Albert Prince of England
- Category : Notable-Famous-Royal-family
- Type : MGP
- Profile : 3/5 - Martyr / Heretic
- Definition : Split - Small (5,10,33,44,45)
- Incarnation Cross : RAX The Sleeping Phoenix 3
Categories
Biography
German nobleman who married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, and became Prince Consort. His original name was Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; German: Franz Albrecht August Karl Manuel, Prince von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha.) Prince Albert was the father of King Edward VII. Undeservedly unpopular, his help and support to the Queen proved invaluable. He was highly accomplished in hunting, arts, sciences and was sternly moral.
Albert was the younger son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Educated in Brussels and Bonn, in 1839 he visited his cousin, young Queen Victoria, in London. Although Victoria immediately fell in love with him, he had some initial reservations. However, she proposed to him on 15 october 1839 and they were married on 10 February 1840. They had nine children.
Albert acted as Victoria’s private secretary and chief confidential advisor. In this role, he helped her achieve discipline and restraint - she was known for being indolent. His German background made him suspect to some of Victoria’s other advisors and he was rarely consulted by them on matters of state. After the death of her favorite politician, Lord Melbourne, in 1848 Albert gained even greater influence. He persuaded her to consider social problems, such as child labor laws. At his urging, she withdrew from political partisanship and became neutral. He suggested less ultimatum-like rewording of foreign dispatches during disputes with Prussia in 1856 and the United States in 1861 that were at least partly responsible for their peaceful resolution.
Albert had a keen interest in the arts and sciences and planned and managed the Great Exhibition in 1851. With the London contractor, Albert designed Osborne House, the royal residence on the Isle of Wight. In 1857 he was given the title of Prince Consort.
He was planning another for Exhibition in 1862 when he became fatally ill. He died of typhoid fever at 10:50pm on 14 December 1861 at Windsor, Berkshire, England. It wasn’t until after his death that the public finally realized his exceptional qualities. The Queen spent three years in the depths of depression and mourning, and even after that time balked at public appearances and spent four months of the year at Balmoral and Osborne. The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, designed by Sir George Scott, was erected in his memory in 1871.