Original subtitles

this is the mausoleum at Frogmore close

to Windsor Castle where Queen Victoria

and Prince Albert the Prince Consort

library

as a great-great grandson I've always

had a considerable fascination for them

and the influence they exerted this film

focuses perhaps rather on Prince Albert

who was responsible for some of the

things we take for granted in this

country today

he helped fashion the constitutional

model of our monarchy he had a hand in

social reform he was a patron of the

Arts and he built some of his family's

great house

and above all he was a staunch family

man deeply in love with him Victoria

when he died at the tragically early age

of 42 his brokenhearted Queen was left

to mourn her husband for the remaining

40 years of array

I always get a strong feeling of Queen

Victoria's sense of loss from this

photograph of mine which shows Prince

Albert and in her own handwriting

Queen Victoria has written beloved Papa

meaning Albert from poor brokenhearted

mama when she wrote it the prince

consult had already been dead for two

months no human power will make me

swerve from what he decided and wished

Queen Victoria vowed sadly after the

Prince consoles death and right up until

the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 that

crowned the remaining 40 years of her

lonely reign

she was guided by Prince Albert the man

she had loved so passionately at the

beginning of her life was now no longer

at her side but his legacy still lives

on here in this country

he designed and built royal palaces he

modernized existing ones organizations

that he headed put up great buildings

before he was thirty Prez Albert

designed and built Osborn house on the

Isle of Wight as a romantic hideaway for

the Queen and his family the house

remains much the same as it was then a

tribute to the remarkable artistic taste

of the Prince Consort

the Queen wrote in her journal the great

diary she kept for 70 years how happy we

are here and never do I enjoy myself

more then when I can be so much with my

beloved Albert and follow him everywhere

we have to remember the Queen Victoria

was only 18 when she became sovereign by

the time she was 40 she was raising a

family of nine children and still our

responsibilities for her country and its

colonies were enormous she'd also

survived a lonely and friendless

childhood as Queen she'd grown totally

dependent on Prince Albert Victoria

wrote consequently I owe everything to

dearest papa Albert he was my father my

protector my guide and advisor in all

and everything my mother I might almost

say as well as my husband I had a very

unhappy life as a child had no scope for

my violent feelings of affection had no

brothers or sisters to live with never

had had a father Princess Victoria's

childhood was spent at Kensington Palace

a few years after the Battle of Waterloo

her father had died before she was one

and Victoria was brought up by her

mother the Duchess of Kent and her close

confidante

Sir John Conroy they devised what came

to be called the Kensington system which

was a plot to make the Duchess of Kent

Regent when Victoria came to the throne

their scheme was to manipulate and

coerce the young child into doing what

they wanted the young princess was kept

isolated here in these apartments away

from the royal court and even separate

from other children

Princess Victoria was carefully shielded

and protected she had to sleep in the

same room as her mother until the day

she became Queen not having many young

friends and no brothers or sisters of

her own age young Princess Victoria made

these dolls there were well over a

hundred of they were all made and the

likeness of adults and they became in a

way a substitute for childhood friends

in short the princess's upbringing was

hardly the right kind of training for a

monarch and it says something of the

strength of character shown by the

future Queen that she survived her time

in Kensington Palace at all

you

you

at exactly the same time Prince Albert

of saxe-coburg Goethe who was Princess

Victoria's first cousin was being

brought up with his brother here in

Cobourg in the middle of Germany the

boys were raised here in slow-slow Sonam

their parents were separated the mother

had gone away and their father was often

out of time but in spite of that they

did manage to have a very happy

childhood it was Prince Albert's uncle

Leopold later king of the belgians and

brother of the Duchess of Kent in London

so we decided early on that there'll be

an arranged marriage between the two

cousins Victoria and Albert now for the

relatively minor house of saxe-coburg

here in Germany to be linked by marriage

to the English sovereign represented a

considerable increase in stages

but what young Prince Albert lacked in

wealth he made up for in hard work and

artistic and intellectual ability Albert

and his brother Ernest were not only

composers and pianist but they were also

considerable draftsman all these are by

Albert and the interesting thing is I

think this one here was done when he was

only seven this is a rather fine sketch

of a man in armor and this one here is

of a poor lady who was about to meet

