Victoria and Albert: Passion and Politics in Royal Marriage (ep 43)

Victoria decided she was ready to be married after all. Just a
few days after Albert’s return to England, Victoria wrote to Lord
Melbourne, the Prime Minister, to inform him of her decision to
marry Albert. Melbourne supported the choice. As Queen, Victoria
was the one to propose. On October 15, she sent for the Prince
and asked him to marry her. She was thrilled when he
accepted.

The wedding was a triumph. Lord Melbourne declared, “Nothing
could have gone off better.” The Queen’s wedding to Prince Albert
had started several traditions: white wedding dresses,  
elaborate cakes, and a sprig of myrtle in royal bouquets. Royal
weddings now held but during the daytime. The very profile of a
royal wedding as a public event was established by Victoria, and
that tradition seems here to stay.

That tension—between the personal and the political—infused the
marriage from the beginning. There was love and attraction, and
there was a desire to rule for both of them. Albert was not
agreeable to a secondary role, and he was eager to become
involved in government. As one pregnancy followed another,
Victoria was literally unable to keep up with her work. Her worry
about being away for two or three days was swallowed up in the
dangerous and arduous experience that was pregnancy and
childbirth in her time. Within months of the marriage, Albert had
moved his writing desk next to Victoria’s so he could participate
in her work. Despite her resistance in the earliest weeks,
Victoria eventually welcomed his help.

In face of needing to create a new model of royal marriage and
royal family life, Victoria and Albert started with an
astonishing wedding and moved on to a marriage full of children,
technological progress, international success, the Great
Exhibition, and a new way of celebrating Christmas. Out of this
they created a complicated marriage that changed Britain and the
world.


History shows us what's possible.