1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,840 The Victorian age shaped modern Britain 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,920 and all over the country one man left his mark. 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,240 He was the architect of the Victorian era. 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,560 He was the man who really created the Victorian world 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:18,880 as we understand it. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,600 He was a visionary and he would imagine things 7 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:23,000 and then make them happen. 8 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,720 From architecture, 9 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:28,400 to education, 10 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,200 to living conditions, 11 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,720 Prince Albert was an innovator and an idealist. 12 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,160 He had this great reforming impulse. 13 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:38,360 I think he had this great civic impulse. 14 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,280 He was, on a human level, sticking up for the poor 15 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,480 in a way that very few public figures were. 16 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,880 Yet, during his lifetime, Albert's ambitions were often thwarted. 17 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:55,280 He was loathed by the Royal household. 18 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,080 He was hated by the court. 19 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,080 They make sausage jokes, they make bratwurst jokes, 20 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:01,520 they make pretzel jokes. 21 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,320 They didn't want to trouble-maker. 22 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,600 They wanted Albert simply to be a court flunky. 23 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,000 I'm Saul David, a writer and historian. 24 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,320 I've been given remarkable access to the Royal Archives... 25 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:18,920 So, that was the template? 26 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,320 Absolutely, yes. I mean, it's astonishing. 27 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:23,800 ..where Albert's personal letters... 28 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,120 It's a sort of cry for help really, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. 29 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:28,640 ..and intimate photographs... 30 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,000 Wow! 31 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,320 ..help us understand his struggles and his achievements in more detail 32 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:35,720 than ever before. 33 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,080 Victoria in a way is the least Victorian of people. 34 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:39,760 It is Albert who is the true Victorian. 35 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,880 They revealed the genius of the man I believe was King in all but name. 36 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,640 Windsor Castle has been a Royal residence for nearly 1,000 years. 37 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,960 At its heart stands the great round tower, 38 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,640 home to the Royal Archives and photographs collection. 39 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,080 Hello, welcome to the print room. Wow! Yes, isn't it? 40 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,280 This space holds the most complete collection of documents and pictures 41 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,480 relating to Albert's life. 42 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,080 Now, as part of a massive digitisation project, 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:35,000 over 20,000 personal letters, diaries and photographs 44 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,920 will soon become available online to scholars and the general public. 45 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:42,080 This remarkable photograph looks as if it was taken yesterday. 46 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,720 Curator Catlin Langford begins by showing me a rare object 47 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,600 that sums up Prince Albert's unique vision and what he stood for. 48 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,440 The detail is absolutely extraordinary. 49 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,840 This was taken in 1848, so he time Prince Albert was about 50 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,600 28, 29 - in his prime, effectively. 51 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,880 This is at a time when photography had only just been invented, 52 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:07,880 black and white, obviously. 53 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,440 There's already colours so how did they manage to do that? 54 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,320 It's created by sort of adding very fine coloured pigments 55 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,160 to the surface of the work. 56 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,160 It sort of combined all of his loves - his love of art, 57 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,440 his love of science, love of technology and it creates 58 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,440 this amazing unique visual product. 