some Warfel fate I think is a sob ein

both of them were done when he was only

13 the brothers were great lovers of

natural history and they started a small

collection which later became a museum

and here are some examples of what they

had collected they're predominantly

birds and this was an interest which

certainly in the case of Prince Albert

or something which was through with him

all his life

dawn on the morning of June the 20th

1837 at Kensington Palace the Lord

Chamberlain of England and the

Archbishop of Canterbury had ridden

through the night from Windsor Castle it

was 6 a.m. and because of the hour they

were refused entry only when they

demanded to see the Queen were they

knitting Princess Victoria was woken and

informed in this room that her uncle

King William the fourth had died during

the night dressed still in her night

clothes the 18-year old now found

herself Queen Victoria had a remarkable

first day of soldering Goering Jensen

palace she began by captivating all

those attending her first Privy Council

meeting here in this room some of the

noblest names in the land had gathered

Lord Melbourne the Prime Minister Lord

John Russell Lord Palmerston the great

Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel

that day the Queen also removed herself

from the cutters of her mother and

abolished the Kensington system in the

evening

one word becaming her new independence

appeared prominently five times in her

diary

hello quite alone of course quite alone

and at nine came Lord Melbourne whom I

saw in my room and of course quite alone

but the young queen was not alone

the court she presided over was highly

political Lord Melbourne was not only

Prime Minister and leader of the Whig

party he also acted as the Queen's

principal advisor dining and riding with

Lord Melbourne most days the teenage

Queen became first dependent on his

advice and then quite infatuated with a

worldly 58 year old prime minister the

young queen was readily influenced by

Lord Melbourne he distrusted change and

hid from her the truth about social

conditions in Britain he believed

children should be put to work in

factories rather than starve

he thought flogging in prisons and

treadmills was permissible and that work

houses were for the social good so at a

very early age Queen Victoria's natural

sympathies were blunted by the views of

Lord Melbourne

worse the court Queen Victoria had

inherited was traditionally partisan her

ladies-in-waiting appointed by the party

were wives of prominent wing politicians

inevitably the crown became embroiled in

a political crisis it came when

Melbourne Zweig government was forced to

resign the young Queen was desperate at

losing her father figure she wrote

tearfully at his departure all my

happiness gone that dearest kind Lord

Melbourne no more my Minister I sobbed

him cried much and the next day at Lord

Melbourne final audience I sobbed much

and kept holding his hand for some time

fast in one of mine as if I felt that in

doing so he could not leave me then in

her grief the young Queen behaved

unconstitutionally I could eat nothing

wrote one line to the Duke of Wellington

to request him to come instead of

calling upon Sir Robert Peel the leader

of the opposition to form the new

government the Queen asked another close

friend

the powerful Duke of Wellington the

Queen was playing a dangerous political

game to get her way

Wellington wisely declined men here is

my list of cabinet appointees the

disgruntled Tory opposition leader peel

retaliate and my request ma'am is that

you remove your ladies-in-waiting they

are political appointees the Queen would

not give up her ladies but ma'am the

Queen was asked to replace her ladies of

the bedchamber many of whom had become

personal friends but all of whom were

Whig supporters the Queen adamantly

refused in the deadlock that followed

Pele said he could no longer form

government triumphant the Queen wrote

back Lord Melbourne I was calm but very

decided the Queen of England will not

submit to such trickery keep yourself in

readiness who you may soon be wanted

Green Victoria then asked Lord Melbourne

her mentor and favorite to return and

form another government and that brought

an end to what became known as the

bedchamber plot it was an instant in

which the young queen was seen to exceed

Herrera sovereign changes would have to

be made Prince Albert of saxe-coburg

Goethe just 20 find himself in this

volatile atmosphere in October 1839

to encourage the union between the two

royal house Hills

he had traveled all the way from Germany

to meet Queen Victoria at Windsor the

Queen saw Prince Albert at the foot of

the main staircase that night she wrote

it was with some emotion that I beheld

Albert who is beautiful and then she

went further

Albert really is so excessively handsome

such beautiful eyes and exquisite nerves

and such a pretty mouth a beautiful

figure broad in the shoulders and a fine

waist in an instant Queen Victoria had

fallen hopelessly in love by protocol

the Queen had to propose within five

days she had asked Angela to marry her

Albert wrote dearest greatly beloved

