Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Encyclopedia
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel; later The Prince Consort; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland
.
He was born in the Saxon duchy
of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
to a family connected to many of Europe's ruling monarchs. At the age of 20 he married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, with whom he would ultimately have nine children. At first, Albert felt constrained by his position as consort
, which did not confer any power or duties upon him. Over time he adopted many public causes, such as educational reform and a worldwide abolition of slavery
, and took on the responsibilities of running the Queen's household, estates and office. He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert aided in the development of Britain's constitutional monarchy
by persuading his wife to show less partisanship in her dealings with Parliament
—although he actively disagreed with the interventionist foreign policy pursued during Lord Palmerston
's tenure as Foreign Secretary.
He died at the early age of 42, plunging the Queen into a deep mourning that lasted for the rest of her life. Upon Queen Victoria's death in 1901, their eldest son, Edward VII, succeeded as the first British monarch
of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged.
, near Coburg
, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
. Albert's future wife, Queen Victoria, was born in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife. Albert was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church
on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau with water taken from the local river, the Itz
. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
; his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; the Emperor of Austria
; the Duke of Teschen
; and Emanuel, Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly
. In 1825, Albert's great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
, died. The death led to a re-arrangement of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert's father became reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
.
Albert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in a close companionship scarred by their parents' turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce. After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Polzig and Beiersdorf
. She probably never saw her children again and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. The following year, their father married his own niece, his sons' cousin Princess Antoinette Marie of Württemberg
, but the marriage was not close, and Antoinette Marie made little, if any, contribution to her stepchildren's lives.
The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later in Brussels, where Adolphe Quetelet
was one of their tutors. Like many other German princes, Albert studied at the University of Bonn
as a young adult. He studied law, political economy, philosophy, and art history. He played music and excelled in gymnastics, especially fencing and riding. His teachers in Bonn included the philosopher Fichte
and the poet Schlegel.
, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831. At this time, Victoria was the heir presumptive
to the British throne. Her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III
, had died when she was a baby, and her childless elderly uncle, William IV
, was king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was the sister of both Albert's father—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and Leopold, King of the Belgians. Leopold arranged for his sister, Victoria's mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his two sons to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of meeting Victoria. King William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander
, second son of William II of the Netherlands
. Victoria was well aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes. She wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful." Alexander, on the other hand, was "very plain".
Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy." Although the parties did not undertake a formal engagement, both the family and their retainers widely assumed that the match would take place.
Victoria came to the throne aged just eighteen on 20 June 1837. Her letters of the time show interest in Albert's education for the role he would have to play, although she resisted attempts to rush her into marriage. In the winter of 1838–39, the prince visited Italy, accompanied by the Coburg family's confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar.
Albert returned to England with Ernest in October 1839 to visit the Queen, with the object of settling the marriage. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839. Victoria's intention to marry was declared formally to the Privy Council on 23 November, and the couple married on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal
, St. James's Palace
. Just before the marriage, Albert was naturalised by Act of Parliament, and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council.
At first, he was not popular with the British public. He was perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county. The British Prime Minister
, Lord Melbourne
, advised the Queen against granting her husband the title of "King Consort
". Parliament even refused to make Albert a peer—partly because of anti-German feeling and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role. Melbourne led a minority government and the opposition took advantage of the marriage to weaken his position further. They opposed the ennoblement of Albert and granted him a smaller annuity than previous consorts, £30,000 instead of the usual £50,000. Albert claimed that he had no need of a British peerage; he wrote, "It would almost be step downwards, for as a Duke of Saxony, I feel myself much higher than as a Duke of York or Kent". For the next seventeen years, Albert was formally titled "HRH Prince Albert" until, on 25 June 1857, Victoria formally granted him the title Prince Consort
.
Within two months of the marriage, Victoria was pregnant. Albert started to take on public roles; he became President of the Society for the Extinction of Slavery (slavery had already been abolished throughout the British Empire, but was still lawful in places such as the United States and the colonies of France); and helped Victoria privately with her government paperwork. In June 1840, while on a public carriage ride, Albert and the pregnant Victoria were shot at by Edward Oxford
, who was later judged insane. Neither was hurt and Albert was praised in the newspapers for his courage and coolness during the attack. Albert was gaining public support as well as political influence, which showed itself practically when, in August, Parliament passed the Regency Act 1840 to designate him Regent
in the event of Victoria's death before their child reached the age of majority. Their first child, Victoria
, named after her mother, was born in November. Eight other children would follow over the next seventeen years. All nine children survived to adulthood, a fact which biographer Hermione Hobhouse credited to Albert's "enlightened influence" on the healthy running of the nursery. In early 1841, he successfully removed the nursery from Lehzen's pervasive control, and in September 1842, Lehzen left England permanently—much to Albert's relief.
After the 1841 general election
, Melbourne was replaced as Prime Minister by Sir Robert Peel, who appointed Albert as chairman of the Royal Commission
in charge of redecorating the new Palace of Westminster
. The Palace had burnt down seven years before
, and was being rebuilt. As a patron and purchaser of pictures and sculpture, the commission was set up to promote the fine arts in Britain. The commission's work was slow, and the architect, Charles Barry
, took many decisions out of the commissioners' hands by decorating rooms with ornate furnishings which were treated as part of the architecture. Albert was more successful as a private patron and collector. Among his notable purchases were early German and Italian paintings—such as Lucas Cranach the Elder
's Apollo and Diana and Fra Angelico
's St. Peter Martyr—and contemporary pieces from Franz Xaver Winterhalter and Edwin Landseer. Dr. Ludwig Gruner, of Dresden, assisted Albert in buying pictures of the highest quality.
Albert and Victoria were shot at again on both 29 and 30 May 1842, but were unhurt. The culprit, John Francis, was detained and condemned to death, although he was later reprieved. Some of their early unpopularity came about because of their stiffness and adherence to protocol in public, though in private the couple were more easy-going. In early 1844, Victoria and Albert were apart for the first time since their marriage when he returned to Coburg on the death of his father.
By 1844, Albert had managed to modernise the royal finances and, through various economies, had sufficient capital to purchase Osborne House
on the Isle of Wight
as a private residence for their growing family. Over the next few years a house modelled in the style of an Italianate villa was built to the designs of Albert and Thomas Cubitt
. Albert laid out the grounds, and improved the estate and farm. Albert managed and improved the other royal estates; his model farm at Windsor
was admired by his biographers, and under his stewardship the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall
—the hereditary property of the Prince of Wales—steadily increased.