59 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,920 And interestingly, of course, at a time when some people 60 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:26,720 would have been suspicious of this medium, 61 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,480 he embraces it immediately, doesn't he? 62 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,480 It's like, "This is new". Yes, he completely embraces it. 63 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:33,960 I think the photograph shows Albert how he wished to be viewed, 64 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,480 as, sort of, he's looking ahead, he's looking towards the future. 65 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,560 While Albert would carve out a role as a leader in British society, 66 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,840 he first arrived in England as a teenager 67 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:46,720 from a minor German principality. 68 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,680 Albert had been promised to Queen Victoria as the husband 69 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,040 when he was a baby. It was all arranged. 70 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,680 Albert's grandmother, the Duchess Augusta, is absolutely thrilled, 71 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,680 because she immediately has this plan that Albert 72 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,520 should marry his little first cousin, the Queen of England, 73 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,640 and this will be his destiny. 74 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,920 It's the biggest career opportunity he will ever 75 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:11,360 have is to marry Victoria. 76 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,120 Luckily, Victoria was delighted by the prospect of marrying Albert. 77 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,000 He's described somewhere as the most handsome prince in Europe 78 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,080 and you can tell from Victoria's diaries that she takes one look at 79 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,560 him and she's absolutely bowled over by him. 80 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:32,360 Albert turns up in the hall at Windsor Castle 81 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,120 and Queen Victoria comes to the head of the staircase 82 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,520 and she's absolutely smitten. 83 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,480 She says she sees Albert and, "He is beautiful" - underlined. 84 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,840 There's this wonderful diary entry where she says, you know, 85 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:48,680 "I arrived with my dearest Albert, he was wearing white cashmere 86 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,280 "pantaloons - nothing underneath!" 87 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,280 The wedding took place in St James's Palace in February 1840. 88 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:02,160 Their love for each other was clear. 89 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,760 What's less well known is the home sickness that Albert felt 90 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,320 when he came to England. 91 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,120 The manager of the Royal Archives Bill Stockting is showing me one 92 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:17,520 of Albert's earliest letters, recording the young prince's sadness 93 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,840 at leaving Germany. 94 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:22,640 Here we have a copy letter 95 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,680 to his aunt, of course, Queen Victoria's mother, 96 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,880 the Duchess of Kent, in December 1839, so is still very early 97 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,240 days, so he's beginning to he's beginning to think 98 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,520 about what this now actually means for him. 99 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:34,720 Let's see what he actually writes. 100 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,960 "What a mass of emotions of the most diverse kind seize and overwhelm me. 101 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,960 "Hope love for dear Victoria, the pain of leaving home, 102 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,480 "the parting from your dearest kindred." 103 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,160 Albert comes from Coburg, which is a tiny principality 104 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:57,960 in southern Germany. 105 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,520 It's about the size of Fulham. 106 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,680 Coburg was known as the stud farm of Europe, because so many 107 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,760 of the Saxe-Coburg family were married to 108 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:14,880 influential princes and members of the sort of European elite. 