QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT
Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was an unexpected heir to the throne of Great Britain: her father, the Duke of Kent (1767-1820), was the fourth son of King George III. It was a generation who had struggled to provide a legitimate heir. Sadly, the Prince Regent (the future George IV) lost his daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales, in 1817. When it became apparent that Victoria’s uncles would not be providing an heir, the line of succession fell to Victoria, who grew up incredibly coddled by her mother and mother’s trusted circle.
At celebrations for Victoria’s 17th birthday, she met her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg.
She declared him handsome, clever and sweet: her German cousin was just three months younger than her, and their families had long favoured the match, but they remained friends. Victoria became queen in 1837, and in the autumn of 1839, Albert and his brother returned to England. Within a few days, Victoria informed the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, that she wished to marry him.
As a reigning monarch, Victoria had to be the one who proposed to a potential consort, which she did on 15th October. The young queen wrote in her diary: “Oh! How I adore and love him, I cannot say!”
ROYAL WEDDING
Victoria determined that the royal wedding, set for 10th February 1840, should be a huge ceremonial event. It was, after all, the first marriage to take place for a reigning English queen since the Tudor period: Mary I in 1554 to Philip II of Spain.
Thus, on the day, a long carriage procession took the bride from Buckingham Palace to St. James’s Palace, where the ceremony was to take place at the Chapel Royal. Crowds lined the street to see the queen, who was attended by twelve bridesmaids. Though Victoria was not the first bride to wear white, her satin and lace gown was unusual at the time because normally gowns of vibrant colours – that could be worn again – were chosen. White meant that Victoria would stand out amongst the festivities, and the queen popularised the colour as a tradition for brides.
Her groom, for his part, was accompanied by a squadron of his senior cavalry. As Victoria’s father had died just after her birth, her favourite uncle, the Duke of Sussex, gave her away. Following the ceremony, the newlyweds and their carriage procession went to Windsor Castle.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert went on to have a very happy marriage and raise nine children. Famously, after Prince Albert passed away in 1861, Victoria wore mourning dress and had her husband’s clothes laid out every day for the rest of her life.
THE WEDDING CHAIR
This gilded chair and footstool, in our Victorian Room in the Exhibition Galleries, were used by Queen Victoria during the wedding ceremony.
Together with this beautiful sprig of orange blossom from her bouquet they were gifted to Henry, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1816-1863), who attended the ceremony as Lord President of the Council.
LORD LANSDOWNE AND VICTORIA
Lord Lansdowne had an illustrious career in service of the British government and the monarch. By the age of 25, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he held office under eight different Prime Ministers. He opposed slavery, supported Catholic Emancipation, and had great interest in education. His interests in arts, culture and modernity aligned with those of Prince Albert.
Lord Lansdowne was present for most of the crucial events of Victoria’s life.
When Victoria was born – as Alexandrina Victoria – on 24th May 1819, he was one of the distinguished courtiers present at her birth. (Though this might sound strange to us now, it was a highly common and long-established practice to have a well-chosen and prestigious group of courtiers present at royal births). He attended her coronation and her wedding to her beloved Albert.
She often sought his advice on various matters, and they maintained a friendship for the rest of his life.
Upon the occasion of Lord Lansdowne’s death in 1863, the queen wrote to her eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, “You will have grieved for poor old Lansdowne. He is the last almost of our old friends and ministers – he was at Kensington when I was born, was one of my first ministers and sat near me at my first Council, was at my first dinner party; saw my bright happy days and the end of my real life.”
It is this friendship and respect that the beautiful gift of the wedding chair commemorates.