Victoria how is it that I have deserved

so much love so much affection heaven

has sent me an angel whose brightness

shall heal you my life in body and soul

ever your slave Albert what started as

an arranged marriage had been

transformed and became one of the most

important in British history it took

place in San James's Palace in February

1840 but on the wedding day itself The

Times could only snare about the young

foreigner marrying the queen the Prince

began diligently looking for roles that

would enhance his prestige and influence

first he turned his energies to

reorganizing the antiquated royal

household but Prince Albert's most

pressing concern was to ensure the

monarchies stood once and for all above

party politics with the Queen now

expecting a child it was suggested that

Prince Albert should replace Lord

Melbourne and act as her principal

adviser he seized the chance

from then on he took notes of

ministerial meetings and drafted all the

Queen's government letters all I can say

about my political position is that I

resolutely hold myself aloof from all

parties I speak openly with the

ministers on all subjects endeavor

quietly to be of as much use to Victoria

in her position as I can Sir Robert Peel

was aware of Prince Albert's artistic

talents and invited him to chair the

Royal Commission to select pictures for

the newly built Palace of Westminster

Albert was just 22 he had found a role

at last as an energetic facilitator of

great projects at precisely this moment

a new form of picture symbolic of the

new technologies sweeping the country

appeared Prince Albert was among the

first to embrace the medium of

photography Prince Albert at 23 one of

the first photographic portraits ever

taken in Britain

in Queen Victoria the age of 25 with

eldest daughter the Princess Royal in

1844 and he has another one with Prince

Albert as a mature 29 year old by now he

was becoming an innovator determined to

come to grips with the great Industrial

Age sweeping Britain

but not the rest of Europe were going

through a dramatic change the Industrial

Revolution was producing great factories

and railways but alongside that came

another kind of revolution social unrest

as people's earnings and rights

increased Surrey their aspirations but

living conditions in the centres of work

did not keep pace Prince Albert

rather than the Queen was aware that the

times were dangerous as royal houses on

the continent began to buckle and fall

under popular revolution the princes

diary for 1848 reflected his growing

concerns 7th of March the property of

the French royal family is sequestered

at Paris 10th of March riots in Munich

17th of March great riots among the

peasantry in Swabia 18th of march news

of revolution in Berlin 4th of April

disquieting views from Ireland 11th of

April increase in Anarchy in Germany

18th of April a long conversation with

Lord Shaftesbury as to what can be done

for working classes the view of the

great social reformer Lord Shaftesbury

was the prince albert's abused his

increasing power and prestige to put

himself at the head of all social

movements in art and science and

especially of those movements as they

bear upon the poor and thus show the

infest felt by royalty in the happiness

of the kingdom

you're chothra suggested the Prince

Albert view a new type of housing it was

being built in London for workers the

prince had already visited a slum

dwelling and had been horrified

abominable stinking holes fit neither

for man nor beast charts were then asked

him to chair a meeting of the Society

for improving the condition of the

labouring classes a new organization

building experimental mass housing I

have just come from the model lodging

house the opening of which we celebrate

this thing and I feel convinced that its

existence will by degrees cause a

complete change in the domestic comforts

of the labouring classes so those who

possess capital to invest that they may

do so with great profit and advantage to

themselves at the same time

dispensing those comforts to the poorer

brethren

Prince Albert decided to put the royal

family to work against a background of

demonstrations by the Chartist movement

the milder reflection here of the

republicanism sweeping Europe the royal

family was seen increasingly among their

subjects the prince himself took a

number of roles as president of

charitable and education organizations

opening new hospitals and libraries he

tried to convey his genuine social

concerns to the Queen in April 1848 the

Chartist movement expected to march on

Parliament with half a million men the

2020 3000 turned out since Albert wrote

we had our revolution yesterday and it

went up in smoke the law was victorious

I hope this makes a good impression on

the continent

despite events elsewhere the crown it

seemed had never been more popular and

to give the Queen and her family more

security and privacy Prince Albert had

built Osborne house a country retreat on

the Isle of Wight dispensing with

architects and working with expert

builders like Thomas cubit Prince Albert

found time to design and supervise the

building of Osborne House himself its

