Albert, Prince Consort
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. At the age of 20, he married his cousin, Victoria; they had nine children. Initially he felt constrained by his role of prince consort, which did not afford him power or responsibilities. He gradually developed a reputation for supporting public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery worldwide. He died at the relatively young age of 42; Victoria was so devastated at the loss of her husband that she entered into a deep state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life.
About Albert, Prince Consort in brief
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Albert was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxo-Saalfeld to a family connected to many of Europe’s ruling monarchs. At the age of 20, he married his cousin, Victoria; they had nine children. Initially he felt constrained by his role of prince consort, which did not afford him power or responsibilities. He gradually developed a reputation for supporting public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery worldwide. He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which was a resounding success. He aided the development of Britain’s constitutional monarchy by persuading his wife to be less partisan in her dealings with Parliament. Albert died at the relatively young age of 42; Victoria was so devastated at the loss of her husband that she entered into a deep state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life. On her death in 1901, their eldest son succeeded as Edward VII, the first British monarch of the House ofSaxe-coburg-gotha, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged. Albert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in a close companionship marred 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 Pölzig and Beiersdorf. She presumably never saw her children again, and died of cancer in 1831. The following year, their father married his niece, his sons’ cousin Princess Marie of Württemberg; their marriage was not close, and Marie had little—if any—impact on her stepchildren’s lives. Like many other German princes, Albert attended the University of Bonn, where he studied law, political economy, philosophy and the history of art. He played music and excelled at sport, especially fencing and riding. His tutors at Bonn included the philosopher Fichte and the poet Schlegel. In 1825, Albert’s great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxa-Gotha-Altenburg, died. Albert’s father became the first reigning duke of Saxi-C Coburg-G Gotha. His godparents were his paternal grandmother and his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Teschen; the Emperor of Austria; and Emanuel, Count. of Mensdorff-Pouilly. Albert had a close relationship with his uncle Leopold, who had also been King of the Belgians since 1836. At this time, Victoria was the heir presumptive to the British throne. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, was the sister of his father, King George III, the fourth son of King William IV.
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