QUEEN VICTORIA
Victoria was the daughter of Edward, the Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg.
She was born in Kensington Palace in London on May 24th, 1819.
In 1837 Queen Victoria took the throne after the death of her uncle William IV. Due to her secluded childhood, she displayed a personality marked by strong prejudices and a willful stubbornness.She’d met her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when they were both seventeen. When they were twenty, he returned to England, and Victoria, in love with him, proposed marriage. They were married on February 10, 1840.
Victoria had traditional views on the role of the wife and mother, and though she was Queen and Albert was Prince Consort, he shared government responsibilities at least equally. His death in 1861 devastated her; her prolonged mourning lost her much popularity.After Albert’s death in 1861 a desolate Victoria remained in self-imposed seclusion for ten years. Her genuine but obsessive mourning, which would occupy her for the rest of her life, played an important role in the evolution of what would become the Victorian mentality.
Prince Albert was the son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany… Victoria and Albert had nine children.
Albert was the beloved husband and trusted advisor of Britain’s Queen Victoria.A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas, Albert not only led reforms in university education, welfare, the royal finances and slavery, he had a special interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry.The Prince joined the Society of Arts and became its President in 1843; in this capacity he encouraged the application of science and art to industrial purposes. Around this time two important figures, (Sir) Henry Cole and Professor Ludwig Grüner (1801–82), became closely involved with the Prince.
As an influence on architecture the Prince was significant:
Albert himself was involved in a number of design projects, including the Italianate Osborne House, (with the London builder Thomas Cubitt from 1845), the Royal Dairy at the Model Farms at , alterations at , and (an essay in the Scottish Baronial style executed by William Smith (1817–91) of ). However, Prince Albert’s importance in the history of design lies in the immense improvements that became apparent from the time of the 1862 London Exhibition, which he encouraged, but did not live to see realized.
The former became Chairman of the Society of Arts, and promoted model designs commissioned from artists which coined the term ‘art manufactures’: he was an energetic organizer, becoming Prince Albert’s chief lieutenant for the remarkable Great Exhibition of 1851 in Paxton’s Crystal Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Albertopolis of which the Prince was an enthusiastic promoter.
Albert was also President of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, and helped to encourage the building of exemplary dwellings: the Society erected four ‘Model Houses for Families’ as part of the 1851 Exhibition, designed by Henry Roberts and paid for by the Prince.
Victoria & Albert Movie 2001.BBC older version, is more detailed.
http://www.freemoviestheatre.com/free_movie/7669-Victoria_And_Albert_2001.html
ADRIANA SASSOON 