#britishqueens

HISTORICAL LOVERS - I

Victoria & Albert

Few lovers have entered the popular imagination as permanently as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Married for twenty-one years, until the prince's untimely death, the pair became the epitome of marital bliss, and no one ever questioned the harmonious relationship between the queen and her husband.

Over the years, several small demonstrations of love proved the passionate nature of their marriage. Among it, the engagement ring that Albert himself designed for the bride, in the shape of a serpent, to represent the truth of his commitment, decorated with rubies, diamonds and a single emerald (Victoria's birthstone); the portrait Victoria had secretly commissioned as a twenty-fourth birthday present for Albert, which depicted her casually dressed, reclining against a red velvet pillow, her hair loose; the crystal heart pendant that the queen wore day and night, containing a lock of the prince's hair.

The two-decade union produced nine children, five girls and four boys: Victoria (1840-1901); Albert Edward (1841-1910); Alice (1843-1878); Alfred (1844-1900); Helena (1846-1923); Louise (1848-1939); Arthur (1850-1942); Leopold (1853-1884); Beatrice (1857-1944). Most of the children would eventually marry into other royal european families, which resulted in Victoria being called the "Grandmother of Europe." Until the beginning of the 20th century, most of these ruling houses could boast of sharing the queen's blood through the paternal side, maternal side, or even through both.

As parents, the prince and queen could differ in many ways, although in the end they both loved their children. Albert tended to be more involved with the princes and princesses during their childhood, especially in their education, and it is common consensus among historians that their eldest, Vicky, was his favorite, since she shared his enthusiasm for culture, languages and natural studies. The prince taught his children many of his favorite topics, and encouraged them to value the arts and sciences. His “enlightened influence” inspired many of them to engage in intellectual hobbies such as politics, philosophy and history.

The queen, in turn, connected more easily with her children at an older age. Victoria hated being pregnant, from the usual symptoms to the painful labor, and she thought newborns were ugly. But she was willing to follow her husband's opinion about the health of the children, and she watched the progress of each one of them in their studies. She drew them quite frequently, sketeches and paintings that still exist today in the private colection of the British royal family. Her daughter Louise would become her loyal secretary after Albert´s tragic death, and the youngest, Beatrice, her devoted companion even after married.

But perhaps the most iconic reflection of the connection between the British queen and the German prince is Victoria's reaction to his loss. No one in the royal family grieved his death as much as she did. The queen, still in her early forties, never remarried; she retired even more and more frequently to her countryside properties, especially Osborne House, the estate her husband prefered to visit during the summer; and she abandoned any colorful clothes in her wardrobe, confining herself to the black reserved for mourning, until she passed.