Becoming Queen Interview

Becoming Queen

Our perception of Victoria the Queen is coloured by portraits of her older, widowed self - her dour expression embodying the repressive morality propagated in her time. But Becoming Queen reveals an energetic and vibrant woman, determined to battle for power. It also documents the Byzantine machinations behind Victoria's quest to occupy the throne, and shows how her struggles did not end when finally the crown was placed on her head.

Laying bare the passions that swirled around the throne in the eighteenth century, Becoming Queen is an absorbingly dramatic tale of secrets, sexual repression and endless conflict. After her lauded biography of Emma Hamilton, England's Mistress, Kate Williams has produced a most original and intimate portrait of Great Britain's longest reigning monarch.

Kate Williams fell in love with the eighteenth century whilst studying for her BA at the University of Oxford. She has an MA from Queen Mary, University of London and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Her articles and essays have been published in a wide range of books and journals and she is a lecturer and TV consultant, appearing regularly on BBC and Channel 4 to discuss her work. She lives in London.

Becoming Queen
Random House Australia
Author: Kate Williams
ISBN: 9780099451822
Price: $24.95

Interview with Kate Williams

Question: What research went into Becoming Queen?

Kate Williams: I did so much different work, it was really amazing it was such an incredible experience because I was given all these different amazing archives in Britain and Europe which was really great. Going back to the original letters is such a privilege because it is fabulous to go and look at these letters that were written by Emma Hamilton about these incredible times and places. I would go into the archives and they would dump a huge box on my table and say "I don't think anyone has looked at this for years, we don't know what's in there." There has been some amazing letters to Emma Hamilton, it is incredible. It's a bit like snooping on someone's email account, but it is very amazing!


Question: Your job is described as 'a dream job'; what is a typical day like, for you?

Kate Williams: Well at the moment my typical day is getting on a plane to a different part of Australia and I give a lecture. At home, I divide my time between writing my books, I am writing a book about Josephine Bonaparte at the moment about the glamour and fashion of being Napoleon's right hand lady, which is wonderful; and my novel called The Pleasures of Men is about a girl who is obsessed with a serial killer in 18th century England, this is released next year.

I also do lectures; I am going to Belgium, Paris and Spain in a fortnight and I teach students at the London University. As soon as I fly home I have to teach, the next day.

I am filming, I film a lot with the BBC and I am filming a current series with them which will be on British TV next March, it is like Kevin McCloud with history; we are looking into people renovating their homes and at the same time I'm looking into the history of the home. It is a wonderful job and it has been amazing.

I am thrilled with my work; when I was a little girl I always wanted to be an author, I wrote little stories and made magazines for my brothers. I made my own little book when I was 7 and I never thought it would come this far, it is a great privilege to read and write all day.


Question: Could you talk about your part in The Jane Austen Society?

Kate Williams: Yes, I have been to The Jane Austen Society, I love Jane Austen and the Regency Period, I love the adaptations. For me it is the period in which woman actually came to the floor, before that woman were far more pressed in the home. In the Regency Period woman could move to the front and become actresses, dancers, entrepreneurs, they could own businesses and a lot of them became writers, which is the case for Jane Austen.

The Regency Period is a period in which woman threw off the restrictions of the corset, before the French Revolution woman wore very stiff outfits, corsets that they couldn't sit down in and dresses that they had to turn sideways to get through door frames they were so wide, foot high hair and lead on the their faces, to make it whiter which gave them lead poisoning. After the French Revolution all of Britain flew off these restrictions and wore Empire gowns that clung to their curves. Empress Josephine Bonaparte would dampen her gown to make them cling to her curves more so she'd actually go out in the 'wet look' to look more sexy. It was an incredibly free time with no corsets, no powder hair and woman could be free and I think that is when woman did start to have a greater life.

You don't think of Elizabeth Bennet running all the way over to see her sister; she couldn't have done that in a corset, she can live so much more freely and that's how she charmed Mr Darcy.

It is very interesting for me to be in Australia because when I was writing about the Regency era this was the time when people were coming over to Australia and making a life here. Britain was a great place if you were rich, but not much fun if you were poor. I know it was hard in the early days of Australia with the pioneers but at the same time it was much better than it was in England were you died at 17. It was period of glamour and excitement but it could also be a period of terrible poverty. There was great scandals when you think that the King had seven sons and six daughters and they had 56 illegitimate children and one legitimate child.

In those days woman were very significant and flamboyant but once you lost the protection of a man, you had a big problem. Woman had children and if you didn't have the protection of a father, husband or son you were a woman, on your own and you were really lost.


Question: Why did you choose to lecture throughout England and Europe about the Regency Period?

Kate Williams: I have always loved the Regency Period, as a child and as an adult. I would love it, if I could get in a time machine, I'd love to go back- imagine the lace, the Empire-like gowns, going in the carriages and talking to the men in boots; I just love it! I wish I could go back and I can't so the next best thing is for me to live there, everyday, in my life. I am delving myself into this wonderful realm.


Question: Could you tell us a little bit about England's Mistress: The infamous life of Emma Hamilton?

Kate Williams: Emma Hamilton is an amazing subject, she was born in poverty in 1765 in Britain with nothing expected of her; in those days life expectancy was 17 and she was expected to die, as a little girl. Nothing was expected of Emma Hamilton and then she became an actress, a model for artists and worked at these incredible places including The Temple of Health. The Temple of Health was where Dr. James Graham charged £50 a night to use his Celestial Bed and he had electricity and magnets which all fused together whilst you were using the bed; it was the most bizarre fertility treatment that you could imagine. Emma Hamilton modeled and danced at The Temple of Health.

Then Emma Hamilton became the wife of the aristocrat and ambassador Sir. William Hamilton. Then, she grabbed Lord Nelson for herself; every woman in Britain wanted Lord Nelson after 1798 when he won the Battle of the Nile and she thieved him. Emma Hamilton thieved him by writing him this most incredible, passionate letter saying "she was melting for him", "swelling for him", "dreaming of him" none of this hard-to-get business, she was laying it out there on a plate saying "she was impatient to embrace him" and this was the great love affair. The couple was passionately in love even though she was married and he was married. Then, Lord Nelson died in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar.

We are currently making the film of Emma Hamilton with Hayley Atwell, from The Duchess, she's wonderful. It is hard to show the wonders and beauties of the time and at the same time the poverty. It is a great excitement for me and although I would have loved to wear the dresses and go in the carriages, I don't know if I would have liked some of the other aspects; it's nice to be young and rich but not so nice to be old and poor.