The Captive of Kensington Palace

by Jean Plaidy Book 1 in the Queen Victoria: series.

Amazon

4.3(602)

Princess Victoria grows up inside the restrictive household system imposed at Kensington Palace by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and Sir John Conroy. Closely supervised and kept apart from much of the royal family, she gradually understands that her position in the succession makes her childhood part of a larger struggle over influence and access to the future sovereign.

Her governess provides stability while relationships with her uncles, especially the Duke of Cumberland, expose the rivalries surrounding the Hanoverian crown. The novel follows Victoria before her accession, showing how confinement, family pressure and political expectation help form the determination with which she will eventually resist those who expect to control her as queen.