Albert, Prince Consort 1819-1861.
Husband of British Queen Victoria from 1840;
a patron of the arts, science, and industry.
Albert was the second son of the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and first cousin to Queen
Victoria, whose chief adviser he became. He
planned the Great Exhibition of 1851; the
profit was used to buy the sites in London of
all the South Kensington museums and colleges
and the Royal Albert Hall, built 1871. He
died of typhoid. Albert also popularized the
Christmas tree in England. He was regarded by
the British people with groundless suspicion
because of his German connections. The Albert
Memorial 1872, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott,
in Kensington Gardens, London, typifies
Victorian decorative art.