Unlike many landowners who approved of child labour and opposed Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws
, Albert supported moves to raise working ages and free up trade. In 1846, Albert was rebuked by Lord George Bentinck
when he attended the debate on the Corn Laws in the House of Commons to give tacit support to Peel. During Peel's premiership, Albert's authority behind, or beside, the throne became more apparent. He had access to all the Queen's papers, was drafting her correspondence and was present when she met her ministers, or even saw them alone in her absence. The clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville, wrote of him: "He is King to all intents and purposes."
of the University of Cambridge
, but only after a close contest
with the Earl of Powis
, who was killed accidentally by his own son during a pheasant shoot the following year. Albert used his position as Chancellor to campaign successfully for reformed and more modern university curricula, expanding the subjects taught beyond the traditional mathematics and classics to include modern history and the natural sciences.
That summer, Victoria and Albert spent a rainy holiday in the west of Scotland at Loch Laggan
, but heard from their doctor, Sir James Clark, that his son had enjoyed dry, sunny days further east at Balmoral Castle
. The tenant of Balmoral, Sir Robert Gordon
, died suddenly in early October, and Albert began negotiations to take over the lease of the castle from the owner, the Earl Fife
. In May the following year, Albert leased Balmoral, which he had never visited, and in September 1848 he, his wife and the older children went there for the first time. They came to relish the privacy it afforded.
Revolutions spread throughout Europe in 1848
as the result of a widespread economic crisis. Throughout the year, Victoria and Albert complained about Foreign Secretary Palmerston's
independent foreign policy, which they believed destabilised foreign European powers further. Albert was concerned for many of his royal relatives, a number of whom were deposed. He and Victoria, who gave birth to their daughter Louise
during that year, spent some time away from London in the relative safety of Osborne. Although there were sporadic demonstrations in England, no effective revolutionary action took place, and Albert even gained public acclaim when he expressed paternalistic, yet well-meaning and philanthropic, views. In a speech to the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, of which he was President, he expressed his "sympathy and interest for that class of our community who have most of the toil and fewest of the enjoyments of this world". It was the "duty of those who, under the blessings of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education" to assist those less fortunate than themselves.
A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas, Albert not only led reforms in university education, welfare, the royal finances and slavery, he had a special interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry. The Great Exhibition of 1851 arose from the annual exhibitions of the Society of Arts, of which Albert was President from 1843, and owed the greater part of its success to his efforts to promote it. Albert served as president of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
, and had to fight for every stage of the project. In the House of Lords
, Lord Brougham
fulminated against the proposal to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park
. Opponents of the exhibition prophesied that foreign rogues and revolutionists would overrun England, subvert the morals of the people, and destroy their faith. Albert thought such talk absurd and quietly persevered, trusting always that British manufacturing would benefit from exposure to the best products of foreign countries.
The Queen opened the exhibition in a specially designed and built glass building known as the Crystal Palace
on 1 May 1851. It proved a colossal success. A surplus of £180,000 was used to purchase land in South Kensington
on which to establish educational and cultural institutions – including what would later be named the Victoria and Albert Museum
. The area was referred to as "Albertopolis
" by sceptics.
of Balmoral, and as usual he embarked on an extensive program of improvements. The same year, he was appointed to several of the offices left vacant by the death of the Duke of Wellington
, including the mastership of Trinity House
and the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards. With Wellington out of the picture, Albert was able to propose and campaign for modernisation of the army, which was long overdue. Thinking that the military was unready for war, and that Christian rule was preferable to Islamic rule, Albert counselled a diplomatic solution to conflict between the Russian
and Ottoman empire
s. Palmerston was more bellicose, and favoured a policy which would prevent further Russian expansion. Palmerston was manoeuvred out of the cabinet in December 1853, but at about the same time a Russian fleet attacked the Ottoman fleet at anchor at Sinop
. The London press depicted the attack as a criminal massacre, and Palmerston's popularity surged as Albert's fell. Within two weeks, Palmerston was re-appointed as a minister. As public outrage at the Russian action continued, absurd rumours circulated that Albert had been arrested for treason. By March 1854, Britain and Russia were embroiled in the Crimean War
. Early British optimism soon faded as the press reported that British troops were ill-equipped and mismanaged by aged generals using out-of-date tactics and strategy. The conflict dragged on as the Russians were as poorly prepared as their opponents. The Prime Minister, the Earl of Aberdeen, resigned and Palmerston succeeded him. A negotiated settlement eventually put an end to the war with the Treaty of Paris
. During the war, Albert arranged to marry his fourteen-year-old daughter, Victoria, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia
, though Albert delayed the marriage until Victoria was seventeen. Albert hoped that his daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussia
n state.
Albert involved himself in promoting many public educational institutions. Chiefly at meetings in connection with these he spoke of the need for better schooling. A collection of his speeches was published in 1857. Recognised as a supporter of education and technological progress, he was invited to speak at scientific meetings, such as the memorable address he delivered as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. His espousal of science spawned opposition from the Church. His proposal of a knighthood for Charles Darwin
, after the publication of On the Origin of Species, was rejected.
Albert continued to devote himself to the education of his family and the management of the royal household. His children's governess, Lady Lyttelton
, thought him unusually kind and patient, and described him joining in family games with enthusiasm. He felt keenly the departure of his eldest daughter for Prussia when she married her fiancé at the beginning of 1858, and was disappointed that his eldest son, the Prince of Wales
, did not respond well to the intense educational programme that Albert had designed for him. At the age of seven, the Prince of Wales was expected to take six hours of instruction, including an hour of German and an hour of French every day. When the Prince of Wales failed at his lessons, Albert caned him. Corporal punishment was common at the time, and was not thought unduly harsh. Albert's biographer Roger Fulford
wrote that the relationships between the family members were "friendly, affectionate and normal ... there is no evidence either in the Royal Archives or in the printed authorities to justify the belief that the relations between the Prince and his eldest son were other than deeply affectionate." Philip Magnus wrote in his biography of Albert's eldest son that Albert "tried to treat his children as equals; and they were able to penetrate his stiffness and reserve because they realised instinctively not only that he loved them but that he enjoyed and needed their company."
In 1861, Victoria's mother and Albert's aunt, the Duchess of Kent, died and Victoria was grief-stricken; Albert took on most of the Queen's duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble. In August, Victoria and Albert visited the Curragh Camp
, Ireland, where the Prince of Wales was doing army service. At Curragh, the Prince of Wales was introduced, by his fellow officers, to Nellie Clifden, an Irish actress.
