire was greatly expanded and significant industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military changes occurred within the United Kingdom. To be a young woman in a time when few other females held positions of power was to lead in a remarkable age—and because Queen Victoria kept personal journals, this historical novel from award-winning author Carolyn Meyer shares authentic emotional insight along with accurate information, weaving a true story of intrigue and romance.

Published January 1 2013.

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We don't get to talk to royalty everyday, but today, I'm glad to flash the Royal edition of Talking With the Stars as part of the blog tour organised by The Mod Podge Bookshelf. Gabrielle from MPB has some seriously amazing tours, so drop by her site and take a look!

For my stop, I get to do a one-on-one special interview with a character from VICTORIA REBELS-- Fidi, a princess who is often overlooked in history...

A very good morning to you, Fidi! *resists the urge to curtsy* For the benefit of the readers, tell us, who is Victoria to you?

She's my half-sister. I was born and grew up in a small town in Germany, and after my father died, the duke of Kent came from England and married my mother. When she became pregnant, we all moved to England and lived in Kensington. I was quite bored there, but I absolutely adored my baby sister.

We all know that princesses have long names, for instance, Princess Mia in Meg Cabot's creations. What is your full name?

I was christened Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine, and my title--would you like that, too?--was Princess Feodora of Leiningen, before I was married. Then I became Princess consort of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Sometimes my name is spelled Feodore. It's the German version of Theodora. But I much prefer Fidi.

How did this nickname 'Fidi' come about?

My darling little sister, Victoria, called me that! She had plenty of trouble with her own name, you know. Poor Mamma was so upset when the Prince Regent wouldn't accept any of the names she and the duke wanted to give the baby. Alexandrina Victoria was a compromise. They called the child Drina for quite a time, until Victoria herself insisted on Victoria. And then the king wanted to give her a new name when she was growing up--Charlotte, perhaps, or Elizabeth. He thought Victoria sounded too foreign.

Describe Victoria and yourself in seven words each.

Oh, this is so hard! I would say that she is determined, intelligent, stubborn, courageous, sympathetic, fun-loving, passionate--is that seven? And I? Well, I certainly lack her courage and determination, but she knew that she would someday be queen, and I had no such concerns. 

How different or similar do you think you two are?

Oh, I could never have done what my sister has done--to lead a great empire! I was content just to raise my children in a drafty castle in Germany and live on next to nothing.

Did you ever imagine that Victoria was to become one of the greatest monarchs of England?

We all knew that she would become queen one day--that was the main reason the duke wanted to marry Mamma, so that he could provide an heir to the British throne. But  I don't think any of us fully realized that she would become such a GREAT queen.

And now, time for some royal secrets... Who was the first boy you ever liked? 

While we were all living at Kensington Palace, I met the son of one of Victoria's uncles, Captain Augustus d'Este, and we fell madly in love. I wanted very much to marry him, and we were making plans to elope, when one of Mamma's friends found out and told her, and she put a stop to it. Then that simply dreadful Sir John  Conroy convinced Mamma that I was a poor influence on young Victoria, and that the solution was to marry me off to a German prince and send me away.

And tell us about your marriage with that faraway German prince.

I was broken-hearted at first at the end of my love affair with Captain d'Este, and I was distraught when I was informed that I would marry a man I had met only once. Ernst, prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, came to Kensington just before our wedding, and I found that I rather liked him. So we were married, and away I went, and I did the things a wife was expected to do. In time I became quite fond of him, and we had several children. It wasn't a romantic match--not like Victoria's! But it worked well enough, I suppose.

A childhood memory you can't forget?

Every time I think of Sir John Conroy I become furious all over again. After the duke of Kent died when Victoria was only eight months old, it was natural that Mamma needed someone to lean on, and John Conroy--he wasn't yet "Sir John"--was the obvious one to help her, since he had served as the duke's equerry and assistant. But the man was mad for power! And he manipulated Mamma and took advantage of her weakness so that he could advance himself and his family at court. I hated him for sending me off to Germany, because that left Victoria vulnerable to his machinations. He always tried to intimidate her, and I was too far away to support her. I was not unhappy in my new life, but I always wished I could have done more for Victoria.

Summarize Victoria's life through your eyes in one sentence.

It was fruitful and rewarding, and after she met and fell in love with Prince Albert, it was, I think, a very happy life--until he died suddenly at the age of 42, and she never got over it but went into mourning for the rest of her long life.

As the sister of one of the greatest queen in the history of England, what do you want to say to us common folks?

You know, I've always been annoyed when people attribute to her that quote, "We are not amused," as though she were rigidly unhumorous. But my sister was often very much amused, as she writes in her diaries. That unfortunate quote had to do with a situation in which an injured man was being mistreated.

Thank you, Fidi!

You are most welcome. I'm always happy to discuss my famous sister.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carolyn Meyer is as versatile a writer as you will find. Along with historical fiction and realistic novels for young adults she has written nonfiction for young adults and books for younger readers on topics as diverse as the Amish, the Irish, Japanese, Yup'ik Eskimos, a rock band, rock tumbling, bread baking, and coconuts. And ten of her books have been chosen as Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. In her most recent historical novels she has dealt with the young lives of Mary Tudor, Princess Elizabeth, Anastasia, and Isabel of Castilla, Spain.

GIVEAWAY (Aw, yeah!)

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TUNE IN

18th Guest blog @ Inside the Mind of a Bibliophile

19th Interview @ WhoRu Blog

20th Interview @ The Reader's Antidote

21st Guest Blog @ Fantasy's Ink

22nd Character Interview with John Conroy @ Pages From My Thoughts

25th Guest Blog @ Bibliophilia, Please!

26th Guest Blog @ Books Beside My Bed

27th Top Ten: The Victorian Age @ Moosubi Reads

28th Interview @ Beauty But A Funny Girl

1st Character Interview with Fidi @ Bookcase to Heaven

4th Interview @ Gobs and Gobs of Books

5th Guest Blog @ A Dream Within A Dream

6th Character Interview With Prince Albert @ I Am A Reader, Not A Writer

7th Guest Blog @ Stiletto Storytime

8th Interview @ Emily's Crammed Bookshelf

11th Interview @ Movies In My Head

12th Top Ten: Victoria's Favorites @ Curling Up With A Good Book

13th Character Interview With Victoria @ The Mod Podge Bookshelf

xoxo,

Sel