Albert, Prince Consort

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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later His Royal Highness The Prince Consort; August 26 1819 – December 14 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria.

Albert was born near Coburg, in Germany. He was the son of Ernest I, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Anhalt. He was an intelligent child, and liked science, reading and mathematics.

He married Queen Victoria, his cousin, on 10 February 1840. The wedding was held at St. James's Palace, one of the queen's main homes in London. Both Victoria and Albert were deeply in love with each other. However, the queen kept Albert out of politics; he was not allowed to contribute to the government of the country. This eventually changed, and Albert often gave advice to the Prime Minister of the time.

Albert and Victoria had nine children together. Albert's favourite child was his first, Victoria, who later became Queen of Prussia, which was once part of Germany. When Prussia became the German Empire in 1871, she became Empress of Germany. When his second child, Albert Edward (the future king Edward VII) was born in 1841, he took an active interest in his education. The two were never close, and Albert often overworked his son.

In 1851, Albert hosted the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in London. The exhibition was meant to show Britain's industrial strength following the Industrial Revolution. It was a great success, and improved his popularity in England. It was held in the Crystal Palace, a huge glass building, which burnt down in 1936.

Albert's health got worse as he got older. In 1861, he caught a fever while travelling to Cambridge to see his son. The fever eventually developed into typhoid, a disease which was common in the 19th century. He died at Windsor Castle on the 14 December 1861. Queen Victoria was devastated, and she spent the next forty years of her reign in mourning for her dead husband.