By November, Victoria and Albert had returned to Windsor, and the Prince of Wales had returned to Cambridge, where he was a student. Two of Albert's cousins, King Pedro V
and Prince Ferdinand of Portugal
, died of typhoid fever
. On top of this news, Albert was informed that gossip was spreading in gentlemen's club
s and the foreign press that the Prince of Wales was still involved with Nellie Clifden. Albert and Victoria were horrified by their son's indiscretion, and feared blackmail, scandal or pregnancy. Although Albert was ill and at a low ebb, he travelled to Cambridge to see the Prince of Wales to discuss his son's indiscreet affair.
When the Trent Affair
—the forcible removal of Confederate
envoys from a British ship by Union
forces during the American Civil War
—threatened war between the United States and Britain, Albert was gravely ill, but intervened to soften the British diplomatic response. On 9 December, one of Albert's doctors, William Jenner
, diagnosed typhoid fever. Congestion of the lungs supervened, and Albert died at 10:50 p.m. on 14 December 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle
, in the presence of the Queen and five of their nine children. The contemporary diagnosis was typhoid fever, but modern writers have pointed out that Albert was ill for at least two years before his death, which may indicate that a chronic disease, such as renal failure
or cancer, was the cause of death.
The Queen's grief was overwhelming, and the tepid feelings the public had felt previously for Albert were replaced by sympathy. Victoria wore black in mourning for the rest of her long life, and Albert's rooms in all his houses were kept as they had been, even with hot water brought in the morning, and linen and towels changed daily. Such practices were not uncommon in the houses of the very rich. Victoria withdrew from public life and her seclusion eroded some of Albert's work in attempting to re-model the monarchy as a national institution setting a moral, if not political, example. Albert is credited with introducing the principle that the British Royal Family
should remain above politics. Before his marriage to Victoria, she supported the Whigs
; for example, early in her reign Victoria managed to thwart the formation of a Tory government
by Sir Robert Peel by refusing to accept substitutions which Peel wanted to make among her ladies-in-waiting.
Albert's body was temporarily entombed in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
. The mausoleum at Frogmore
, in which his remains were deposited a year after his death, was not fully completed until 1871. The sarcophagus, in which both he and the Queen were eventually laid, was carved from the largest block of granite that had ever been quarried in Britain. Despite Albert's request that no effigies of him should be raised, many public monuments were erected all over the country, and across the British Empire. The most notable are the Royal Albert Hall
and the Albert Memorial
in London. The plethora of memorials erected to Albert became so great that Charles Dickens
told a friend that he sought an "inaccessible cave" to escape from them.
All manner of objects are named after Prince Albert, from Lake Albert in Africa to the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
, to the Albert Medal
presented by the Royal Society of Arts
. Four regiments of the British Army were named after him: 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars; Prince Albert's Light Infantry; Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, and The Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade. He and Queen Victoria showed a keen interest in the establishment and development of Aldershot
in Hampshire
as a garrison town
in the 1850s. They had a wooden Royal Pavilion built there in which they would often stay when attending reviews of the army. Albert established and endowed the Prince Consort's Library at Aldershot
, which still exists today.
Biographies published after his death were typically heavy on eulogy. Theodore Martin
's five-volume magnum opus was authorised and supervised by Queen Victoria, and her influence shows in its pages. Nevertheless, it is an accurate and exhaustive account. Lytton Strachey
's Queen Victoria (1921) was more critical, but it was discredited in part by mid-twentieth-century biographers such as Hector Bolitho
and Roger Fulford
, who (unlike Strachey) had access to Victoria's journal and letters. Popular myths about Prince Albert—such as the claim that he introduced Christmas tree
s to Britain—are dismissed by scholars. Recent biographers, such as Stanley Weintraub
, portray Albert as a figure in a tragic romance, who died too soon and was mourned by his lover for a lifetime. In the 2009 movie The Young Victoria
, Albert, played by Rupert Friend
, is made into an heroic character; in the fictionalised depiction of the 1842 shooting, he is grazed by a bullet—something that did not happen in real life.
Foreign
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
, which was the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
with a three-point label
bearing a red cross in the centre, quartered
with the arms of Saxony
. The blazon
is written as: "Quarterly, 1st and 4th, the Royal Arms, with overall a label of three points Argent
charged on the centre with cross Gules
; 2nd and 3rd, Barry of ten Or
and Sable
, a crown of rue in bend
Vert
". The Prince's peculiar arms was a "singular example of quartering differenced arms, [which] is not in accordance with the rules of Heraldry, and is in itself an heraldic contradiction." Prior to his marriage he used the arms of his father, undifferenced.
On his stallplate as a Knight of the Garter his arms are ensigned by a royal crown and show the six crests of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; these are from left to right: 1. "A bull's head caboshed Gules armed and ringed Argent, crowned Or, the rim chequy Gules and Argent" for Mark. 2. "Out of a coronet Or, two buffalo's horns Argent, attached to the outer edge of each five branches fess
wise each with three linden leaves Vert" for Thuringia
. 3. "Out of a coronet Or, a pyramidal chapeau charged with the arms of Saxony ensigned by a plume of peacock's feathers Proper out of a coronet also Or" for Saxony
. 4. "A bearded man in profile couped below the shoulders clothed paly Argent and Gules, the pointed coronet similarly paly terminating in a plume of three peacock's feathers" for Meissen
. 5. "A demi griffin displayed Or, winged Sable, collared and langued Gules" for Jülich
. 6. "Out of a coronet Or, a panache of peacock's feathers Proper" for Berg
.
The supporters were the crowned lion of England and the unicorn of Scotland (as in the English Royal Arms) charged on the shoulder with a label as in the arms. Albert's personal motto is the German Treu und Fest, which translates as Loyal and Sure. This motto was also used by Prince Albert's Own or the 11th Hussars
.
All of Albert's male-line descendants were entitled to bear an inescutcheon of the arms of Saxony at the centre of their respective coat of arms. The inescutcheon was placed, as Charles Boutell
writes, as an "escutcheon of pretence"; he continued that "This does not appear to be in accordance with either the spirit or the practical usage of true historical Heraldry". However in 1917, during the First World War, King George V
abandoned heraldic references to the royal family's German heritage, and the Saxon shield was removed.
Prince Albert's 40 grandchildren included four reigning monarchs: King George V of the United Kingdom
; Wilhelm II, German Emperor; Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
; and Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
. Albert's many descendants include royalty and nobility throughout Europe.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
.
