prince albert and queen victoria family tree

She dressed in a white gown, exuding purity and allowing her to be seen more easily by the crowds, and dressed her twelve bridesmaids in the same. Original Artwork: Engraved by S Reynolds after F Lock.

This opened the door to more publicised royal weddings.ġ0th February 1840: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their return from the marriage service at St James’s Palace, London. Straying from the royal protocol of holding private wedding ceremonies at night, Victoria was determined to let her people see the bridal procession in the light of day, and invited more guests to observe it than ever before. The royal wedding of Albert and Victoria was unlike any other, and began a number of traditions still observed today. The wedding set off a number of traditions They were married on 10 February the following year in the Chapel Royal at St James’ Palace in London. With much joy he accepted, in what Victoria termed the ‘happiest brightest moment in my life’.

Just five days into the trip, the young queen requested a private meeting with Albert, and proposed, as it was the monarch’s prerogative to do so. This visit was an even greater success than the first however, and any hesitations about marriage fizzled away. ‘the Netherlander boys are very plain…they look heavy, dull, and frightened and are not at all prepossessing’Īlongside the extremely favourable description of his appearance previously mentioned in her diary, she wrote to Leopold after the meeting saying that ‘he possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy’.Īs the couple were still very young, no official arrangements were made, yet both sides were aware that a match was likely one day.ĭan sits down with Shribani Basu to talk about Abdul Karim 'the Munshi'. Victoria was highly unimpressed upon meeting Alexander and his brother however, writing to her uncle Leopold that William disapproved of the tiny state of Saxe-Coburg as one fit to produce a consort for the future queen, and instead wanted her to marry Alexander, the son of the King of the Netherlands and member of the House of Orange. Thus, Albert was not the first choice of the King of Great Britain – the aged and grumpy William IV.

Albert was not William IV’s first choice for his nieceĪs was common with such royal matches, and particularly with regards to the inheritance of the throne, political gain was an important prerequisite to marriage. Victoria was immediately attracted to the young prince, describing him in her diary as ‘extremely handsome’ with a ‘beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth’. In the 19th century, members of the aristocracy would often marry distant members of their own families to strengthen their faction and influence. The two seemed like a good match, being born just three months apart, and were finally introduced in May 1836 when Victoria was seventeen and Albert just shy of the same age. Many argue that Victoria and Albert had been intended for one another long before they ever met, through the schemes and plans of their family – the same family, seeing as Victoria’s mother and Albert’s father were siblings. BAFTA winning historian and Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces Lucy Worsley takes Dan on a tour of Kensington Palace, one of the principle royal residences since 1689 and childhood home of Queen Victoria.

Prince albert and queen victoria family tree