ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT OF ENGLAND (1819 1861), b. at Rosenau Aug. 26, 1819. Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel was the second son of the hereditary duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (belonging to the Ernestine or elder branch of the royal family of Saxony) by his first wife, the Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (d. 1831), from whom the duke was separated in 1824. His father's sister married the duke of Kent, and her daughter, afterwards Queen Victoria of England, was thus his first cousin. They were born in the same year. Al bert and his elder brother, Ernest, were educated privately and at the University of Bonn. There Prince Albert studied natural science, political economy, and philosophy ; he diligently culti vated music and painting, and excelled in gymnastic exercises, especially in fencing.
The idea of a marriage between him and his cousin Victoria had always been cherished by their uncle, King Leopold I. of Belgium, and in May 1836 the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his two sons paid a visit to the duchess of Kent and her daughter at Kensington Palace. The visit was by no means to the taste of King William IV., who disapproved of the match and favoured Prince Alexander of Orange. But Leopold's plan was known to Princess Victoria, and William's objections were fruitless. Prin cess Victoria, writing to her uncle Leopold (May 23, 1836) said that Albert was "extremely handsome," and (June 7) thanked 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." In the winter of 1838-39 the prince travelled in Italy, accompanied by Baron Stockmar, the Queen's confidential adviser, formerly Leopold's doctor and private secretary. On Oct. Io, 1839, he and Ernest went again to England to visit the Queen, with the object of finally settling the marriage. The betrothal took place on Oct. 15, and on Feb. 1 o, 1840 the marriage was celebrated at the chapel-royal, St. James's.
The public 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 article (see VICTORIA, ALEXANDRINA). The prejudice against him, on account of what was regarded as his undue influence in politics, was never fully dissipated till after his death. His co-operation with the Queen in dealing with the political responsibilities which devolved upon the sovereign repre sented an amount of conscientious and self-sacrificing labour which cannot easily be exaggerated; and his wisdom in council could only be realized, outside a very small circle, when in later years the materials for the history of that time became accessible. He was indeed a man of cultured and liberal ideas, well quali fied to take the lead in many reforms which the England of that day sorely needed. He was specially interested in endeavours to secure the more perfect application of science and art to manu facturing industry.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 originated in a suggestion he made at a meeting of the Society of Arts, and owed the greater part of its success to his intelligent and unwearied efforts. He had to work for its realization against an extraordinary outburst of angry expostulations. Every stage in his project was combated. In the House of Peers, Lord Brougham denied the right of the Crown to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park ; in the Commons, Colonel Sibthorp prophesied that England would be overrun with foreign rogues and revolutionists, who would subvert the morals of the people, filch their trade secrets from them, and destroy their faith and loyalty towards their religion and their sovereign.
Prince Albert was president of the exhibition commission, and every post brought him abusive letters, accusing him, as a for eigner, of being intent upon the corruption of England. He was not the man to be balked by talk of this kind, but quietly per severed, looking always to the probability that the manufactur ing power of Great Britain would be quickened by bringing the best manufactured products of foreign countries under the eyes of the mechanics and artisans. The ex hibition was opened by the Queen on May r, 1851, and was a colossal success; and the realized surplus of 115o,000 went to establish and endow the South Kensington Museum (afterwards renamed "Victoria and Albert") and to purchase land in that neighbourhood.
Similar institutions, on a smaller scale but with a kindred aim, always found in him warm advocacy and substantial sup port. It was chiefly at meetings in con nection with these that he found occasion for the delivery of addresses characterized by profound thought and comprehensive ness of view, a collection of which was published in 1857. One of his best speeches is the inaugural address which he delivered as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. The education of his family and the management of his do mestic affairs furnished the Prince with another very important sphere of action, in which he employed himself with conscientious devotion.
As the Prince became better known, public mistrust began to give way. In 1847, but only after a significantly keen contest with Earl Powis, he was elected chancellor of Cambridge Uni versity; and he was soon afterwards appointed master of Trinity House. In June 1857 the formal title of Prince Consort was conferred upon him by letters patent, in order to settle certain difficulties as to precedence that had beerr 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 international exhibition, and it was just after returning from one of the meetings in connection with it that he was seized with his last illness. Beginning at the end of November with what appeared to be influenza, it proved to be an attack of typhoid fever, and, congestion of the lungs supervening, he died on Dec. 14. 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 mausoleum at 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 Good" were erected all over the country, the most notable being the Albert Hall (1867) and the Albert Memorial (1876) in London. His name was also commemorated in the Queen's institution of the Albert medal (1866) in reward for gallantry in saving life, and of the order of Victoria and Albert (1862).
the Queen's authority, her secretary, General Grey, compiled The Early Days of the Prince Consort, published in i867; and The Life and Letters of the Prince Consort (1st vol., 1874; 2nd, 188o) was similarly edited by Sir Theodore Martin. A volume of the Principal Speeches and Addresses of Prince Albert, with an in troduction by Sir Arthur Helps, was published in 1862. See also C. F. von Stockmar, Memoirs (1872) ; the Letters of Queen Victoria (10°7) ; and Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria (192x). (H. C.)