He was born in the Saxon duchy
Ernestine duchies
The Ernestine duchies, also called the Saxon duchies , were a changing number of small states largely located in the present German state of Thuringia, governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.-Overview:The...
of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in the 17th century, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha line in...
to a family connected to many of Europe's ruling monarchs. At the age of 20 he married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, with whom he would ultimately have nine children. At first, Albert felt constrained by his position as consort
Prince consort
A prince consort is the husband of a queen regnant who is not himself a king in his own right.Current examples include the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Prince Henrik of Denmark .In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal...
, which did not confer any power or duties upon him. Over time he adopted many public causes, such as educational reform and a worldwide abolition of slavery
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
, and took on the responsibilities of running the Queen's household, estates and office. He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert aided in the development of Britain's constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
by persuading his wife to show less partisanship in her dealings with Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
—although he actively disagreed with the interventionist foreign policy pursued during Lord Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
's tenure as Foreign Secretary.
He died at the early age of 42, plunging the Queen into a deep mourning that lasted for the rest of her life. Upon Queen Victoria's death in 1901, their eldest son, Edward VII, succeeded as the first British monarch
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a German dynasty, the senior line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies, including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha....
, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged.
Early life
Albert was born at Schloss RosenauSchloss Rosenau, Coburg
Schloss Rosenau, called in English The Rosenau or Rosenau Palace, is a former castle, converted into a ducal country house, between the towns of Coburg and Rödental, formerly in Saxe-Coburg, now lying in Bavaria, Germany....
, near Coburg
Coburg
Coburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was the wife of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the mother of Duke Ernst II and Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria.-Family:Princess Louise was the only daughter of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his first wife Louise Charlotte...
. Albert's future wife, Queen Victoria, was born in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife. Albert was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau with water taken from the local river, the Itz
Itz
The Itz is a river in Germany and a right tributary of the Main.The Itz begins in Sachsenbrunn , Thuringia and flows southward through Bachfeld and Schalkau. It crosses into Bavaria and feeds the Froschgrundsee reservoir. It continues through Dörfles-Esbach, Coburg, and Großheirath, then is...
. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf
Countess Augusta Caroline Reuss of Ebersdorf , was by marriage a duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was born in Saalburg-Ebersdorf.-Family:...
; his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; the Emperor of Austria
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
; the Duke of Teschen
Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen
Prince Albert Casimir August of Saxony, Duke of Teschen was a German prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family...
; and Emanuel, Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly
Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly
Emmanuel, count of Mensdorff-Pouilly was an army officer in the Imperial and Royal Army of the Austrian Empire, and vice-governor of Mainz....
. In 1825, Albert's great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , was the last duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg....
, died. The death led to a re-arrangement of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert's father became reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha served as the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826 and 1918...
.
Albert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in a close companionship scarred by their parents' turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce. After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Polzig and Beiersdorf
Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf
Maximilian Elisäus Alexander von Hanstein, count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf was a Thuringian count...
. She probably never saw her children again and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. The following year, their father married his own niece, his sons' cousin Princess Antoinette Marie of Württemberg
Marie of Württemberg
Marie of Württemberg was a daughter of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.-Marriage:...
, but the marriage was not close, and Antoinette Marie made little, if any, contribution to her stepchildren's lives.
The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later in Brussels, where Adolphe Quetelet
Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. He founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences...
was one of their tutors. Like many other German princes, Albert studied at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
as a young adult. He studied law, political economy, philosophy, and art history. He played music and excelled in gymnastics, especially fencing and riding. His teachers in Bonn included the philosopher Fichte
Immanuel Hermann Fichte
Immanuel Hermann von Fichte was a German philosopher and son of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. In his philosophy, he was a theist and strongly opposed to the Hegelian School.-Life:...
and the poet Schlegel.
Marriage
By 1836, the idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, had arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle, LeopoldLeopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831. At this time, Victoria was the heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
to the British throne. Her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
, had died when she was a baby, and her childless elderly uncle, William IV
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
, was king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was the sister of both Albert's father—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and Leopold, King of the Belgians. Leopold arranged for his sister, Victoria's mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his two sons to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of meeting Victoria. King William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander
Prince Alexander of the Netherlands
Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau was born at Soestdijk Palace, the second son to King William II of The Netherlands and Queen Anna Paulowna,...
, second son of William II of the Netherlands
William II of the Netherlands
William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...
. Victoria was well aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes. She wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful." Alexander, on the other hand, was "very plain".
Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy." Although the parties did not undertake a formal engagement, both the family and their retainers widely assumed that the match would take place.
Victoria came to the throne aged just eighteen on 20 June 1837. Her letters of the time show interest in Albert's education for the role he would have to play, although she resisted attempts to rush her into marriage. In the winter of 1838–39, the prince visited Italy, accompanied by the Coburg family's confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar.
Albert returned to England with Ernest in October 1839 to visit the Queen, with the object of settling the marriage. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839. Victoria's intention to marry was declared formally to the Privy Council on 23 November, and the couple married on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal
Chapel Royal
A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...
, St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
. Just before the marriage, Albert was naturalised by Act of Parliament, and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council.
At first, he was not popular with the British public. He was perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county. The British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister . He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18-21, in the ways of politics...
, advised the Queen against granting her husband the title of "King Consort
King consort
King consort is an alternative title to the more usual "prince consort" - which is a position given in some monarchies to the husband of a reigning queen. It is a symbolic title only, the sole constitutional function of the holder being similar to a prince consort, which is the male equivalent of a...
". Parliament even refused to make Albert a peer—partly because of anti-German feeling and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role. Melbourne led a minority government and the opposition took advantage of the marriage to weaken his position further. They opposed the ennoblement of Albert and granted him a smaller annuity than previous consorts, £30,000 instead of the usual £50,000. Albert claimed that he had no need of a British peerage; he wrote, "It would almost be step downwards, for as a Duke of Saxony, I feel myself much higher than as a Duke of York or Kent". For the next seventeen years, Albert was formally titled "HRH Prince Albert" until, on 25 June 1857, Victoria formally granted him the title Prince Consort
Prince consort
A prince consort is the husband of a queen regnant who is not himself a king in his own right.Current examples include the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Prince Henrik of Denmark .In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal...
.