109 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,320 Albert never had any friends 110 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,040 in his whole life, he didn't have a friend. 111 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,880 He only had family and it was a small family. 112 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:27,840 He was brought up with his brother 113 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,040 and it broke his heart really when he was separated 114 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:33,080 from his brother. 115 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,840 Victoria sensed Albert's unhappiness, 116 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:38,440 she understood how much he missed his homeland, 117 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:42,440 so she organized a very personal gift for him. 118 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,840 She secretly commissions the photographer Francis Bedford 119 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,400 in June/July of 1857 to go to Coburg to photograph 120 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,120 the sights and sort of scenes and the people associated 121 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,000 with Prince Albert's childhood including his brothers. 122 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,040 There was no expense spared on birthday presents 123 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:00,240 and I think Queen Victoria thought this was a really significant sort 124 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,120 of present to give Albert, to relieve some of the homesickness 125 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:04,480 he would have been feeling. 126 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,320 Wow, it's incredible, I mean that could have been taken, I don't know, 127 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,120 a couple of years ago, couldn't it? 128 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,400 This particular photograph that we're looking at now 129 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:12,800 is where he was born and grew up. 130 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,160 It's quite interesting seeing his childhood home. It's relatively modest, isn't it? 131 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,520 It wasn't massive, but it was what he really 132 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:20,280 adored and Queen Victoria does right, 133 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,880 if she hadn't been Queen, she would have loved to have lived here. 134 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,640 And it would have brought him a lot of joy, I think, in his in his time 135 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,320 in England to look at this album and revisit through the photographs 136 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,960 the sights and people associated with his childhood home. 137 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,320 Albert was leaving his beloved homeland behind, 138 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,040 although his family life in Coburg was not always happy. 139 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,320 His parents marriage ends spectacularly badly. 140 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:46,760 Albert loses his mother when he's five. 141 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,120 I mean she doesn't die when he's five, 142 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,040 but his mother runs away with another man. 143 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:56,640 Albert was determined to reverse that and demonstrate to the world 144 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:00,000 that he and Queen Victoria were going to have the ideal family, 145 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:05,520 with nine beautifully behaved, well-read, multilingual children. 146 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,200 Albert threw himself into his new role as husband and father, 147 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,840 pouring his time and energy into raising his children. 148 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,760 This is part of a series called The World children album, 149 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,440 of which five are compiled together by Prince Albert Queen Victoria. 150 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,880 They are remarkable documents. 151 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,240 A private photograph album records some of the most intimate family moments. 152 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,680 This is the first time it has been filmed. 153 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,120 This is a photograph of Prince Arthur, taken in 1857 154 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:36,960 by the photographer Caldesi, 155 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:38,800 who was very popular with the royal family. 156 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,080 It's meant to replicate the cherubs at the bottom 157 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,440 of the Sistine Madonna by Raphael. 158 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,800 we know that Prince Albert was a great fan of Raphael. 159 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,720 Now, this, I'm guessing, is an image that the royal family would 160 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:50,600 have intended to have been kept private? 