Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Consort of Queen Victoria
Born: 1819
Married: 1840
Died: 1861
  • Second son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
  • Married Queen Victoria (his first cousin) in 1840
  • Created Prince Consort in 1857
  • The chief protagonist of the Great Exhibition of 1851, designed to show the best of British and foreign arts and manufactures
  • Patron of the new museums in South Kensington, founded at the close of the Great Exhibition
  • Collected early Italian, German and Flemish paintings, including works by Duccio and Cranach
  • Instigated the reorganisation and cataloguing of the Royal Collection; organised and furnished the Print Room at Windsor for the storage of works of art on paper
  • Like Queen Victoria, was a proficient amateur artist and an inspired and practical designer
  • Personally oversaw the design of both Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire
  • Commissioned work by his artistic adviser Ludwig Gruner at Osborne and encouraged his employment in decorating the new Houses of Parliament
  • Created the dairy at Frogmore, decorated with Minton tiles and fountains
  • Keen collector of sculpture, often presenting pieces as gifts to his wife, Queen Victoria