Consort of the Queen
The position in which the prince was placed by his marriage, while one of distinction, also offered considerable difficulties; in Albert's own words, "I am very happy and contented; but the difficulty in filling my place with the proper dignity is that I am only the husband, not the master in the house." The Queen's household was run by her former governess, Baroness Lehzen. Albert referred to her as the "House Dragon", and manoeuvred to dislodge the Baroness from her position.Within two months of the marriage, Victoria was pregnant. Albert started to take on public roles; he became President of the Society for the Extinction of Slavery (slavery had already been abolished throughout the British Empire, but was still lawful in places such as the United States and the colonies of France); and helped Victoria privately with her government paperwork. In June 1840, while on a public carriage ride, Albert and the pregnant Victoria were shot at by Edward Oxford
Edward Oxford
Edward Oxford was tried for high treason for attempting to assassinate Queen Victoria in 1840.The Queen was out riding on Constitution Hill with her husband, Prince Albert, on 10 June, when Oxford shot twice at the couple, missing both times. He was seized by onlookers, arrested and tried at the...
, who was later judged insane. Neither was hurt and Albert was praised in the newspapers for his courage and coolness during the attack. Albert was gaining public support as well as political influence, which showed itself practically when, in August, Parliament passed the Regency Act 1840 to designate him Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
in the event of Victoria's death before their child reached the age of majority. Their first child, Victoria
Victoria, Princess Royal
The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert. She was created Princess Royal of the United Kingdom in 1841. She became German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III...
, named after her mother, was born in November. Eight other children would follow over the next seventeen years. All nine children survived to adulthood, a fact which biographer Hermione Hobhouse credited to Albert's "enlightened influence" on the healthy running of the nursery. In early 1841, he successfully removed the nursery from Lehzen's pervasive control, and in September 1842, Lehzen left England permanently—much to Albert's relief.
After the 1841 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1841
-Seats summary:-Whig MPs who lost their seats:*Viscount Morpeth - Chief Secretary for Ireland*Sir George Strickland, Bt*Sir Henry Barron, 1st Baronet-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987...
, Melbourne was replaced as Prime Minister by Sir Robert Peel, who appointed Albert as chairman of the Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
in charge of redecorating the new Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. The Palace had burnt down seven years before
Burning of Parliament
Burning of Parliament is the popular name for the fire which destroyed the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, on 16 October 1834...
, and was being rebuilt. As a patron and purchaser of pictures and sculpture, the commission was set up to promote the fine arts in Britain. The commission's work was slow, and the architect, Charles Barry
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
, took many decisions out of the commissioners' hands by decorating rooms with ornate furnishings which were treated as part of the architecture. Albert was more successful as a private patron and collector. Among his notable purchases were early German and Italian paintings—such as Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
's Apollo and Diana and Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
's St. Peter Martyr—and contemporary pieces from Franz Xaver Winterhalter and Edwin Landseer. Dr. Ludwig Gruner, of Dresden, assisted Albert in buying pictures of the highest quality.
Albert and Victoria were shot at again on both 29 and 30 May 1842, but were unhurt. The culprit, John Francis, was detained and condemned to death, although he was later reprieved. Some of their early unpopularity came about because of their stiffness and adherence to protocol in public, though in private the couple were more easy-going. In early 1844, Victoria and Albert were apart for the first time since their marriage when he returned to Coburg on the death of his father.
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
as a private residence for their growing family. Over the next few years a house modelled in the style of an Italianate villa was built to the designs of Albert and Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt , born Buxton, Norfolk, was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.-Background:...
. Albert laid out the grounds, and improved the estate and farm. Albert managed and improved the other royal estates; his model farm at Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
was admired by his biographers, and under his stewardship the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall
Duchy of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the...
—the hereditary property of the Prince of Wales—steadily increased.
Unlike many landowners who approved of child labour and opposed Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
, Albert supported moves to raise working ages and free up trade. In 1846, Albert was rebuked by Lord George Bentinck
Lord George Bentinck
Lord George Frederick Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck , better known as simply Lord George Bentinck, was an English Conservative politician and racehorse owner, best known for his role in unseating Sir Robert Peel over the Corn Laws.Bentinck was a younger son of the 4th Duke of Portland, and elected a...
when he attended the debate on the Corn Laws in the House of Commons to give tacit support to Peel. During Peel's premiership, Albert's authority behind, or beside, the throne became more apparent. He had access to all the Queen's papers, was drafting her correspondence and was present when she met her ministers, or even saw them alone in her absence. The clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville, wrote of him: "He is King to all intents and purposes."
Reformer and innovator
In 1847, he was elected ChancellorChancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, but only after a close contest
University of Cambridge Chancellor election, 1847
An election for the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge was held on 25-27 February 1847, after the death of the Duke of Northumberland. Many senior figures in the university hoped that Prince Albert, the Prince Consort could be persuaded to stand and elected unopposed, but a group from St...
with the Earl of Powis
Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis
- External links :...
, who was killed accidentally by his own son during a pheasant shoot the following year. Albert used his position as Chancellor to campaign successfully for reformed and more modern university curricula, expanding the subjects taught beyond the traditional mathematics and classics to include modern history and the natural sciences.
That summer, Victoria and Albert spent a rainy holiday in the west of Scotland at Loch Laggan
Loch Laggan
Loch Laggan is a freshwater loch situated east of Fort William, in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. The A86 road from Spean Bridge to Kingussie follows along its north bank...
, but heard from their doctor, Sir James Clark, that his son had enjoyed dry, sunny days further east at Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
. The tenant of Balmoral, Sir Robert Gordon
Robert Gordon (diplomat)
Sir Robert Gordon GCB GCH PC was a British diplomat.Gordon was a younger son of George Gordon, Lord Haddo and a brother of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen...
, died suddenly in early October, and Albert began negotiations to take over the lease of the castle from the owner, the Earl Fife
James Duff, 4th Earl Fife
James Duff, 4th Earl of Fife KT, GCH , was a Scot who became a Spanish general.-Biography:James was the elder son of the Hon. Alexander Duff, who succeeded his brother as third Earl Fife in 1809...
. In May the following year, Albert leased Balmoral, which he had never visited, and in September 1848 he, his wife and the older children went there for the first time. They came to relish the privacy it afforded.
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
as the result of a widespread economic crisis. Throughout the year, Victoria and Albert complained about Foreign Secretary Palmerston's
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
independent foreign policy, which they believed destabilised foreign European powers further. Albert was concerned for many of his royal relatives, a number of whom were deposed. He and Victoria, who gave birth to their daughter Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
during that year, spent some time away from London in the relative safety of Osborne. Although there were sporadic demonstrations in England, no effective revolutionary action took place, and Albert even gained public acclaim when he expressed paternalistic, yet well-meaning and philanthropic, views. In a speech to the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, of which he was President, he expressed his "sympathy and interest for that class of our community who have most of the toil and fewest of the enjoyments of this world". It was the "duty of those who, under the blessings of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education" to assist those less fortunate than themselves.
