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ALBERT (FRANCIS CHARLES AUGUSTUS ALBE...

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 496 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALBERT (See also:FRANCIS See also:CHARLES See also:AUGUSTUS ALBERT See also:EMMANUEL) (1819—1861) , See also:prince-See also:consort of See also:England, was See also:born at Rosenau on the 26th of See also:August 1819. He was the second son of the hereditary See also:duke of See also:Saxe-See also:Coburg-See also:Gotha (belonging to the Ernestine or See also:elder See also:branch of the royal See also:family of See also:Saxony) by his first wife, the princess See also:Louise of Saxe-Gotha-See also:Altenburg (d. 1831), from whom the duke was separated in 1824. His See also:father's See also:sister married the duke of See also:Kent, and her daughter, afterwards See also:Queen See also:Victoria of England, Prince Albert's wife, was thus his first See also:cousin. They were born in the same See also:year. Albert and his elder See also:brother, Ernest, were See also:close companions in youth, and were educated under the care of Consistorialrath Florschtitz, subsequently proceeding to the university of See also:Bonn. There Prince Albert devoted himself especially to natural See also:science, See also:political See also:economy and See also:philosophy, having for teachers such men as See also:Fichte, See also:Schlegel and See also:Perthes; he diligently cultivated See also:music and See also:painting, and excelled in gymnastic exercises, especially in See also:fencing. The See also:idea of a See also:marriage between him and his cousin Victoria had always been cherished by their See also:uncle, See also:King See also:Leopold I. of See also:Belgium, and in May 1836 the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his two sons paid a visit to See also:Kensington See also:Palace, where Princess Victoria,, as she then was, lived, for the purpose of making acquaintance for the first See also:time. The visit was by no means to the See also:taste of King See also:William IV., who disapproved of the match and favoured Prince See also:Alexander of See also:Orange. But Leopold's See also:plan was known to Princess Victoria, and William's objections were fruitless. Princess Victoria, See also:writing to her uncle Leopold (May 23, 1836), said that Albert was " extremely handsome "; and (See also:June 7) thanked him for the " prospect of See also:great happiness you have contributed to give me in the See also:person of dear Albert. He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy." No formal engagement was entered into, but the situation was privately understood as one which in time would naturally develop.

After the queen came to the See also:

throne, her letters show her See also:interest in Albert's being educated for the See also:part he would have to See also:play. In the See also:winter of 1838—1839 the prince travelled in See also:Italy, accompanied by See also:Baron See also:Stockmar, formerly Leopold's See also:doctor and private secretary, and now the queen's confidential adviser. On the loth of See also:October 1839 he and Ernest went again to England to visit the queen, with the See also:object of finally settling the marriage. Mutual inclination and See also:affection at once brought about' the desired result. They became definitely engaged on the 15th of October, and on the loth of See also:February 184o the marriage was celebrated at the See also:chapel-royal, St See also:James's. The position in which the prince was placed by his marriage, while it was one of distinguished See also:honour, was also one of consider-able difficulty; and during his lifetime the tactful way in which he filled it was very inadequately appreciated. The public See also:life of the prince-consort cannot be separated from that of the queen, and it is unnecessary here to repeat such details as are given in the See also:article on her (see VICTORIA, QUEEN). The See also:prejudice against him, on See also:account of what was regarded as undue See also:influence in politics, was never fully dissipated till after his See also:death. His co-operation with the queen in dealing with the political responsibilities which devolved upon the See also:sovereign represented an amountof conscientious and self-sacrificing labour which cannot easily be exaggerated; and his See also:wisdom in See also:council could only be realized, outside a very small circle, when in later years the materials for the See also:history of that time became accessible. He was indeed a See also:man of cultured and liberal ideas, well qualified to take the See also:lead in many reforms which the England of that See also:day sorely needed. He was specially interested in endeavours to secure the more perfect application of science and See also:art to manufacturing See also:industry. The Great See also:Exhibition of 1851 originated in a See also:suggestion he made at a See also:meeting of the Society of Arts, and owed the greater part of its success to his intelligent and unwearied efforts.