161 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,600 Yes, they're photographs that were only to be enjoyed by them privately, 162 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,480 not for public consumption. 163 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,120 Here is another photograph of Prince Arthur, 164 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,120 presenting himself as a military drummer. 165 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,480 And he goes on of course to become a Field Marshal, 166 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,880 so it's clear that his fate is sealed so far as... 167 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,040 For grounding in that later life, yeah. 168 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,320 Here we have a portrait of the Prince of Wales 169 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:11,680 as a young teenager. 170 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:14,880 Future Edward VII, we all remember him much later in life 171 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,920 as more rotund, with the beard and look at him. 172 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,040 And here he is as a young boy. And then, as we turn the page again, 173 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,400 there's a photograph here of young Princess Alice as a young woman. 174 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,360 One photograph in this album represents an extraordinary Royal 175 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,440 first and reveals Albert's instinctive grasp 176 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,080 of public relations. 177 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,960 There is a photograph here that was sort of intentionally private, 178 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,320 but then did go on to have a public life. 179 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,320 Initially, it was a private commission. 180 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,760 They must have been suitably happy with it that they allowed 181 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,160 for it to then be published as an engraving in newspapers. Wow! Incredible. 182 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,000 And would that have been the first photograph that the public in the UK 183 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,840 would have seen of the royal family? 184 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,600 Yes, it was definitely the first photograph that was ever publicly exhibited of the royal family 185 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,280 and I think it's particularly telling that they agreed to that, 186 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,000 because it sort of shows the royal family as they wished to be seen. 187 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,720 You can sort of see there is a sort of united family front - 188 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,720 Queen Victoria looking very motherly, tenderly 189 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:12,240 at her newborn baby. 190 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,840 It's interesting, isn't it, so they're using photography 191 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,600 for their own pleasure, of course, and to record their children's 192 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:20,720 growing up, like we all do, but, actually, there was there was almost 193 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,160 a political or a public image message in all of this. 194 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,040 I think that's true, I think they were very aware of what photography 195 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,080 could do in terms of their public image. 196 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,360 So they presented as a sort of unified, loving family, 197 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:32,760 but also a very stable family. 198 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,400 I think that's particularly key when you're considering sort 199 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,240 the monarchy and how they wanted to present themselves as a stable monarchy. 200 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,920 There's quite a lot of evidence that Albert's promotion of the Royal 201 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,160 Family as a perfect family on the throne works. 202 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,120 The royal family does come to be seen in that way 203 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,600 and that it does therefore gain a great deal 204 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,800 of acceptance and legitimacy. 205 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,840 Despite creating the perfect family, Albert was frustrated 206 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,400 in his domestic role. 207 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,560 Being a father and husband wasn't enough for him. 208 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,560 When Albert first arrived in England, 209 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:14,360 the sense of let down must have been terrible. 210 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,720 He had no status at all. 211 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,080 His only status was that as he was the husband of the Queen of England. 