A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas, Albert not only led reforms in university education, welfare, the royal finances and slavery, he had a special interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry. The Great Exhibition of 1851 arose from the annual exhibitions of the Society of Arts, of which Albert was President from 1843, and owed the greater part of its success to his efforts to promote it. Albert served as president of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the international exhibition of 1851, officially called the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, held in The Crystal Palace in London, England...
, and had to fight for every stage of the project. In the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, Lord Brougham
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux was a British statesman who became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.As a young lawyer in Scotland Brougham helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802 and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, and was called to the English bar in...
fulminated against the proposal to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
. Opponents of the exhibition prophesied that foreign rogues and revolutionists would overrun England, subvert the morals of the people, and destroy their faith. Albert thought such talk absurd and quietly persevered, trusting always that British manufacturing would benefit from exposure to the best products of foreign countries.
The Queen opened the exhibition in a specially designed and built glass building known as the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
on 1 May 1851. It proved a colossal success. A surplus of £180,000 was used to purchase land in South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
on which to establish educational and cultural institutions – including what would later be named the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
. The area was referred to as "Albertopolis
Albertopolis
Albertopolis is the area centred on South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, London, England, between Cromwell Road and Kensington Gore, which contains a large number of educational and cultural sites, including:*Imperial College London...
" by sceptics.
Family and public life (1852–1859)
In 1852, a timely legacy to the Royal Family made it possible for Albert to obtain the freeholdFreehold (Scots law)
In certain jurisdictions, including England and Scotland, a freehold is the ownership of real property, being the land and all immovable structures attached to such land. This is opposed to a leasehold in which the property reverts to the owner of the land after the lease period has expired...
of Balmoral, and as usual he embarked on an extensive program of improvements. The same year, he was appointed to several of the offices left vacant by the death of the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
, including the mastership of Trinity House
Trinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
and the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards. With Wellington out of the picture, Albert was able to propose and campaign for modernisation of the army, which was long overdue. Thinking that the military was unready for war, and that Christian rule was preferable to Islamic rule, Albert counselled a diplomatic solution to conflict between the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and Ottoman empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s. Palmerston was more bellicose, and favoured a policy which would prevent further Russian expansion. Palmerston was manoeuvred out of the cabinet in December 1853, but at about the same time a Russian fleet attacked the Ottoman fleet at anchor at Sinop
Battle of Sinop
The Battle of Sinop, or the Battle of Sinope, took place on 30 November 1853 at Sinop, a sea port in northern Anatolia, when Imperial Russian warships struck and annihilated a patrol force of Ottoman ships anchored in the harbor...
. The London press depicted the attack as a criminal massacre, and Palmerston's popularity surged as Albert's fell. Within two weeks, Palmerston was re-appointed as a minister. As public outrage at the Russian action continued, absurd rumours circulated that Albert had been arrested for treason. By March 1854, Britain and Russia were embroiled in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. Early British optimism soon faded as the press reported that British troops were ill-equipped and mismanaged by aged generals using out-of-date tactics and strategy. The conflict dragged on as the Russians were as poorly prepared as their opponents. The Prime Minister, the Earl of Aberdeen, resigned and Palmerston succeeded him. A negotiated settlement eventually put an end to the war with the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
. During the war, Albert arranged to marry his fourteen-year-old daughter, Victoria, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia
Frederick III, German Emperor
Frederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl known informally as Fritz, was the only son of Emperor William I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service...
, though Albert delayed the marriage until Victoria was seventeen. Albert hoped that his daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n state.
Albert involved himself in promoting many public educational institutions. Chiefly at meetings in connection with these he spoke of the need for better schooling. A collection of his speeches was published in 1857. Recognised as a supporter of education and technological progress, he was invited to speak at scientific meetings, such as the memorable address he delivered as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. His espousal of science spawned opposition from the Church. His proposal of a knighthood for Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, after the publication of On the Origin of Species, was rejected.
Albert continued to devote himself to the education of his family and the management of the royal household. His children's governess, Lady Lyttelton
Sarah Lyttelton, Baroness Lyttelton
Sarah Lyttelton, Baroness Lyttelton was a British courtier, governess to Edward VII of the United Kingdom and wife of William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton....
, thought him unusually kind and patient, and described him joining in family games with enthusiasm. He felt keenly the departure of his eldest daughter for Prussia when she married her fiancé at the beginning of 1858, and was disappointed that his eldest son, the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, did not respond well to the intense educational programme that Albert had designed for him. At the age of seven, the Prince of Wales was expected to take six hours of instruction, including an hour of German and an hour of French every day. When the Prince of Wales failed at his lessons, Albert caned him. Corporal punishment was common at the time, and was not thought unduly harsh. Albert's biographer Roger Fulford
Roger Fulford
Sir Roger Thomas Baldwin Fulford CVO was an English journalist, historian, writer and politician.In the 1930s, he completed the editing of the standard edition of the diaries of Charles Greville. From the 1930s to the 1960s, he wrote several important biographies and other works...
wrote that the relationships between the family members were "friendly, affectionate and normal ... there is no evidence either in the Royal Archives or in the printed authorities to justify the belief that the relations between the Prince and his eldest son were other than deeply affectionate." Philip Magnus wrote in his biography of Albert's eldest son that Albert "tried to treat his children as equals; and they were able to penetrate his stiffness and reserve because they realised instinctively not only that he loved them but that he enjoyed and needed their company."
Final year
During a trip to Coburg in the autumn of 1860, Albert was driving alone in a carriage drawn by four horses that suddenly bolted. As the horses continued to gallop toward a stationary wagon waiting at a railway crossing, Albert jumped for his life from the carriage. One of the horses was killed in the collision, and Albert was badly shaken, though his only physical injuries were cuts and bruises. He told his brother and eldest daughter that he sensed his time had come.In 1861, Victoria's mother and Albert's aunt, the Duchess of Kent, died and Victoria was grief-stricken; Albert took on most of the Queen's duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble. In August, Victoria and Albert visited the Curragh Camp
Curragh Camp
The Curragh Camp is an army base and military college located in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Army.- Brief history of the Curragh's military heritage :...
, Ireland, where the Prince of Wales was doing army service. At Curragh, the Prince of Wales was introduced, by his fellow officers, to Nellie Clifden, an Irish actress.
