Albert of Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha

Presentation

He was born in a phratry from four child of which he was the second. His/her father, the duke Ernest Ier of Saxony-Cobourg, initially duke of Saxony-Cobourg-Saalfeld, then duke of Saxony-Cobourg and Gotha, was the brother of the king Léopold Ier of Belgium as well as mother of Victoria. Albert accepted a solid education and was graduate Université of Bonn. The February 10th 1840, it married the queen Victoria then twenty years old, and had with her nine children.

Prince Consort

As prince of German origin, his political activities were officially limited, but at the time of the Crimean War, it took part in the reorganization of the army, then appeared an excellent adviser for the queen who discreetly used it, listening to her opinions with much attention. If the first years, it did not attend the talks of the queen with the ministers, it were always present thereafter, with the current of all and achieving, with passion and competence, an important work to reduce the task of his wife. It is besides in recognition of this work that the queen Victoria created the title of Prince Consort.

He was gifted for in a great number of matters; good organist and good type-setter, it had a sure taste in painting and dealt with the royal collections and made also decisions in architecture. In the farms of Windsor, it made try out novel methods of agricultural production, and had competences in bee-keeping and botany. Sportsman, it affectionnait long walks with foot, practiced the hunt, the shooting and the iceskate.

To advise of the queen, chancellor of the University of Cambridge, president of the commission of the Art schools, chair company for the improvement of the condition of the working classes, it had a hard life with the service of the the United Kingdom.

But its official main work, and the culminating point of its career of Prince Consort, was the organization and the direction of the first large World Fair, that of 1851. For this exposure was built the Crystal De luxe hotel, vast building of 550 m length, 120 m broad and 30 m in height, on the site of Hyde Park. It gathered 14.000 exhibitors, from including 6.500 come from abroad, and marked the triumph of the industrial United Kingdom and the mechanical age. She was visited by six million visitors of the whole world, the queen itself will come there forty times. Moreover it was a great financial success.

The royal family

The February 10th 1840, it married the Reine Victoria. It was a true love match, and their honeymoon truly will last until its death, in 1861. From this marriage were born nine children. It dealt particularly well with his children, to which it taught morals. One can also put at the assessment of the prince the contribution, at the court of the United Kingdom, the German habit of the Christmas tree.

Internal bonds

Ernest II of Saxony-Gotha-Altenbourg (paternal great-grandfather)

Frederic-François Ier de Mecklembourg-Schwerin (maternal great-grandfather)

Posterity

The Prince Consort left his name:

with the Royal Albert Hall of London
with the Victoria and Albert Museum

Anecdote

Albert of Saxony-Cobourg and Gotha left his name to a type of Piercing of the Pénis, the famous prince Albert . According to a discussed legend, it would have had the idea to place a ring at the end of its nipple, with an aim purely " fonctionnel". The fashion being with the pants very grinding and tended, it would have attached its penis with a ribbon along its thigh so that its pants fall perfectly right, without marking bump with the between-legs.

Gallery

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