212 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,680 Albert's allowance from the civil list is way 213 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:28,120 less than he expected and this is a deliberate snub. 214 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:33,080 Albert asks for, I think it's £50,000 a year as an allowance 215 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,640 and Parliament just says no. 216 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,000 You know, "We're not giving this, you know, he's a carpetbagger, he's on the make." 217 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,400 It's a very tricky position to be in and there's a very sad 218 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,480 letter he writes to one of his friends, where he says, you know, 219 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:53,760 "I'm the husband, but not the master in the house." 220 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,040 The Royal Archives contain a remarkably candid letter 221 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,720 from Albert, revealing the depths of his dissatisfaction. 222 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,200 In a letter we have here to his mentor and advisor 223 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,040 Baron Stockmar, we see that very clearly if we start 224 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,400 down here at the bottom of the page. 225 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,360 "My attention has until now been directed to a host of trifles. 226 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,160 "I mean by these domestic and court arrangements 227 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,640 "and to these I have chiefly applied myself, 228 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,640 "feeling that we shall never be in a position to occupy ourselves 229 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,360 "with higher and graver things, dealing as we have to do 230 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,560 "with these mere nothings." 231 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:33,640 So that's the sort of cry for help really, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. 232 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:39,320 Albert was fulfilling his primary duty as Royal Consort, 233 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,800 yet was increasingly determined to carve out a public 234 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,160 role for himself. 235 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,760 A role that would match his ability and his ambition. 236 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,480 Albert does want power, certainly, but he doesn't want power 237 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:51,720 for power's sake. 238 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:53,440 He wants power to do good. 239 00:13:03,500 --> 00:13:04,940 The Royal Archives at Windsor Castle hold a remarkable collection 240 00:13:04,940 --> 00:13:08,060 of documents that are helping us build a new portrait 241 00:13:08,060 --> 00:13:09,020 of Prince Albert. 242 00:13:11,620 --> 00:13:16,260 Albert is basically given the education and the training of 243 00:13:16,260 --> 00:13:19,620 somebody who's going to become, effectively, a king. 244 00:13:19,620 --> 00:13:22,540 As a young man, Albert went to university and did 245 00:13:22,540 --> 00:13:24,900 the grand tour of Italy. 246 00:13:24,900 --> 00:13:28,420 He studied history, politics, and architecture, and excelled 247 00:13:28,420 --> 00:13:30,780 in the arts and sciences. 248 00:13:30,780 --> 00:13:34,300 In England, however, he was sneered at for being a German 249 00:13:34,300 --> 00:13:35,340 and an intellectual. 250 00:13:36,580 --> 00:13:40,060 If he spoke out on matters of state, he was ridiculed. 251 00:13:40,060 --> 00:13:44,140 If you look at all the cartoons of him at the time - I mean, 252 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:47,220 they make sausage jokes, they make breakfast jokes, 253 00:13:47,220 --> 00:13:48,460 they make pretzel jokes. 254 00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:51,860 There's the general suspicion that the British have towards 255 00:13:51,860 --> 00:13:53,580 foreigners of any kind - 256 00:13:53,580 --> 00:13:56,020 wearing funny clothes and speaking with funny accents. 257 00:13:56,020 --> 00:14:01,180 So, here he arrives in England, an extremely able young man who's 258 00:14:01,180 --> 00:14:04,460 bursting with political ideas, and of course, given no 259 00:14:04,460 --> 00:14:07,140 executive or political role at all. 260 00:14:07,140 --> 00:14:10,060 He writes to the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, who is, of course, 261 00:14:10,060 --> 00:14:12,340 very close to Queen Victoria. 262 00:14:12,340 --> 00:14:14,700 And he says to Melbourne, you know, 263 00:14:14,700 --> 00:14:17,500 "What is the precedent for me, as the husband of the Queen? 264 00:14:18,780 --> 00:14:22,220 "What role can I expect to play?" 265 00:14:22,220 --> 00:14:25,260 So, what's the response to his query to Melbourne? 266 00:14:25,260 --> 00:14:28,780 Well, here, from a letter a little over a week later, 267 00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:32,420 we have a copy of the letter from Melbourne back to the prince. 268 00:14:32,420 --> 00:14:36,340 "Your Serene Highness is entering, no doubt, upon a state and situation 269 00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:39,900 "of some difficulty, inasmuch as it is one of a peculiar and 270 00:14:39,900 --> 00:14:42,820 "extraordinary character, and of which there have been 271 00:14:42,820 --> 00:14:44,300 "little experience." 