By November, Victoria and Albert had returned to Windsor, and the Prince of Wales had returned to Cambridge, where he was a student. Two of Albert's cousins, King Pedro V
Pedro V of Portugal
* Duke of Barcelos* Marquis of Vila Viçosa* Count of Ourém* Count of Barcelos* Count of Arraiolos* Count of Guimarães-Honours:* Knight of the Garter* Knight of the Golden Fleece-Ancestry:...
and Prince Ferdinand of Portugal
Prince Ferdinand of Portugal
Infante Ferdinand of Portugal was the fourth son of King Ferdinand II and Queen Maria II of Portugal....
, died of typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
. On top of this news, Albert was informed that gossip was spreading in gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
s and the foreign press that the Prince of Wales was still involved with Nellie Clifden. Albert and Victoria were horrified by their son's indiscretion, and feared blackmail, scandal or pregnancy. Although Albert was ill and at a low ebb, he travelled to Cambridge to see the Prince of Wales to discuss his son's indiscreet affair.
When the Trent Affair
Trent affair
The Trent Affair, also known as the Mason and Slidell Affair, was an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War...
—the forcible removal of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
envoys from a British ship by Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
forces during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
—threatened war between the United States and Britain, Albert was gravely ill, but intervened to soften the British diplomatic response. On 9 December, one of Albert's doctors, William Jenner
Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet
thumb|right|"Physic"Jenner as caricatured by Spy in [[Vanity Fair |Vanity Fair]], April 1873Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet was a significant English physician primarily known for having discovered the distinction between typhus and typhoid.-Biography:Jenner was born at Chatham on 30 January...
, diagnosed typhoid fever. Congestion of the lungs supervened, and Albert died at 10:50 p.m. on 14 December 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
, in the presence of the Queen and five of their nine children. The contemporary diagnosis was typhoid fever, but modern writers have pointed out that Albert was ill for at least two years before his death, which may indicate that a chronic disease, such as renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...
or cancer, was the cause of death.
Legacy
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
should remain above politics. Before his marriage to Victoria, she supported the Whigs
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
; for example, early in her reign Victoria managed to thwart the formation of a Tory government
Bedchamber Crisis
The Bedchamber crisis occurred in May 1839 after Whig politician Lord Melbourne had resigned as Prime Minister. Queen Victoria invited Tory politician Robert Peel to form a new government...
by Sir Robert Peel by refusing to accept substitutions which Peel wanted to make among her ladies-in-waiting.
Albert's body was temporarily entombed in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England, United Kingdom. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter...
. The mausoleum at Frogmore
Frogmore
The Frogmore Estate or Gardens comprise of private gardens within the grounds of the Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in the English county of Berkshire. The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying and marshy area.It is the location of Frogmore...
, in which his remains were deposited a year after his death, was not fully completed until 1871. The sarcophagus, in which both he and the Queen were eventually laid, was carved from the largest block of granite that had ever been quarried in Britain. Despite Albert's request that no effigies of him should be raised, many public monuments were erected all over the country, and across the British Empire. The most notable are the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and the Albert Memorial
Albert Memorial
The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, London, England, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861. The memorial was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the...
in London. The plethora of memorials erected to Albert became so great that Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
told a friend that he sought an "inaccessible cave" to escape from them.
All manner of objects are named after Prince Albert, from Lake Albert in Africa to the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...
, to the Albert Medal
Albert Medal (RSA)
The Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, who had been President of the Society for 18 years. It was first awarded in 1864 for "distinguished merit in promoting Arts, Manufactures and Commerce"...
presented by the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
. Four regiments of the British Army were named after him: 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars; Prince Albert's Light Infantry; Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, and The Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade. He and Queen Victoria showed a keen interest in the establishment and development of Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
as a garrison town
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
in the 1850s. They had a wooden Royal Pavilion built there in which they would often stay when attending reviews of the army. Albert established and endowed the Prince Consort's Library at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, which still exists today.
Biographies published after his death were typically heavy on eulogy. Theodore Martin
Theodore Martin
Sir Theodore Martin KCB KCVO was a Scottish poet, biographer, and translator.-Biography:Martin was the son of James Martin, a solicitor in Edinburgh, where Theodore was born and educated at the Royal High School and University...
's five-volume magnum opus was authorised and supervised by Queen Victoria, and her influence shows in its pages. Nevertheless, it is an accurate and exhaustive account. Lytton Strachey
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit...
's Queen Victoria (1921) was more critical, but it was discredited in part by mid-twentieth-century biographers such as Hector Bolitho
Hector Bolitho
Hector Bolitho was a prolific author, novelist and biographer. In total, he had 59 books published.-Biography:...
and Roger Fulford
Roger Fulford
Sir Roger Thomas Baldwin Fulford CVO was an English journalist, historian, writer and politician.In the 1930s, he completed the editing of the standard edition of the diaries of Charles Greville. From the 1930s to the 1960s, he wrote several important biographies and other works...
, who (unlike Strachey) had access to Victoria's journal and letters. Popular myths about Prince Albert—such as the claim that he introduced Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
s to Britain—are dismissed by scholars. Recent biographers, such as Stanley Weintraub
Stanley Weintraub
Stanley Weintraub is a professor, historian, and biographer. He is an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub, followed by siblings Herbert and Gladys...
, portray Albert as a figure in a tragic romance, who died too soon and was mourned by his lover for a lifetime. In the 2009 movie The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria is a 2009 period drama film based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Sarah, Duchess of...
, Albert, played by Rupert Friend
Rupert Friend
Rupert Friend is an English film actor, who is best known for his roles as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Prince Albert in the 2009 film The Young Victoria.-Career:He made his debut in the film The...
, is made into an heroic character; in the fictionalised depiction of the 1842 shooting, he is grazed by a bullet—something that did not happen in real life.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 26 August 1819 – 12 November 1826: His Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duke of Saxony - 12 November 1826 – 6 February 1840: His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony
- 6 February 1840 – 25 June 1857: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony
- 25 June 1857 – 14 December 1861: His Royal Highness The Prince Consort
Honours
British Empire- KG: Knight of the GarterOrder of the GarterThe Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
, 16 December 1839 - KT: Knight of the ThistleOrder of the ThistleThe Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order...
