England's only official male consort

He gave his first name to a hall, a museum, a memorial, a thousand streets and tens of thousands of babies who were all named after him when he arrived in England.  And every generation of British royals since his have had a bevy of boys with his name somewhere among theirs. He remains the only man in British history to ever officially hold the title of Prince Consort.  Today is the anniversary of the birth of Prince Albert.

 

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the only man ever to be made Prince Consort

 

Considering how prolific the name Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became, it's perhaps a bit of a surprise that it wasn't the name he received on his birth in Schloss Rosenau near Coburg on August 25th 1819. His first name was Francis with Albert coming in second in a five horse race that also included Augustus, Charles and Emmanuel.  And he was born a prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld but when he was six his great uncle died leading to a reshuffle of the German duchies that led to Albert's father becoming the ruler of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

 

 

Prince Albert as a child with his brother, Ernest, and their mother, Louise.  She was exiled from court soon after this painting was made.

 

But different names were the least of Albert's worries as a child.  His father, Ernest, and his mother, Louise, had quickly grown to hate one another and she was exiled from court around the time of Albert's fifth birthday.  Louise had married her lover by the time Ernest became Duke and he had found another wife closer to home, making his niece his duchess.  Albert grew up with his cousin, Antoinette, as his stepmother.

 

 

Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, married his niece.  One of his illegitimate daughters married her own first cousin bringing a whole new meaning to keeping it in the family

 

It's surprising that from this turbulent childhood grew a man who would establish the whole idea of a royal family in Britain.  Because it was Albert's romantic and solid marriage to Victoria and their nursery of nine children that formed the modern image of family that has been a bedrock of the British royal image ever since.  There was none of the infidelity associated with kings and queens of old.  The queen loved the prince and the prince loved the queen and their children grew up in a happy home.

 

 

The famous portrait of Victoria and Albert with their eldest five children, painted by Franz Xaver Winthalter in 1846.  It cemented the family image of the royals.

 

Albert was made Prince Consort by Victoria in 1857.  By then his public role had become considerable and he campaigned for better working rights and reform of the education system as well as abolition of slavery.  While Victoria was the public head of the family, at home that role belonged to him.  He was in charge of their children's education and leisure and was lent on heavily by the queen in her political and public duties.  He was by her side for just 21 years of her 63 year reign but his influence was such that even now it is impossible to think of Victoria without the man born 194 years ago today - Albert.