272 00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:47,260 So, he's clearly warning him of the possibility that we've 273 00:14:47,260 --> 00:14:49,100 never had this situation before. 274 00:14:49,100 --> 00:14:52,140 And he's not really holding out much hope or expectation. 275 00:14:52,140 --> 00:14:55,140 I don't think that was what he was wanting to hear. 276 00:14:55,140 --> 00:14:59,540 If you look here again, Your Serene Highness says... 277 00:14:59,540 --> 00:15:03,940 "It will be certainly prudent that Your Serene Highness should not 278 00:15:03,940 --> 00:15:07,460 "take an active part in those political questions which divide 279 00:15:07,460 --> 00:15:09,460 "parties in this country." 280 00:15:09,460 --> 00:15:12,860 I mean, that's quite clear, isn't it? "Stay out of politics." 281 00:15:12,860 --> 00:15:15,660 And it must have come as quite a blow to Albert. 282 00:15:15,660 --> 00:15:20,060 Absolutely, yes. Albert is getting very frustrated. 283 00:15:20,060 --> 00:15:22,700 Disappointed by his rebuff from the Prime Minister, 284 00:15:22,700 --> 00:15:25,940 Albert turned his attention to the royal household, 285 00:15:25,940 --> 00:15:29,740 where he could find an outlet for his leadership ambitions. 286 00:15:29,740 --> 00:15:33,380 One thing he can do is to look at the royal finances. 287 00:15:33,380 --> 00:15:35,900 And he... SHE LAUGHS 288 00:15:35,900 --> 00:15:38,540 He is, you know, he's an outsider. 289 00:15:38,540 --> 00:15:41,380 And he starts looking at some of the practises have gone on, 290 00:15:41,380 --> 00:15:44,340 and he's absolutely gobsmacked. 291 00:15:44,340 --> 00:15:49,140 His first project is basically to try and reform the palaces - 292 00:15:49,140 --> 00:15:53,020 to reform Buckingham Palace and Windsor. 293 00:15:53,020 --> 00:15:58,460 One of the shocking things, to this day, about Britain, for foreigners, 294 00:15:58,460 --> 00:16:01,700 when they come here, is realising how badly everything is run. 295 00:16:01,700 --> 00:16:04,740 But it was particularly badly-run in the royal household. 296 00:16:04,740 --> 00:16:08,380 In Buckingham Palace, there was one person in charge of cleaning 297 00:16:08,380 --> 00:16:11,060 the inside of the windows, and another person in charge of cleaning 298 00:16:11,060 --> 00:16:12,540 the outside of the windows. 299 00:16:12,540 --> 00:16:14,900 And so, it was they didn't co-ordinate. 300 00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:18,420 You could never see through the smutty, smog-ridden windows. 301 00:16:18,420 --> 00:16:22,300 All these palace officers, like the Lord Chamberlain and Lord Steward - 302 00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:25,140 they don't work with each other, and they're all - you know the 303 00:16:25,140 --> 00:16:28,380 famous story about how it's the duty of the Lord Chamberlain to lay 304 00:16:28,380 --> 00:16:30,900 the fire, but he can't light it. 305 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:33,420 It's the Lord Steward who has to put a match to it. 306 00:16:33,420 --> 00:16:39,860 At Windsor Castle, every single day, they prepared huge sides beef. 307 00:16:39,860 --> 00:16:46,220 And whole cows, pigs, and lambs being conveyed down corridors - 308 00:16:46,220 --> 00:16:47,860 with nobody to eat them, of course. 309 00:16:47,860 --> 00:16:50,580 I mean, the queen and Prince Albert hardly ever went to Windsor 310 00:16:50,580 --> 00:16:52,140 in those days. 311 00:16:52,140 --> 00:16:55,140 The levels of petty corruption and inefficiency 312 00:16:55,140 --> 00:16:57,140 were almost inexhaustible. 313 00:16:57,140 --> 00:16:59,500 By tackling the household accounts, 314 00:16:59,500 --> 00:17:02,300 Albert was beginning to assert himself. 315 00:17:02,300 --> 00:17:05,140 He could prove his worth by saving money. 316 00:17:05,140 --> 00:17:09,460 You can see here that we have a list entitled "Savings" 317 00:17:09,460 --> 00:17:11,580 on the Civil List for 1848. 318 00:17:11,580 --> 00:17:16,980 And here, set out probably by a household clerk, who set out the 319 00:17:16,980 --> 00:17:19,380 salaries of the major officials of the household - 320 00:17:19,380 --> 00:17:22,620 so the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward, the Master of the Horse, 321 00:17:22,620 --> 00:17:25,420 and so on - but also, what their allowances were. 322 00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:28,300 And I suppose the question is, does he succeed? 323 00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:32,620 These papers show very clearly that year-on-year savings 324 00:17:32,620 --> 00:17:33,460 were being made. 325 00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:37,780 And by 1848 here, we're looking at a figure of over £34,000 326 00:17:37,780 --> 00:17:38,660 was being made. 327 00:17:38,660 --> 00:17:44,140 So, it's been estimated from 1842 to 1853 that over £55,000 328 00:17:44,140 --> 00:17:45,500 was, in fact, saved. 329 00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:48,900 So, in today's money, that's probably about £4.5 million. 330 00:17:50,340 --> 00:17:53,100 He was loathed by the royal household. 331 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:54,940 He was hated by the court. 332 00:17:54,940 --> 00:17:58,100 He was hated by all the flunkies - because he was, of course, 333 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:00,980 he was exposing absolutely useless they were at their jobs. 334 00:18:03,100 --> 00:18:05,780 Albert did more than balance the books. 335 00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:08,620 He wanted to modernise and innovate. 336 00:18:08,620 --> 00:18:12,540 And the Crown properties became his proving ground. 337 00:18:12,540 --> 00:18:15,900 In a corner of the Windsor estate stands an impressive building. 