- KP: Knight of St Patrick
- GMB: Great Master of the Order of the BathOrder of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
- KSI: Knight Companion of the Star of IndiaOrder of the Star of IndiaThe Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
- GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
Foreign
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
Arms
On his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840, Prince Albert was granted his own personal coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, which was the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion...
with a three-point label
Label (heraldry)
In heraldry, a label is a charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung. It is usually a mark of difference, but has sometimes been borne simply as a charge in its own right....
bearing a red cross in the centre, quartered
Quartering (heraldry)
Quartering in heraldry is a method of joining several different coats of arms together in one shield by dividing the shield into equal parts and placing different coats of arms in each division....
with the arms of Saxony
Coat of arms of Saxony
-See also:*Royal Arms of England*Coat of arms of Portugal*Coat of arms of Belgium*Coat of arms of Bulgaria...
. The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
is written as: "Quarterly, 1st and 4th, the Royal Arms, with overall a label of three points Argent
Argent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
charged on the centre with cross Gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
; 2nd and 3rd, Barry of ten Or
Or (heraldry)
In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
and Sable
Sable
The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
, a crown of rue in bend
Bend (heraldry)
In heraldry, a bend is a coloured band running from the upper right corner of the shield to the lower left . Writers differ in how much of the field they say it covers, ranging from one-fifth up to one-third...
Vert
Vert
The colour green is commonly found in modern flags and coat of arms, and to a lesser extent also in the classical heraldry of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period....
". The Prince's peculiar arms was a "singular example of quartering differenced arms, [which] is not in accordance with the rules of Heraldry, and is in itself an heraldic contradiction." Prior to his marriage he used the arms of his father, undifferenced.
On his stallplate as a Knight of the Garter his arms are ensigned by a royal crown and show the six crests of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; these are from left to right: 1. "A bull's head caboshed Gules armed and ringed Argent, crowned Or, the rim chequy Gules and Argent" for Mark. 2. "Out of a coronet Or, two buffalo's horns Argent, attached to the outer edge of each five branches fess
Fess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
wise each with three linden leaves Vert" for Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
. 3. "Out of a coronet Or, a pyramidal chapeau charged with the arms of Saxony ensigned by a plume of peacock's feathers Proper out of a coronet also Or" for Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
. 4. "A bearded man in profile couped below the shoulders clothed paly Argent and Gules, the pointed coronet similarly paly terminating in a plume of three peacock's feathers" for Meissen
Meissen
Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...
. 5. "A demi griffin displayed Or, winged Sable, collared and langued Gules" for Jülich
Jülich
Jülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle...
. 6. "Out of a coronet Or, a panache of peacock's feathers Proper" for Berg
Berg (state)
Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.-Ascent:...
.
The supporters were the crowned lion of England and the unicorn of Scotland (as in the English Royal Arms) charged on the shoulder with a label as in the arms. Albert's personal motto is the German Treu und Fest, which translates as Loyal and Sure. This motto was also used by Prince Albert's Own or the 11th Hussars
11th Hussars
The 11th Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army.-History:The regiment was founded in 1715 as Colonel Philip Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons and was known by the name of its Colonel until 1751 when it became the 11th Regiment of Dragoons...
.
All of Albert's male-line descendants were entitled to bear an inescutcheon of the arms of Saxony at the centre of their respective coat of arms. The inescutcheon was placed, as Charles Boutell
Charles Boutell
The Rev. Charles Boutell was a Norfolk archaeologist, antiquary and clergyman, publishing books on brasses, arms and armour and heraldry, often illustrated by his own drawings....
writes, as an "escutcheon of pretence"; he continued that "This does not appear to be in accordance with either the spirit or the practical usage of true historical Heraldry". However in 1917, during the First World War, King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
abandoned heraldic references to the royal family's German heritage, and the Saxon shield was removed.
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal Victoria, Princess Royal The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert. She was created Princess Royal of the United Kingdom in 1841. She became German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III... |
21 November 1840 | 5 August 1901 | married 1858, Frederick III, German Emperor Frederick III, German Emperor Frederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl known informally as Fritz, was the only son of Emperor William I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service... ; had issue |
| Edward VII Edward VII of the United Kingdom Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910... |
9 November 1841 | 6 May 1910 | married 1863, Princess Alexandra of Denmark Alexandra of Denmark Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom... ; had issue |
| The Princess Alice Princess Alice of the United Kingdom The Princess Alice was a member of the British royal family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.Alice's education was devised by Albert's close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar... |
25 April 1843 | 14 December 1878 | married 1862, Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; had issue |
| The Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Edinburgh Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and reigned from 1893 to 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha... |
6 August 1844 | 30 July 1900 | married 1874, Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia; had issue |
| The Princess Helena Princess Helena of the United Kingdom Princess Helena was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.... |
23 or 25 May 1846 | 9 June 1923 | married 1866, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein was a minor German prince who became a member of the British Royal Family through his marriage to Princess Helena of the United Kingdom , the fifth child and third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of... ; had issue |
| The Princess Louise Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the... |
18 March 1848 | 3 December 1939 | married 1871, John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC , usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman and was the fourth Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883... ; no issue |
| The Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and... |
1 May 1850 | 16 January 1942 | married 1879, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia; had issue |
| The Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany The Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany was the eighth child and fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow... |
7 April 1853 | 28 March 1884 | married 1882, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont; had issue |
| The Princess Beatrice Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom The Princess Beatrice was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Juan Carlos, King of Spain, is her great-grandson... |
14 April 1857 | 26 October 1944 | married 1885, Prince Henry of Battenberg Prince Henry of Battenberg Colonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:... ; had issue |
Prince Albert's 40 grandchildren included four reigning monarchs: King George V of the United Kingdom
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
; Wilhelm II, German Emperor; Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Ernest Louis Charles Albert William , was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1892 until 1918...
; and Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the fourth and last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, two duchies in Germany , and the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1900 until his death in 1954...
. Albert's many descendants include royalty and nobility throughout Europe.
Ancestry
See also
- John BrownJohn Brown (servant)John Brown was a Scottish personal servant and favourite of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom for many years. He was appreciated by many for his competence and companionship, and resented by others for his influence and informal manner...
- List of coupled cousins
- Royal Albert Memorial MuseumRoyal Albert Memorial MuseumRoyal Albert Memorial Museum on Queen Street, Exeter, Devon, England is the largest museum in the city.-History:Initially proposed by Sir Stafford Northcote as a practical memorial to Prince Albert, an appeal fund was launched in 1861 and the first phases of the building were completed by 1868...
External links
- The collected compositions of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, edited by W. G. Cusins; from Sibley Music LibrarySibley Music LibrarySibley Music Library is the library of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY. It was founded in 1904 by Hiram Watson Sibley in honor of his father Hiram Sibley and is currently the largest university music library in the US.-History:...
Digital Scores Collection - Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at the Royal CollectionRoyal CollectionThe Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...