Quotessence
Home / Topics / Prince Albert Quotes

Prince Albert Quotes

Browse 11 quotes about Prince Albert.

Prince Albert Quotes

“Once home [in 1838], Albert prepared a small album of scenes he had drawn on the journey, a dried ‘Rose des Alpes, and a scrap of Voltaire’s handwriting he had obtained from an old servant of the philosopher at Verney, and posted the souvenir to Victoria. Years later she attested it was 'one of her greatest treasures.”

“Albert wrote to his ‘dearest cousin’ on 26 June to offer his 'sincerest felicitations on that great change which had taken place in your life’. It was a difficult letter to compose. Now that she was 'Queen of the mightiest land of Europe’, he went on, 'the happiness of millions’ lay in her hands, and he trusted that Heaven would assist her in 'that high but difficult task.” He hoped for a long and happy - and glorious - reign, in which she would achieve the 'thankfulness and love’ of her subjects. He wished neither to be indiscreet nor to 'abuse’ her time, but, he closed, 'May I pray you to think likewise sometimes of your cousins in Bonn, and to continue to them that kindness you favoured them with till now.’ And he signed it as 'your Majesty’s most obedient and faithful servant, Albert’.”

“There are today many institutions, taken for granted as pillars of the establishment, which owe their existence, or their appearance, in part to Albert. He is regarded as the architect of the modern monarchy; and when his great-great granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, waves to people from Buckingham Palace, she does so standing on the balcony which was Albert’s idea.”

“One of the ‘faults’, which Albert attempted to cure her of, and failed, was the Queen’s inability to live in the present. When she was happy, she fended off the future by anticipating it; and dealt with change when it came by dwelling on the past. The band under her window would wake her with a hymn – ‘Now thank we all our God’, or Psalm 100 – while Albert wished her joy so tenderly, so merrily, so lovingly, that she confessed humbly: ‘Often I feel surprised at being so loved, and tremble at my great happiness, dreading that I may be too happy.”

“The next day she (Victoria) pulled down some of her old diaries, perhaps to recall Lezhen’s part of her life, and came to a passage in 1839 where she had written of her ‘happiness’ with Melbourne. Now, with both Melbourne and Lezhen gone she noted ‘1st October, 1842. Wrote & looked over & corrected my old journals, which do not now awake very pleasant feelings. The life I led then was so artificial & superficial, & yet I thought I was happy. Thank God! I now know what real happiness means.”

“Both the Queen and Prince Albert seemed to have spent far more time with their children, than one usually associates with Victorian life. They ate together, and walked, rode, played and painted together. And the fond parents were often present at bath time and in the nurseries that Prince Albert had designed close at hand.”

“Even at Osborne, Albert had to start his day early if he was to get through the relentless agenda that he had set himself. The Queen did not have a private secretary; this role was filled by Albert, and as in every other area of their lives together – in the running of her establishments, in the upbringing of their children, in emotional support – she completely relied on him. He drafted, clarified, advised, and she approved nothing that he did not agree with. This self-imposed task of supporting, and moulding a constitutional monarch, who also made considerable emotional demands on him, would have been burden enough for most men. But for Albert, it was only part of his work, for the German prince had taken on an active role in the cultural life of his adoptive country.”