conception tells us much about the

princes ideas for fusing art with modern

technology this is the drawing room used

by the Queen and her family after dinner

the Prince Consort had designed it in an

L shape so that the Queen and her guests

could sit here undisturbed by the

gentleman playing billiards in the other

part of the room Queen Victoria actually

played billiards house health here

sometimes in the afternoons Osborne was

above all a family home and by 1857 all

9 children of the royal couple had slept

in this nursery

Osborne house has been left today as

though the royal couple still live there

Prince Albert laid out the park planting

trees by semaphore signals from the main

tower

a model fort was built back in Java to

teach military maneuvers that is good

there was an extensive nature museum

like the one of his childhood

what is his Eagle Hall vitality

and how fast can it fly

but even at Osborn the Queen was never

far from the duties of state Prince

Albert had become the power beside the

throne as he sat next to his wife

drafting her letters but she was clearly

frustrated about the way successive

governments had failed to recognize his

services to the country Victoria wrote

oh if I only could make him King to

compensate the Queen had a second door

made leading into the council room at

Osborn so that they could enter

simultaneously the Privy Council

meetings

then came possibly prince albert's

finest achievement

he became the guiding force behind a

festival of art science and engineering

that would capture the spirit of the

Victorian age he had once admired the

great conservatory at Chatsworth house

in Derbyshire and when it's architect

presented him with a daring plan to

house the exhibition in a palace of

glass the prince approved this is the

first sketch for the Great Exhibition

it's a doodle on blotting paper by

Joseph Paxton the designer of the

Chatsworth Conservatory at the start the

great project hit difficulties many of

the objections coming from establishment

enemies of the foreign prince the Royal

Commission that the Prince child had to

AIDS it recognized the worldwide

supremacy of British industry but

believed it could be further improved by

exposing it to superior design from

abroad so by making the exhibition

international the Commission created a

showpiece for free trade this was

strongly opposed by protectionists

within the government it was a question

of whether this exhibition should be

exclusively limited to British industry

particular advantage to British industry

might be derived from placing it in fair

competition with that of other nations

then there was a problem of Finance the

government declined to contribute so the

cost of a hundred and eight thousand

pounds was raised by public subscription

the Queen and the Prince provided

fifteen hundred pounds there was

opposition to the use of the hyde park

site led by a vociferous MP claims were

made that too many trees would have to

be felled so instead

Prince Albert built the exhibition round

the arrows just at present and more dead

than alive from overwork the opponents

of the exhibition work with might and

main to drive myself crazy on completion

the Crystal Palace covered 16 acres was

three times the length of Sinn Paul's

Cathedral and made up of two hundred and

ninety three thousand panes of glass it

had been put up from scratch in six

months but one hundred thousand exhibits

had still to arrive from Britain and the

four corners of the world for the

opening in May 1851 everybody is

occupied with the great day of tomorrow

and my poor Albert is terribly fagged

terrible trouble dizzy arrangements for

the opening

this day is one of the greatest and most

glorious days of our lives with which to

my pride and joy dearly beloved Albert

is forever associated the glimpse

through the iron gates of the transept

the waving palms and flowers the

Myriad's of people filling the galleries

together with the flourish of trumpets

as we entered the building gave a

sensation I shall never forget and I

felt much moved among the ambassador's

at the opening was a mysterious Chinaman

dressed in satin who repeatedly bowed to

the Queen tactfully Victoria included

him at the procession he sing turned out

to be an impostor he was the owner of a

Chinese junk more on the terms who

pushed his way to the front the

exhibition was the greatest treasure

trove of industry art and science the

world had ever seen

British exhibits filled the entire

Western nave and foreign ones took up

the eastern half the Indian section was

a cornucopia of gems silks Cotton's and

great crowns in precious metals there

were elephant tusks and tiger skin the

most popular exhibit was in the French

section a fountain of odor Cologne that

ran continuously then there was the

latest engine by James Watt possessing

the collective power of 740 a floating

church for seafarers the Chloe noir done

a soda water machine a boat easily

converted into a comfortable mattress or

safety life belt an india-rubber bath

wigs that had built-in ventilation and a

set of false teeth enabling the wearer

to yawn the exhibition was open for six

