ALBERT II., Duke-elector of Saxony, son of the preceding. He assisted at the election of three emperors—Rodolphe I., Adolphus, and Albert I., and hence arose the claim of his successors to the sole right of electing the emperor. He obtained the palatinate of Saxony from Rodolphe I. The accounts as to the time of his death are conflicting: he died, according to some authors, at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1298, according to others between 1302 and 1308.
ALBERT III., Duke-elector of Saxony, the last elector of the Anhalt family, succeeded his brother Rodolphe in 1418. He died in 1422, from the effects of a fright into which he was thrown by a conflagration.
ALBERT or ALBRECHT, Palatine of Saxony, succeeded his father Henry as landgrave of Thuringia in 1288. On account of his tyrannical and merciless disposition he was surnamed the Cruel. Died in 1314.—F.
ALBERT DURER. See Durer.
ALBERT (Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emmanuel), Prince of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Duke of Saxony, and late Prince-consort of her Majesty Queen Victoria, was born at Rosenau castle, about four miles from Coburg, on the 26th of August, 1819. His father was Ernest I.; his mother, Dorothea Louisa, princess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Prince Albert was the younger son; his elder brother, Ernest II., is now reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His native country is one of the smallest principalities of Germany, lying out of the course of the great roads; but remarkable for the beauty of its scenery, the unsophisticated manners of the people, and above all for the renown of the reigning family, which has achieved a prouder position than ever Hapsburg or Bourbon held. They were originally sovereigns of Coburg only; but Prince Albert's father succeeded to the inheritance of the duchy of Saxe-Gotha His uncle, Leopold I., married first the Princess Charlotte, heiress of the throne of England, and secondly, a daughter of Louis Philippe, at that time king of the French. After declining the throne of Greece, Leopold was chosen king of Belgium. One of Prince Albert's aunts was espoused to the grand-duke Constantine of Russia. Another married the late duke of Kent, and is mother of Queen Victoria. A younger uncle became the husband of one of the greatest heiresses of the Austrian empire, the daughter of the prince of Kohary. Prince Albert acquired the rudiments of instruction at his birthplace. His father appears to have diversified his studies as much as possible, and never suffered him to continue long in one place. In 1836 the late duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha with his two sons visited England, when Prince Albert was introduced to his cousin and future wife, then the Princess Victoria, now our beloved queen. On returning to Germany, the prince and his brother visited the courts of Berlin, Vienna, and Dresden, and travelled through Hungary, and part of France and Belgium. During the time that they were on a visit to King Leopold at Brussels, the latter with characteristic prescience obtained for his nephew lessons in the English language. Thus prepared, he entered the university of Bonn. Here he was highly esteemed for his benevolence, morality, and decorum. He not only applied himself under the guidance of privy-councillor Florschutz to the study of the subjects usually taught in a German university; but made excellent progress in poetry, music, and painting. While at Bonn, Prince Albert published for the benefit of the poor of the place a collection of songs, with music composed by his brother. After residing in the modest house of Dr. Bischof for three terms at Bonn, rambling on foot during the vacations through Switzerland and the north of Italy, the prince was declared of age in 1839. He had always been fond of athletic exercises and sports of the field; he was tall and muscular, and his countenance a perfect model of the type of German beauty. In October, 1839, he visited this country a second time; and at a meeting of the privy council in November, the young and beautiful maiden queen, his cousin, announced her intention of marrying the prince. Her words on this solemn occasion are memorable for their piety and simplicity; and in the auspicious future they anticipated, were for many years mist providentially fulfilled:—"I have caused you to be summoned," said her majesty, "in order that I may acquaint you with my resolution in a matter which deeply concerns the welfare of my people and the happiness of my future life. It is my intention to ally myself in marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the engagement which I am about to contract, I have not come to this decision without mature consideration, nor without feeling a strong assurance that, with the blessing of Almighty God, it will at once secure my domestic felicity and serve the interests of my country." The British nation were delighted with the example which their youthful sovereign thus set to the courts of Europe, of marriage founded on affection and mutual esteem. Prince Albert, having been naturalized by act of parliament a few days previously, was married to Queen Victoria at the chapel royal in St. James' palace on the 10th of February, 1840. The adjoining park was filled with a vaster and more enthusiastic multitude than probably ever assembled on a like festival. It was determined by another act, passed during the same year, that he was to be the regent of Great Britain, if the queen should die before her next lineal descendant arrived at the age of eighteen. In order that in Germany he might take due precedence among the princes of his native country, he was in 1857 made Prince-consort. On settling in England, he applied himself to the studies and occupations which best became one so closely allied to the throne. He investigated the rise and progress of the English constitution and law under Mr. Selwyn, one of the most eminent jurists of the age. As her husband and nearest friend, it was naturally his duty to advise the queen on matters of government and prerogative, a duty which he discharged with singular unobtrusiveness and caution; for he wisely kept aloof from party politics, and never unduly interfered with the ordinary course of the constitutional government of the country. When it was once urged against him that he had so interfered, the most eminent members of all parties of the state—among them Lord Aberdeen, Lord Derby, and Earl Russell—combined to vindicate his conduct. The prince rather preferred to be prominent as the active promoter of the national culture, and of whatever would contribute to the moral and social well-being of the mass of the people, and especially of the poor—such as model lodging-houses, public baths, industrial and other schools of primary and secondary instruction, and institutions designed to further science, mechanical invention, and the fine arts. To his fostering care and energy we owe not a little of the improvement, which of late years has characterized objects of English manufacture in point of shape and form. Soon after his marriage, he cheerfully accepted the presidency of the Society of Arts. As its president, he originated the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, which would never have attained its height of splendour and usefulness, had not Prince Albert further aided it by applying to the vast and complicated details of its organization a marvellous combination of energy, tact, and perseverance The Exhibition of 1851 survives only in its results; but the South Kensington museum is a standing memorial of his solicitude for the education of the people, in the widest sense of the expression. He opened in person the collection of fine art treasures at Manchester in 1857, with the hope that by elevating the taste and increasing the aesthetic culture of the nation, it might also promote the beautiful and true in the manufactures of our country. In the government of his family he set an example to every household in England, so emphatically the land of good homes. He superintended the education of his children with unremitting care. He prepared the prince of Wales to appreciate his responsibilities as heir to the English throne, in a manner which can be only imperfectly understood by the present generation. History will record with satisfaction, that in 1857 he took his illustrious son to be present at the opening of a free school for the children of the lowest costermongers. To the improvement of the education of the higher and highest classes of the community he made important contributions. By instituting prizes for proficiency in modern history and languages, he enlarged the curriculum of Eton study; and as chancellor of the university of Cambridge, he aided in procuring the success of useful academic reforms demanded by the spirit of the age. He was the liberal patron of innumerable benevolent institutions. His skill as a practical agriculturist was evinced by his many successes when he entered the lists as a competitor at the Smithfield club, and other agricultural gatherings. His model farms at Windsor and Osborne were something more than royal playthings; they were rather valuable institutions in which the speculations of agricultural economists were tested in practice. His speeches upon public occasions bear remarkable testimony to his originality of thought and expression. The claims of domestic servants out of place, the foundation of docks, the presentation of regimental colours, the missions of the Church of England to
