Albert Prince

Albert, Prince, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Consort of Queen Victoria born at Rosenau, near Coburg, in 1819, the second son of Duke Ernest I. In 1836 he first visited England and saw his cousin, Princess Victoria, for whom he at once conceived a warm attachment. The marriage took place in 1840 to the great satisfaction of the nation, and the subsequent conduct of the Prince in the difficult position assigned to him fully justified the most favourable anticipations. Studiously keeping aloof from party politics, and never allowing his personal influence to show itself in affairs of State, he found a wide field for the exercise of his abilities in other spheres. He was a Field-Marshal, and received many other distinctions, occupying the Chairmanship of the Council of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Innumerable projects connected with science, art, education, and charity received his active support. Agriculture especially engaged his attention. When in 1861 his life was suddenly extinguished by an attack of typhoid fever, the outburst of public sympathy with the Queen was unparalleled. In Hyde Park, at Frognal, and in hundreds of towns throughout the kingdom monuments have been erected to his memory.