author
Anne Topham
1864–1927
Best known for her vivid memoirs of life at the German imperial court, this English governess turned firsthand experience into lively historical reading. Her books offer a rare, personal view of Kaiser Wilhelm II's world just before the First World War.
1 Audiobook
Memories of the Kaiser's Court
by Anne Topham
About the author
Born in Derby in 1864, she spent most of her life in Spondon, Derbyshire. From 1902 to 1909, she lived in Germany as the English governess to Princess Victoria Luise, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, an experience that shaped the books she later wrote.
She is remembered chiefly for Memories of the Kaiser's Court and other works on German court life, including Memories of the Fatherland and Chronicles of the Prussian Court. These books drew on what she had seen at close range and helped bring the routines, personalities, and tensions of imperial Germany to English-speaking readers.
Anne Topham died in 1927. Today she remains an interesting figure for readers drawn to memoir, royalty, and the everyday human details behind great political events.