Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha (✝︎)

Prince Albert was born of 26 August 1819 as the second son to Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Gotha and his wife Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenbug in Rosenau Palace in the Saxon duchy Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After their parents’ divorce, Albert and his brother Ernst no longer had contact with their mother. The brothers were educated and raised by a private tutor.

In February 1840, Prince Albert married his cousin Victoria, who ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom after the death of her uncle King William IV in 1837.  The couple had nine children: Victoria (1840), Albert Edward (1841), Alice (1843), Alfred (1844), Helena (1846), Louise (1848), Arthur (1850), Leopold (1853) and Beatrice (1857).

As a young man, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha undertook several educational trips to other courts and visited major European cities, such as Vienna, Paris and London, where he also met his cousin and future wife, Victoria. In Italy, he studied composition, singing and the organ. He also earned a degree in humanities from the University of Bonn.

After marrying Queen Victoria, he became her most important adviser. He had an enormous influence on his wife, and thus on the British government. Prince Albert wrote speeches for his wife and was engaged in many social projects, among other things.

One of Prince Albert’s larger schemes was the Great Exhibition of the Works and Industry of All Nations, which took place in London in 1851. He provided ideas, designed architecture and raised money for the exhibition. He had the Crystal Palace built in Hyde Park according to the plans of the architect Joseph Paxton. The exhibition hall was flooded with light by day, was 560 metres long and 40 metres high. Even though Prince Albert’s plans were publicly criticised by many, the opening ceremony on 1 May 1851 was a great success, and by the time it ended on 11 October 1851, more than six million visitors from around the world had attended the Great Exhibition to learn about the latest technical developments, among other things. Prince Albert himself exhibited his drafts for working-class housing with running water and indoor lavatories. The Great Exhibition made 186,000 pounds in profit. Queen Victoria later described her husband as the “the creator of this peace festival”. She is also said to have remarked: „God bless my dearest Albert, God bless my dearest country!“

Prince Albert designed the royal summer residence Osborne House on the Isle of Wight together with a London-based building contractor. Around the same time, the Royal Family acquired and redesigned Balmoral Castle, a summer residence in the Scottish Highlands.

Prince Albert received numerous awards for his achievements, such as the Most Noble Order of the Garter. He was also appointed Knight by the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle (1842). Furthermore, he was President for the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as well as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (1860).