Leopold arranged for his sister, Victoria's mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his two sons to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of meeting Victoria. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, was the sister of both Albert's father-the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-and King Leopold. Her father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III, had died when she was an infant, and her elderly uncle, King William IV, had no surviving legitimate children. At this time, Victoria was the heir presumptive to the British throne. By 1836, this idea had also arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831. The idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin Victoria was first documented in an 1821 letter from his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who said that he was 'the pendant to the pretty cousin'. Main article: Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Portrait by John Partridge, 1840 His tutors at Bonn included the philosopher Fichte and the poet Schlegel. He played music and he excelled at sport, especially fencing and riding.

Like many other German princes, Albert attended the University of Bonn, where he studied law, political economy, philosophy and the history of art. The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later studied in Brussels, where Adolphe Quetelet was one of their tutors. The following year, their father married his niece Princess Marie of Württemberg their marriage was not close, however, and Marie had little-if any-impact on her stepsons' lives. She presumably never saw her children again, and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf. Īlbert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in close companionship, which was marred by their parents' turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce. In 1825, Albert's great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, died, which led to a realignment of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert's father became the first reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg the Emperor of Austria the Duke of Teschen and Emanuel, Count of Mensdorff-Pouilly. He was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau, with water taken from the local river, the Itz. His first cousin and future wife, Victoria, had been born earlier in the same year with the assistance of the same accoucheuse, Charlotte von Siebold. Prince Albert was born on 26 August 1819 at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. On her death in 1901, their eldest son succeeded as Edward VII, the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged.Įarly life Albert (left) with his elder brother, Ernest, and mother, Louise, shortly before her exile from court

Albert died in 1861 at age 42, devastating Victoria so much that she entered into a deep state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life. He aided the development of Britain's constitutional monarchy by persuading his wife to be less partisan in her dealings with the British Parliament, but he actively disagreed with the interventionist foreign policy pursued during Lord Palmerston's tenure as Foreign Secretary. Victoria came to depend more and more on Albert's support and guidance.

He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which was a resounding success. He gradually developed a reputation for supporting public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery worldwide, and he was entrusted with running the Queen's household, office and estates. Initially, he felt constrained by his role as consort, which did not afford him power or responsibilities. At the age of 20, he married Victoria, his cousin, with whom he had nine children. As such, he was consort of the British monarch from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861.Īlbert was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to a family connected to many of Europe's ruling monarchs. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria.

Queen victoria father family tree