months and six million people attended

the country's entire population was only

23 million Prince Albert was able to

write with satisfaction

so crowds at exhibition are bigger each

day on the financial side we naturally

stand very well profits from the Great

Exhibition were a hundred and eighty six

thousand pounds and Prince Albert wanted

the money to encourage new design in

British industry the catalyst for the

new schools of design would be a great

cluster of museums in Kensington his

ideas led to the Science Museum the

Natural History Museum the Victoria and

Albert Museum for arts and design and

the Albert Hall to music and science

exhibition

although they weren't competed in his

lifetime the museums remain Prince

Albert's greatest legacy to this country

and they extended the influence of

science art and design upon industry as

a whole

an event in February 18-49 confirmed

once again the Queen's need for more

privacy and security one of her

sketchbooks was stolen from Windsor

Castle and the contents published in a

popular newspaper The Times funded

collect the queen of Great Britain be

able to sit down to her piano or

sketchbook with the same security

against intrusion as any other lady in

the line at around this time the royal

couple acquired the Balmoral estate in

Scotland it's remote location was

deliberately chosen to shield the Queen

from repeated intrusion by the London

press and to ease the prince's

increasing exhaustion instead of course

Prince Albert demolished the old castle

and in three years designed and put up a

new one the Balmoral of today he wrote

the new house is up one story and with

its dress the granite promises to

present in noble appearance the verge is

terribly hard the Queen wrote every year

my heart becomes more fixed in this deer

paradise now that all has become my dear

Albert's own creation own work own

building own laying out as that Osby

Balmoral was the couple's favorite place

of escape

they reveled in the healthy climate and

scaled the great surrounding hills

highland life rarely captured their

imagination and they became a little bit

more Scottish on every visit

just as Prince Albert helped introduce

the German Christmas to Windsor

so at Balmoral the royal couple lived

out the romantic Scottish image of

Tartans kilts and bagpipes Edwin

Landseer was installed as the courts

favorite painter along with Carl Hart

even the ghillies were painted

Pal Mara was always informal and it was

here that Queen Victoria appears to have

made up for the childhood she'd missed

it was wonderful not seeing a human

being you're hearing a sound accepting

that or booing or the call of the black

or grouse one of Queen Victoria's

favorite houses and certainly the most

modest was here a table ducek on the

shores of Loch m'q about seven miles

from the castle there were two Gilley's

cottages and when the family wanted to

be informal they came and stayed here on

one side which was joined by a covered

passage to the other cottage where the

servants were the Queen wrote with the

washing and cooking and everything going

on in the line with one's own dwelling

lists

court painters recorded the Queen

fishing and stalking deer she was taught

by local tenants a salmon was speared

here by one of the men after which we

were very successful seven salmon being

caught some in the net and some speared

the scene that this beautiful spot was

exciting and picturesque in the extreme

I wished for Lancias pencil idyllic

glance your paintings captured life

about morale for the royal couple and

the normally restrained Prince Albert

became more than acryl in his writing

we have withdrawn for a short time into

a complete Mountain solitude where one

rarely sees a human face where the snow

already covers the mountaintops and the

wild deer come creeping round the house

I

Northy man have also been crawling after

the harmless stags

and today I shot two Reds deer suddenly

while he was at the height of his powers

Prince Albert found himself in a very

vulnerable position in 1853 public

opinion swung violently against him over

an issue of patriotism it became known

that the prince had advised the Queen

against sending a British force to the

Crimea to stop Russian expansion in the

eastern Mediterranean it is too much

that one man and he not an Englishman by

birth should be at once Foreign

Secretary commander-in-chief and prime

minister under all administration's

nevertheless the controversy soon died

down

once the royal couple bowed to popular

will and supported the expedition

against Russia initially the Crimean

campaign was a disaster for the British

Army the men soon became bogged down in

trench warfare around the landing port

of balaclava and they weren't dressed or

equipped for fighting on Russian soil

there were no proper field hospitals and

the dead were buried in rows by the

ships in port

William Russell The Times correspondent

at the front was the first to reveal the

incompetence of the expedition this army

has melted away almost to a drop of

miserable washed out worn-out spiritless

wretches who muster out of 55,000 just

11,000 fit to shoulder a musket it is