He had to See also:

work for its realization against an extraordinary out-burst of angry expostulations. Every See also:stage in his project was combated. In the See also:House of Peers, See also:Lord See also:Brougham denied the right of the See also:crown to hold the exhibition in See also:Hyde See also:Park; in the See also:Commons, See also:Colonel See also:Sibthorp prophesied that England would be overrun with See also:foreign rogues and revolutionists, who would subvert the morals of the See also:people, filch their See also:trade secrets from them, and destroy their faith and See also:loyalty towards their See also:religion and their sovereign. Prince Albert was See also:president of the exhibition See also:commission, and every See also:post brought him abusive letters, accusing him, as a foreigner, of being See also:intent upon the corruption of England. He was not the man to be balked by talk of this See also:kind, but quietly persevered, looking always to the See also:probability that the manufacturing See also:power of Great See also:Britain would be quickened by bringing the best manufactured products of foreign. countries under the eyes of the See also:mechanics and artisans. A sense of the See also:artistic was at this time almost wholly wanting among the See also:English people. One day the prince had a conversation with a great manufacturer of crockery, and sought to convert him to the idea of issuing something better than the eternal See also:willow-See also:pattern in See also:white with See also:gold, red or See also:blue, which ,formed the See also:staple of See also:middle and See also:lower class domestic See also:china. The manufacturer held out that new shapes and designs would not be saleable; but he was induced to try, and he did so with such a rapid success that a revolution in the china cupboards of England was accomplished from that time. The exhibition was opened by the queen on the 1st of May 1851, and was a See also:colossal success; and the realized surplus of £150,000 went to establish and endow the See also:South Kensington Museum (afterwards renamed "Victoria and Albert") and to See also:purchase See also:land in that neighbourhood. Similar institutions, on a smaller See also:scale but with a kindred aim, always found in him warm advocacy and substantial support. It was chiefly at meetings in connexion with these that he found occasion for the delivery of addresses characterized by profound thought and comprehensiveness of view, a collection of which was published in 1857. One of the most favourable specimens of his See also:powers as a See also:speaker is the inaugural address which he delivered as president of the See also:British Association for the See also:Advancement of Science when: it met at See also:Aberdeen in 1859.

The See also:

education of his family and the management of his domestic affairs furnished the prince with another very important See also:sphere of See also:action, in which he employed himself with conscientious devotedness. The estates of the duchy of See also:Cornwall, the hereditary See also:appanage of the prince of See also:Wales, were so greatly improved under his father's management that the See also:rent-See also:roll See also:rose from £11,000 to £so,000 a year. Prince Albert, indeed, had a See also:peculiar See also:talent for the management of landed estates. His See also:model See also:farm at See also:Windsor was in every way worthy of the name; and the grounds at Balmoral and See also:Osborne were Iaid out entirely in conformity with his designs. A See also:character so pure, and a life so useful and well-directed in all its aims, could scarcely fail to win respect among those who were acquainted with the facts. As the prince became better known, public mistrust began to give way. In 1847, but only after a significantly keen contest with See also:Earl See also:Powis, he was elected See also:chancellor of the university of See also:Cambridge; and he was after-wards appointed See also:master of the Trinity House. In June 1857 the formal See also:title of prince-consort was conferred upon him by letters patent, in See also:order to See also:settle certain difficulties as to See also:precedence that had been raised at foreign courts. But in the full career of his usefulness he was cut off. During the autumn of 1861 he was busy with the arrangements for the projected See also:international exhibition, and it was just after returning from one of the meetings in connexion with it that he was seized with his last illness. Beginning at the end of See also:November with what appeared to be See also:influenza, it proved to be an attack of typhoid See also:fever, and, congestion of the lungs supervening, he died on the 14th of See also:December. The grief of the queen was overwhelming and the sympathy of the whole nation marked a revulsion of feeling about the prince himself which was not devoid of compunction for earlier want of appreciation.

The magnificent See also:

mausoleum at See also:Frogmore, in which his remains were finally deposited, was erected at the expense of the queen and the royal family; and many public monuments to " Albert the See also:Good " were erected all over the See also:country, the most notable being the Albert See also:Hall (1867) and the Albert Memorial (1876) in See also:London. His name was also commemorated in the queen's institution of the Albert See also:medal (1866) in See also:reward for gallantry in saving life, and of the order of Victoria and Albert (1862). By the queen's authority, her secretary, See also:General See also:Grey, compiled The See also:Early Days of the Prince Consort, published in 1867; and The Life and Letters of the Prince Consort (1st vol., 1874; 2nd, 188o) was similarly edited by See also:Sir See also:Theodore See also:Martin. A See also:volume of the See also:Principal Speeches and Addresses of Prince Albert, with an intro- duction by Sir See also:Arthur See also:Helps, was published in 1862. See also the Letters of Queen Victoria (1907). (H.

End of Article: ALBERT (FRANCIS CHARLES AUGUSTUS ALBERT EMMANUEL) (1819—1861)

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