Albert, Prince Consort (1819-1861)

The royal group during Victoria's visit to Germany in 1894. Queen Victoria took the throne at the age of 18 in 1837 and reigned until 1901. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and visited Germany upon six occasions. This was her final visit, when her granddaughter, Princess Victoria Melita, married Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine.

Husband of British Queen Victoria from 1840. A patron of the arts, science, and industry, Albert was the second son of the Duke of Saxe Coburg-Gotha and first cousin to Queen Victoria, whose chief adviser he became. He planned the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which were used to buy the sites in London of all the South Kensington museums and colleges and the Royal Albert Hall, built in 1871. He died of typhoid. The Queen never fully recovered from his premature death, and remained in mourning for him for the rest of her life.