with feelings of surprise and anger that

the public will learn that no sufficient

medical preparations have been made for

the proper care of the wounded it's

interesting to note that my old regiment

the 11th Azar's

which our DES courted Prince Albert from

Dover to London when he came to Mary

Queen Victoria found itself 14 years

later leading the charge of the Light

Brigade that charge effectively ended

the Battle of balaclava out of a hundred

and ten officers and men who galloped

into the Russian line less than a

quarter return the army was an MS the

Queen concerned about morale regularly

visited those wounded who were fit

enough to be evacuated meanwhile the

prince was approached by certain senior

officers and asked to reorganize the

whole structure of the army I hazard the

opinion that our army as that the

present organized can hardly be called

an army at all but a mere aggregate of

battalions of infantry with some

regiments of cavalry and an Artillery

Regiment Prince Albert's intervention

turned out to be crucial the army wasn't

organized for grand foreign expeditions

so he devised a system of supply bases

leading all the way to the battlefields

of the Crimea they had to start in the

South of England so first he looked for

open land that was close to railways and

embarkation ports and could be used for

maneuvers and the base at Aldershot came

into being Prince Albert advocated the

setting up of hospitals at the main

supply port of valet klava and close to

the front and here you can see balaclava

with the hospital here on top of the

hill

finally Prince Albert ordered a railway

to be built at full speed from the

Allied base at balaclava to the Russian

stronghold at Sevastopol it was to

supply the besieging British French and

Turkish troops he judged that when

Sevastopol fell the war will be over and

here you can see that strongly defended

fort in Sebastopol the railway was

effective in getting ammunition to the

front these are some of the remains of

the Russian defenses around Sebastopol

after the bushes and French artillery

had smashed their way through when the

Queen took the salute at a victory

parade in London of men who charged the

Russian defenses at Sevastopol

the prestige of the crown couldn't have

been her

but prince albert's 15 years of hard

work came at a price

his health was deteriorating

photographic portraits show the 40 year

old prince aging prematurely his hair is

receding his waist thickening his loving

wife already regarded him as unofficial

sovereign and when the Whig government

of 1857 found yet another reason for not

giving him the status of Prince Consort

Queen Victoria out of frustration

awarded him the title herself

in December 1861

the idyllic marriage was suddenly over

Prince Albert had caught a chill

the doctors terrified her alarming the

Queen kept the seriousness of his

illness from her in the end they told

her that it was gastric fever every

Victorian knew what that man typhoid the

sauce has been suggested was a

notoriously unreliable and in sanitary

drains here at Windsor Castle throughout

December his condition gradually

deteriorated on the night of the 14th

the Queen had tortured breathing coming

from the Blue Room where Prince Albert

lay she rushed to his side and whispered

in German this is the sky refreshing it

is your little wife kiss me

two or three long but perfectly gentle

breaths would warm the hand clasping

mine Oh

tend to be sick to write it all all was

over I kissed is there heavenly void

called out and a bitter and agonizing

cry I went to my room and there sat

gazing wildly and as hard as stone on my

mate

the Queen was put to bed she was given a

little opiate she tried to sleep but

kept waking crying and crying doctors

warned the Queen not to kiss the body

shown in this photograph for the first

time then the blue room was carefully

and meticulously photographed for the

remaining 40 years of Queen Victoria's

reign it stayed exactly as it was when

he died as the bellows and poles began

to toll the whole country went into

mourning the Queen wore black until the

end of her days and the effigy of the

Prince Consort was present at all guards

family gatherings a great statue was put

up at Balmoral

as well as a can on one of the

surrounding hills

the mausoleum the whole can childhood

was built at Frogmore on the Windsor

estate where the Queen had said that one

day she would lie next to him after the

Prince Consort died

Queen Victoria cried in her anguish

there is no one left to call me Victoria

now

the Queen was heartbroken she didn't

carry out public duties again for five

years right at the farthest corner of

the Balmoral estate on the shore of

Lough Mick stands the glass old Queen

Victoria used to come here to seek

solitude after she'd lost Prince Albert

and it was here that she felt she still

had some contact with him

the house has hardly changed at all

since the Queen lived and grieved here

for the prince who done so much to

change her life and the life of this

country

you

you can see part two of Victoria and

Albert tomorrow at the same time on UK

history in a few minutes the face of

Tutankhamun

you