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Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel was born at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, on 26 August 1819 and was the second son of Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Albert and his elder brother, Ernst, formed a close bond as children as their parents had a turbulent marriage and were eventually divorced. While both parents were guilty of infidelity, it was Louise who was exiled from court and forced to leave her children behind in 1824. Louise eventually married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, but she died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. After Louise’s death, the duke was eager to marry again but his reputation had preceded him and he found it difficult to find a bride from a high ranking family. In the end, he had to settle for his niece, Marie of Württemberg, who was thirty years his junior.

The prospect of a marriage between Albert and his first cousin, Victoria, was first mooted in 1821 when the pair were mere toddlers. Their mutual uncle, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the husband of the ill-fated Charlotte of Wales, who was close to both of them, nurtured the idea the closer Victoria got to the British throne. In May 1836, Leopold encouraged his sister, Victoire Duchess of Kent, to invite their brother and his two sons to England so Victoria and Albert could meet. Aware of the Coburg plot, William IV tried to push his niece towards Prince Alexander of the Netherlands but she much preferred Albert.

On 20 June 1837, Victoria ascended the throne but she resisted being pushed into a quick marriage even though she continued to feel affection towards Albert and wrote to him often. In October 1839, Albert and Ernst returned to London to see Victoria and her feelings were stronger than ever so she proposed to him. The couple were married on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, and Albert was granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council. The marriage was not a popular one with the British public though as they felt Albert was too impoverished and too low-ranked to be married to a queen. There was also a great deal of preoccupation over Albert’s title and the need to keep him away from any political role due to his German birth, however he was eventually created Prince Consort on 25 June 1857.

Matters were no better within the royal household as it was primarily run by Baroness Lehzen, the Queen’s former governess, and Albert’s intrusion was resented. Within two months of the marriage, Victoria discovered she was pregnant and Albert began to take on more official duties which endeared him to the public. In June 1840, while on a public carriage ride, Albert and Victoria were shot at by Edward Oxford, and the prince was praised for keeping a calm demeanour by the press. Since childbirth was a dangerous business, Albert was designated as regent in the event of Victoria’s death before their child reached the age of majority.

Albert and Victoria’s first child, Vicky, was born in November 1841 and she would be followed by eight others over the next seventeen years. In an age where infant mortality was high, all of the royal children survived into adulthood thanks to Albert’s enlightened views on how the nursery should be run. Albert often resented not being master of his own household and his first task was to get rid of Lehzen who he disliked immensely. The opportunity finally appeared in 1842 when the Princess Royal’s health suddenly began to deteriorate and Albert quickly blamed Lehzen for selecting incompetent nursery staff. Albert and Victoria quarrelled over Lehzen but the prince was adamant Lehzen should be dismissed and he eventually got his way. Lehzen returned to Germany on the pretext of having to care for her sick sister but she never forgot Victoria and wrote to her often.

As Victoria became increasingly preoccupied with her numerous pregnancies, she began to depend more on Albert’s help and he was increasingly present at Victoria’s meetings with her ministers. The prince also began to re-organise the royal finances which were in a disastrous state and he simplified the whole process to make the running of the palaces more efficient. Albert soon became Victoria’s most important advisor and they reviewed the red state boxes with their desks pushed together. Albert’s handy review of the finances allowed for the purchase of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as a private residence for his family where they could spend time together away from the stresses of the court. As well as receiving a strict formal education, the royal children were also taught more practical skills such as gardening and cooking.

In 1847, Albert was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and he used his position to campaign for reform and to include subjects like modern history and the natural sciences. As revolution swept throughout Europe due to the economic crisis, the mood in Britain was relatively calm and Albert was widely praised for his enlightened views on the hardships faced by the lower classes and the need to ease poverty.

