Named Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, this excellent prince was the husband (consort) of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to a family connected to many of Europe's ruling monarchs. Due to his brilliance, exceedingly high-level education, and his integrity, morality along with an unswerving conviction, his spouse the queen came to depend more and more on his support and guidance, thereby allowing him to considerably contribute to the development of Britain's constitutional monarchy by persuading his wife to be less partisan in her dealings with Parliament. Unlike many landowners of his epoch, who approved of child labor and opposed Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws, Albert supported moves to raise working ages and free up trade. A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas, Albert not only led reforms in university education, welfare, the royal finances and (for the repeal of) slavery, he had also a special interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry. Moreover, the prince presided over and successfully promoted The Great Exhibition of 1851, which arose from the annual exhibitions of the Society of Arts.
Most importantly, Albert became so prominent (if not indispensable) to all levels of Queen Victoria's life (especially her unforgettable great love), that she entered into a deep state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life, while ensuring that Albert's rooms in all his houses were kept as they had been, even with hot water brought in the morning and linen and towels changed daily. Finally, despite Albert's request that no effigies of him should be raised, many public monuments were erected all over the country and across the British Empire, the most notable of which being the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial in London.
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