338 00:18:23,660 --> 00:18:27,060 A model dairy that showcases Albert's passion 339 00:18:27,060 --> 00:18:28,140 for form and function. 340 00:18:29,700 --> 00:18:34,420 The whole idea behind the dairy wants to keep it cool. 341 00:18:34,420 --> 00:18:37,620 Milk has to be capped at a low temperature, so every part 342 00:18:37,620 --> 00:18:40,380 of the building was designed for ventilation and to keep 343 00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:42,420 the milk cold. 344 00:18:42,420 --> 00:18:46,100 Prince Albert wanted a functioning building that was ornamental 345 00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:48,540 and beautiful, but was practical. 346 00:18:48,540 --> 00:18:51,580 Curator Carly Collier is showing me an original plan 347 00:18:51,580 --> 00:18:53,300 for the interior of the dairy. 348 00:18:53,300 --> 00:18:58,500 So, this is a design by John Thomas for the Creamery in the Royal Dairy. 349 00:18:58,500 --> 00:19:01,580 One of the walls - as we can see, incredibly detailed. 350 00:19:01,580 --> 00:19:04,340 That was the template for the actual dairy? Absolutely, yes. 351 00:19:04,340 --> 00:19:06,900 And we know that Prince Albert was very much engaged. 352 00:19:06,900 --> 00:19:09,660 He looked at designs as they were progressing. 353 00:19:09,660 --> 00:19:12,020 So, this really is his vision. 354 00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:14,860 I can see the grand plan here of the whole creamery. 355 00:19:14,860 --> 00:19:17,220 How does this section actually fit into the plan? 356 00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:21,100 So, we're looking at this short edge of the building here. 357 00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:23,140 And you can see the fountain there. 358 00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:26,580 And that was producing water to help cool the atmosphere, and the water 359 00:19:26,580 --> 00:19:30,540 was running down, and there was a system by which it ran underneath 360 00:19:30,540 --> 00:19:35,100 the marble tables on which the bowls which contained cream were kept to, 361 00:19:35,100 --> 00:19:37,140 again, contribute to cooling. 362 00:19:37,140 --> 00:19:39,500 I mean, it's one thing, actually drawing this out. 363 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:41,180 It's quite another thing building it. 364 00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:44,340 I can imagine the person responsible, the architects for 365 00:19:44,340 --> 00:19:46,980 putting this together, must have thought, "Really? 366 00:19:46,980 --> 00:19:48,780 "That amount of detail?" THEY CHUCKLE 367 00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:57,460 Albert had a very strong view that good design should be matched with 368 00:19:57,460 --> 00:20:01,420 an industrial manufacturing and that the two should be welded together. 369 00:20:01,420 --> 00:20:05,820 He always stressed the idea that functionality should come first, 370 00:20:05,820 --> 00:20:08,020 and that this place worked as a working dairy. 371 00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:13,820 Growing in confidence, and with substantial savings from the 372 00:20:13,820 --> 00:20:17,700 household accounts, Albert now set his sights on an even more 373 00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:19,460 ambitious architectural project. 374 00:20:25,180 --> 00:20:27,940 So, is this Osborne, Carly? Absolutely. 375 00:20:27,940 --> 00:20:31,580 And this was the private residence for the Queen and for the family. 376 00:20:31,580 --> 00:20:35,900 And at a stage during building operations, in the main wing over 377 00:20:35,900 --> 00:20:38,660 to the left-hand side there... 378 00:20:38,660 --> 00:20:41,420 ..at an advanced stage of construction, but I'm not quite sure 379 00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:45,820 if what we can see is the remnants of some scaffolding. 380 00:20:45,820 --> 00:20:47,580 Yeah, it's definitely poking up above the... 381 00:20:47,580 --> 00:20:49,620 There's definitely something poking up. 382 00:20:49,620 --> 00:20:52,820 This was painted by the queen's own watercolour tutor, a Scottish artist 383 00:20:52,820 --> 00:20:54,580 called William Leighton Leitch. 384 00:20:54,580 --> 00:20:57,620 So, he would have been at Osborne to teach the Queen, and he was clearly 385 00:20:57,620 --> 00:21:00,940 interested in this incredibly important building project 386 00:21:00,940 --> 00:21:02,460 that was going on around him. 387 00:21:02,460 --> 00:21:07,060 It strikes me, looking at this very beautiful, small but detailed 388 00:21:07,060 --> 00:21:11,460 painting, that you can see in it the growing influence of Albert 389 00:21:11,460 --> 00:21:14,460 in the royal family, in relation to buildings. 390 00:21:14,460 --> 00:21:17,540 Certainly his building projects were ambitious 391 00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:19,380 and incredibly impressive. 392 00:21:19,380 --> 00:21:21,980 And we have this wonderful record of it. 393 00:21:21,980 --> 00:21:25,180 Osborne became a place where Albert could test his ideas 394 00:21:25,180 --> 00:21:27,780 about architecture, design, and engineering. 395 00:21:30,140 --> 00:21:32,900 He's able to indulge all his great passions. 396 00:21:32,900 --> 00:21:35,740 There's a special tower built, from which he stands, 397 00:21:35,740 --> 00:21:40,140 looking down at where the trees are planted - there's a man in the field 398 00:21:40,140 --> 00:21:42,860 with a flag by whether a tree is to be planted or not. 399 00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:45,660 And he's a great tree planter, Albert. 400 00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:50,260 It's very, very Albertian, in the sense that when you go inside, 401 00:21:50,260 --> 00:21:56,620 there are - his corridors and rooms laid out as if it were some kind of 402 00:21:56,620 --> 00:21:58,980 seaside place on the Mediterranean. 