The Young Albert

Enjoyed watching "The Young Victoria" on Comcast last night (early this morning, actually). I'd not seen it in the theater. Except for the part where Albert gets shot, from what I've read the movie is an accurate account. Even the shooting incident wasn't pulled from thin air:

During Victoria's first pregnancy, eighteen-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate the Queen while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert in London. Oxford fired twice, but both bullets missed. He was tried for high treason, but was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.

(From Wikipedia here; footnotes removed) (I spent quite a while digging through Wikipedia after watching the movie.)

Based on photographs I saw, it appears Albert was even better looking than the actor who portrayed him in the movie (Rupert Friend). Victoria writes this about him: "'[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful.' She also wrote to her maternal uncle Leopold I of Belgium to thank him 'for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.' . . . '...dear Albert... He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides, the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see.'" On the other hand, Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, another suitable marriage prospect, Victoria found "very plain." Victoria and Albert had nine children together before Albert died in 1861 at the age of 42. (Albert was four months younger than Victoria.) The photo at left is the first ever taken of Albert, in 1842, two years after his marriage to Victoria. Below are the royal couple with their children (all nine -- count 'em). [Click on the photos to enlarge them.]

What impressed me the most about Albert, however, was his progressive ideas, which Victoria also embraced.

[H]e adopted many public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery . . . [still legal in the U.S. at the time and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution]

Albert used his position as Chancellor [at Cambridge] to campaign successfully for reformed and more modern university curricula, expanding the subjects taught beyond the traditional mathematics and classics to include modern history and the natural sciences. . . .

In a speech to the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, of which he was President, he expressed his "sympathy and interest for that class of our community who have most of the toil and fewest of the enjoyments of this world". It was the "duty of those who, under the blessings of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education" to assist those less fortunate than themselves.

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 Great Exhibition of 1851 arose from the annual exhibitions of the Society of Arts, of which Albert was President from 1843, and owed the greater part of its success to his efforts to promote it. Albert served as president of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and had to fight for every stage of the project. In the House of Lords, Lord Brougham fulminated against the proposal to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park. Opponents of the exhibition prophesied that foreign rogues and revolutionists would overrun England, subvert the morals of the people, and destroy their faith. Albert thought such talk absurd and quietly persevered, trusting always that British manufacturing would benefit from exposure to the best products of foreign countries.

The Queen opened the exhibition in a specially designed and built glass building known as the Crystal Palace on 1 May 1851. It proved a colossal success. A surplus of £180,000 was raised, which went to purchase land in South Kensington and establish educational and cultural institutions there – including what would later be named the Victoria and Albert Museum. The area was referred to as "Albertopolis" by sceptics. . . .

Albert involved himself in promoting many public educational institutions. Chiefly at meetings in connection with these he spoke of the need for better schooling. A collection of his speeches was published in 1857. Recognised as a supporter of education and technological progress, he was invited to speak at scientific meetings, such as the memorable address he delivered as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. His espousal of science spawned opposition from the Church. His proposal of a knighthood for Charles Darwin, after the publication of On the Origin of Species, was rejected.

The movie, by the way, won an Oscar this year for Best Achievement in Costume Design.