Not content with social reforms, Albert was an innovator who had a keen interest in the manufacturing industry and this led to the idea behind the Great Exhibition of 1851 which would showcase the best of British industry and promote new ideas. A new building made of glass, known as the Crystal Palace, was specially designed to hold the exhibition and it was opened by the queen on 1 May 1851. The event turned out to be such a big success, the profits were used to establish educational and cultural institutions, including the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Imperial College London, the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

During the Great Exhibition, Albert’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Vicky, spent time with Prince Frederick William (Fritz) of Prussia, and the pair fell in love much to Albert’s delight. When Fritz proposed marriage, Albert happily gave his consent with the stipulation they wait until Vicky was seventeen to marry. Vicky, pretty and intelligent, was her father’s favourite and he had high hopes her marriage would lead to German unification as her new fiancé shared the same liberal views. When Vicky eventually left for Prussia, Albert missed her a great deal and her loss was only heightened by the difficulties he was having with his eldest son. Bertie had always been a disappointment to his parents as he proved to be far less intelligent than his sister and did not apply himself to his lessons.

While attending Cambridge, Bertie became involved with an actress and when the rumours got back to the palace, Albert was sent to reprimand him. Albert had been suffering from chronic stomach problems throughout the year, and when he returned to London, it was obvious he was gravely ill. Albert’s doctors diagnosed typhoid, however modern doctors believe Albert was more likely to have been suffering from a chronic disease, such as Crohn’s disease, renal failure, or abdominal cancer. Albert died on 14 December 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle in the presence of the Queen and their children. Albert’s body was temporarily entombed in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, but a year after his death, his remains were moved to Frogmore Mausoleum where he would be joined by his wife in 1901.

Descendants

Victoria Explored

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert have appeared in countless books, films and television shows. It would be impossible to list everything in this section but we have chosen a few of our favourites.

Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert

Stanley Weintraub, biographer of Queen Victoria and other major figures of her era, here unveils for the first time the largely hidden role of Prince Albert, establishing him as one of the greatest men of his days.

Drawing on previously unexplored sources, Weintraub’s Uncrowned King delves into Prince Albert’s political, familial, financial, medical, and sexual life.

Victoria The Queen

When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would threaten many of Europe’s monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public’s expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe.

Born into a world where woman were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand.

Magnificent Obsession

After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the queen and her nation were plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his twenty year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name.

Drawing widely on contemporary letters, diaries and memoirs, Rappaport brings new light to bear on the causes of Albert’s death and tracks Victoria’s mission to commemorate her husband in perpetuity. Richly compelling, this is the story of a magnificent obsession that even death could not sever.

Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy

For more than six decades, Queen Victoria ruled a great Empire at the height of its power. Beside her for more than twenty of those years was the love of her life, her trusted husband and father of their nine children, Prince Albert. But while Victoria is seen as the embodiment of her time, it was Prince Albert who was at the vanguard of Victorian Britain’s transformation as a vibrant and extraordinary centre of political, technological, scientific and intellectual advancement.

Far more than just the product of his age, Albert was one of its influencers and architects. A composer, engineer, soldier, politician, linguist and bibliophile, Prince Albert, more than any other royal, was truly a genius.

Victoria: A Life

At the very epicentre of Britain’s changing place in the world: a solitary woman in an all-male world who understood politics and foreign policy much better than some of her ministers; a person possessed by demons, but demons which she was brave enough to conquer. 

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, she had ruled for nearly sixty-four years. She was a mother of nine and grandmother of forty-two and the matriarch of royal Europe through her children’s marriages. To many, Queen Victoria is a ruler shrouded in myth and mystique, an aging, stiff widow paraded as the figurehead to an all-male imperial enterprise. But in truth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was one of the most passionate, expressive, humorous and unconventional women who ever lived, and the story of her life continues to fascinate.

The Captive of Kensington Palace

Victoria is virtually a prisoner in Kensington Palace. Her mother and her mother’s chamberlain, Sir John Conroy, are her guards. They will not allow her to associate with anyone that has not been thoroughly and critically checked to make sure Victoria is not made harmed by their very presence. Even her governesses are under scrutiny. She is not even allowed to be alone!

Her best friends are her “dear” sister Feodora, married and living in Germany; her Uncle Leopold, her cousin-in-law and uncle as well as King of the Belgians; Lehzen, her faithful governess; the King and Queen, whom she is rarely allowed to see; and her cousins that she is also rarely allowed to see.

