Albert, called the Prince Consort, was the husband of Queen Victoria of Britain. The son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he was born on Aug. 26, 1819, near Coburg, Bavaria. He married the young Victoria in 1840. As her closest advisor, Albert exercised a restraining influence on the impulsive queen, especially in political matters.
Albert was a patron of the arts and sciences and one of the organizers of the Great Exhibition of 1851. His zeal for public moralism in many ways set the tone of mid-Victorian England. Albert's death on Dec. 14, 1861, partly the result of overwork, deeply affected Victoria, who went into seclusion for several years.
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