Prince Albert (Born on August 26, 1819, at Rosenau castle near Cobourg, and died on December 13, 1861, at Windsor Castle), was a German Prince who married Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Prince Albert was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld, into a family associated with numerous of Europe’s ruling monarchs. At age 20 he married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, with whom he had 9 children.
At the beginning of his marriage, Alberto felt limited by his position as consort, which did not confer any power or responsibility; however, over time he adopted many public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery worldwide, and assumed the administration of the queen’s staff, property, and office.
He was heavily involved in the organization of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Helped develop constitutional monarchy from the United Kingdom by convincing his wife to be less partisan in her relations with Parliament, although she strongly disagreed with the interventionist foreign policy followed during Lord Palmerston’s tenure as Foreign Secretary.
He died at the age of 42, which plunged the queen into a deep duel that lasted the rest of her life. After Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, her eldest son Edward VII succeeded her as the first British monarch of the House of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged.
Quick Facts: Prince Albert
- Known for: Queen Victoria’s husband, statesman
- Also known as: Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
- Born: August 26, 1819, in Rosenau, Germany
- Parents: Duke of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Louise of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg
- Died: December 13, 1861, in Windsor, Berkshire, England
- Education: University of Bonn
- Spouse: Queen Victoria
- Children: Victoria Adelaide Mary, Albert Edward, Alice Maud Mary, Alfred Ernest Albert, Helena Augusta Victoria, Louise Caroline Alberta, Arthur William Patrick, Leopold George Duncan, Beatrice Mary Victoria
- Notable quote: “I am only the man and not the man in the house.”
Early Life
Prince Albert was born on August 26, 1819, in Rosenau, Germany. He was the second son of the Duke of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha and Luise Pauline Charlotte Friederike Auguste, Princess Louise of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg, and was strongly influenced by his uncle Leopold, who became King of Belgium in 1831.
As a teenager, Albert traveled to the United Kingdom and met Princess Victoria, who was his first cousin and almost his age. They were friendly, but Victoria wasn’t impressed with young Albert, who was shy and awkward. He studied at the University of Bonn in Germany.
The British were interested in finding a suitable man for the young princess to be enthroned. British political tradition ruled that a monarch was not a commoner, and the British pool of suitable candidates was small, so Victoria’s future husband could have come from European royalty.
A flirtation with Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich, heir to the Russian throne, was warm and mutual, but the marriage was considered strategic, politically, and geographically impossible, so spouses looked elsewhere.
Albert’s relatives on the continent, including King Leopold of Belgium, essentially drove the young man to become Victoria’s man. In 1839, two years after Victoria became queen, Albert returned to England. She suggests marriage and he accepts.
The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Queen Victoria married Albert on February 10, 1840, at St. James Palace in London. At first, the British public and aristocracy thought little of Albert. While he was born to the European royal family, his family was not rich or powerful.
He was often portrayed as marrying someone for prestige or money. Albert was very intelligent, however, and was dedicated to helping his wife serve as a monarch. Over time, he became an indispensable helper to the Queen, advising her on political and diplomatic matters.
Victoria and Albert had nine children, and from all accounts, their marriage was very happy. They loved being together, sometimes sketching or listening to music. The royal family was portrayed as the ideal family, and an important part of their role was considered for the British public by example.
Albert also contributed to a tradition familiar to Americans. His German family brought trees into the house for Christmas and he brought this tradition to Britain. The Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created away in Britain that was carried across the ocean.
Career
In the early years of marriage, Albert was frustrated that Victoria had not assigned him tasks that he felt up to his skills. He wrote to a friend that he was “just the man, not the man in the house.”
Albert made me interested in music and hunting, but he eventually became involved in serious state affairs. In 1848, when Europe was shaken a lot by the revolutionary movement, Albert warned that the rights of working people had to be taken seriously. He was a progressive voice at a crucial time.
Thanks to Albert’s interest in technology, he was the driving force behind the 1851 World’s Fair, a great show of science and inventions to a stunning new building in London, Crystal Palace. The exhibition is meant to show how society has been changed for the better by science and technology, which was a great success.
During the 1850s, Albert was often deep in state affairs. He was known for clashing with Lord Palmerston, a very influential British politician who served as Foreign Secretary and also Prime Minister. In the mid-1850s, when Albert warned against the Crimean War against Russia, some in Britain accused him of being pro-Russian.
While Prince Albert was influential, for the first 15 years of his marriage he did not receive a royal title from parliament. Victoria was concerned that her husband’s rank was not clearly defined. In 1857, the official title of Prince Consort was finally awarded to Albert by Queen Victoria.
Prince Albert Children
Albert had nine children with his wife Queen Victoria:
- Victoria Adelaide Mary (born November 21, 1840, and died on August 5, 1901), Princess Royal [Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia]
- Albert Edward (born November 9, 1841, and died on May 6, 1910), Prince of Wales, as Edward VII King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India [Princess Alexandra of Denmark]
- Alice Maud Mary (born April 25, 1843, and died on December 14, 1878) [Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse]
- Alfred Ernest Albert (born August 6, 1844, and died on July 31, 1900), Duke of Edinburgh and ruling Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha [Grand Duchess Maria of Russia]
- Helena Augusta Victoria (* May 25, 1846; and died on June 6, 1923) [Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg]
- Louise Caroline Alberta (born March 18, 1848, and died on December 3, 1939) [John Campbell, Duke of Argyll]
- Arthur William Patrick (born May 1, 1850, and died on January 16, 1942), Duke of Connaught and Strathearn [Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia]
- Leopold George Duncan (born April 7, 1853, and died on March 28, 1884), Duke of Albany [Princess Helene von Waldeck-Pyrmont]
- Beatrice Mary Victoria (born April 14, 1857, and died on October 26, 1944) [Prince Heinrich von Battenberg]
Prince Albert Death
Prince Albert Death in late 1861, Albert was infected with typhoid fever, a serious but not usually fatal one. His habit of working long hours weakened him and he suffered a lot from the illness. Hope for his recovery dimed and he died on December 13, 1861. His death was a shock to the British public, especially when he was only 42 years old.
On his deathbed, he was involved in helping to lower tensions with the United States over an incident at Lake Albert. An American Navy ship had a British ship that stopped Trent and seized two emissaries from the Confederate government during the early stages of the American Civil War.
Some in Britain took American naval action as a serious insult and wanted to go to war with the United States. Albert regarded the United States as a nation-friendly country to Britain and helped to control the British government, which would have been a senseless war.
The death of her husband devastated Queen Victoria. Her grief also seemed to exaggerate the people of her own time. Victoria lived as a widow for 40 years and was always seen wearing black, which contributed to her picture as a grumpy, remote figure. In fact, the term Victorian often means a seriousness that is due to Victoria’s Image as someone in deep grief.