The Queen And Lord M

The young queen’s first few years are beset with court scandal and malicious gossip: there is the unsavoury Flora Hastings affair, a source of extreme embarrassment to the queen; the eternal conflict between Victoria and her mother, and the young queen’s hatred of Sir John Conroy.

Then there is the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne – ‘Lord M’ – worldly cynic and constant companion to the queen, himself a veteran of many a latter-day scandal. He proves to be her guiding light – until the dashing Prince Albert appears and she falls hopelessly in love.

The Queen’s Husband

From the cradle Victoria and Albert were destined for each other. Albert, as the younger son of a minor German duke, was acutely aware of what marriage to the Queen of England would mean in terms of his personal ambitions. Victoria wrestled with her desire for independence—until she saw Albert at Windsor in 1839. Then Queen Victoria fell in love.

Together they forged the Victorian Age—the impetuous Queen and her indomitable consort. Through the stormy first years, Victoria was in almost perpetual revolt against any encroachment on her powers of state and against the continual pregnancies she had to endure.

The Widow of Windsor

Albert was dead and the Queen, stricken with grief, prepared to spend the rest of her life mourning. Her Government and her family sought to bring her out of seclusion but she was determined to remain the Widow of Windsor.

The years which followed were some of the most momentous in British history, some of the Queen’s ministers the most famous. There was the great Palmerston who managed to keep a mocking ascendancy over her; Mr. Gladstone, Grand Old Man and People’s William, who prowled the streets at night in an attempt to lead prostitutes back to a life of respectability, and who was no favorite of the Queen, unlike the witty Disraeli, who charmed her completely.

Victoria The Great (1937)

Victoria the Great was made in 1937 and was based on Laurence Housman’s play Victoria Regina which had been highly successful on Broadway. Since it was unlawful for the royal family to be portrayed on stage at that time, Edward VIII commissioned producer Herbert Wilcox to turn it into a film instead to mark the centenary of Victoria’s reign.

The film, primarily focused on Queen Victoria’s early reign, starred Anna Neagle as Victoria and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert and was primarily shot in B/W with the Diamond Jubilee scene at the end in full technicolour.

Mrs Brown (1997)

Mrs Brown (also known as Her Majesty, Mrs Brown) was a British award-winning film starring Judi Dench and Billy Connolly, and was the first major film to feature Queen Victoria since Victoria the Great in 1937.

The film was originally made for television but it was given a theatrical release instead and went on to make $13 million worldwide. Mrs Brown premiered at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival before its general release on 5 September 1997 and Dench went on to win the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

The Young Victoria (2009)

The Young Victoria is a period film written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée which focuses on the early reign of Queen Victoria and her marriage to Prince Albert.

The film starred Emily Blount as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert, as well as an array of British talent like Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Harriet Walter and Mark Strong, Eagle eyed viewers will also be able to spot Princess Beatrice of York, Victoria’s great-great-great-great-granddaughter, as one of Queen Victoria’s ladies at her coronation.

Victoria & Albert (2001)

Victoria & Albert was a two-part British-American series which aired over two nights from 26-27 August 2001 on the BBC and focused on the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert from their first meeting as teenagers to his death in 1861.

The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Queen Victoria and Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert, as well as famous faces from British stage and screen, such as Diana Rigg, Peter Ustinov and Penelope Wilton.

Victoria (2016-2019)

Victoria is a British historical television drama series created and principally written by Daisy Goodwin, starring Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria. The series premiered in the United Kingdom on ITV on 28 August 2016. 

The series ran for three seasons and followed Victoria through the early years of her reign and her marriage to Prince Albert which proves to be tumultuous. Victoria strives to balance her duties as queen with her private family life as it continues to expand with the births of multiple children.

The series ended in 2019, although ITV have hinted they may return to the storyline at a future date.

Victoria

The diaries that Queen Victoria kept let a captivating story of her unparalleled love for Albert unravel. Their love expanded into a royal dynasty until his premature passing tore the world’s most powerful woman apart.

This biopic ballet was written by Cathy Marston for the Northern Ballet in 2019 and features Abigail Prudames as Queen Victoria, Joseph Taylor as Prince Albert and Pippa Moore as Princess Beatrice.

Winner of the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance.

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