403 00:21:58,980 --> 00:22:01,500 But at the same time, it's all very practical. 404 00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:04,660 For example, all the sewage in the house comes down 405 00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:07,180 and irrigates the garden. 406 00:22:07,180 --> 00:22:10,340 And there are all sorts of details like that, which make one realise 407 00:22:10,340 --> 00:22:11,620 this is Albert's house. 408 00:22:11,620 --> 00:22:16,540 It's a, sort of, a fantasy of what an Italian villa might look like. 409 00:22:16,540 --> 00:22:20,460 And it's an incredibly influential, cos there are lots of copies of 410 00:22:20,460 --> 00:22:23,060 the Osborne-type building all over the world. 411 00:22:26,380 --> 00:22:29,220 The house that Albert built was a beautiful home 412 00:22:29,220 --> 00:22:31,300 for his wife and family. 413 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:34,540 He also wanted to share the treasures of the Royal Collection 414 00:22:34,540 --> 00:22:35,620 with the wider public. 415 00:22:37,820 --> 00:22:42,420 His most ambitious artistic project used the new medium of photography 416 00:22:42,420 --> 00:22:45,500 to create a definitive survey of the works of the great 417 00:22:45,500 --> 00:22:47,340 Renaissance artist, Raphael. 418 00:22:49,780 --> 00:22:51,060 CARLY: So, here we have... 419 00:22:52,180 --> 00:22:54,220 ..a very large photograph. 420 00:22:54,220 --> 00:22:57,940 The Sistine Chapel tapestry cartoons. Wow. 421 00:22:57,940 --> 00:23:00,500 Of course, this is early days of photography. 422 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:03,140 We're talking about the 1850s, I think, is the earliest example. 423 00:23:03,140 --> 00:23:07,740 Absolutely, this is very much a early and innovative use of 424 00:23:07,740 --> 00:23:10,340 photography to reproduce artworks. 425 00:23:10,340 --> 00:23:14,140 I mean, I am flabbergasted that in the 1850s, you're able to produce 426 00:23:14,140 --> 00:23:16,420 something of that quality in photography. 427 00:23:16,420 --> 00:23:18,900 It is really rather magnificent. 428 00:23:18,900 --> 00:23:21,180 They were really, really, very well-received. 429 00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:27,260 So far, Albert's influence was confined to life inside the palaces. 430 00:23:28,700 --> 00:23:32,220 He had the capability to do so much more. 431 00:23:32,220 --> 00:23:35,300 His chance to make a difference to Britain would come as royal 432 00:23:35,300 --> 00:23:38,180 dynasties across Europe were coming under violent attack. 433 00:23:49,810 --> 00:23:53,810 By the late 1840s, Prince Albert was reforming the royal household 434 00:23:53,810 --> 00:23:56,690 and building a lavish new home at Osborne. 435 00:23:59,290 --> 00:24:02,770 And then, in April 1848, he was brought alarming news 436 00:24:02,770 --> 00:24:05,050 of social unrest. 437 00:24:05,050 --> 00:24:07,330 1848 is a year of 438 00:24:07,330 --> 00:24:09,970 complete turmoil all over Europe. 439 00:24:09,970 --> 00:24:11,570 I mean, you know, you've got 440 00:24:11,570 --> 00:24:14,890 the French king, Louis Philippe, has been deposed. 441 00:24:14,890 --> 00:24:17,090 There's revolution in Austria. 442 00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:21,650 Albert understood the potential consequences. 443 00:24:21,650 --> 00:24:25,170 The British monarchy might be the next target. 444 00:24:25,170 --> 00:24:27,090 Albert was very afraid 445 00:24:27,090 --> 00:24:30,210 in 1847, coming into 1848, 446 00:24:30,210 --> 00:24:32,410 that there would be a revolution in Britain. 447 00:24:34,770 --> 00:24:38,250 Historian Onyeka Nubia has come to Kennington Common, 448 00:24:38,250 --> 00:24:43,290 site of one of the largest citizen protests of the 19th century. 449 00:24:43,290 --> 00:24:46,810 Over 100 years ago, in 1848, here in Kennington Common, 450 00:24:46,810 --> 00:24:50,530 thousands of working men gathered. They gathered because they wanted 451 00:24:50,530 --> 00:24:51,890 the right to vote. 452 00:24:51,890 --> 00:24:55,850 Very frightening, very dangerous to the establishment. 453 00:24:55,850 --> 00:24:59,810 They were part of the Chartist movement, a working class campaign 454 00:24:59,810 --> 00:25:02,410 for political reform that swept the country 455 00:25:02,410 --> 00:25:05,490 in the late 1830s and '40s. 456 00:25:05,490 --> 00:25:08,970 Now, we often think of the right to vote as a principle cornerstone 457 00:25:08,970 --> 00:25:10,490 of Western democracy. 458 00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:13,810 We think of it as something that is a fundamental human right 459 00:25:13,810 --> 00:25:15,330 that everybody should have, 460 00:25:15,330 --> 00:25:17,690 but in 1848 that wasn't the case. 461 00:25:17,690 --> 00:25:19,970 But the people that gathered here wanted it to be. 462 00:25:19,970 --> 00:25:22,330 Artisans, skilled labourers, 463 00:25:22,330 --> 00:25:24,970 unskilled labourers, the unemployed - 464 00:25:24,970 --> 00:25:27,770 they all gathered here because they wanted one thing, 465 00:25:27,770 --> 00:25:31,690 which was a say in the future and the destiny of their country. 466 00:25:31,690 --> 00:25:35,170 There's a real moment when it seems as if this is going to erupt 467 00:25:35,170 --> 00:25:37,930 into a revolution, as on the Continent, 468 00:25:37,930 --> 00:25:42,450 and Albert and the Queen are sent off to be safe at Osborne. 469 00:25:42,450 --> 00:25:45,610 The Chartist mass meeting at Kennington was reported 470 00:25:45,610 --> 00:25:50,570 across Britain and made a major impression on Prince Albert. 471 00:25:50,570 --> 00:25:54,330 The Photographs Collection holds a unique artefact that's evidence 472 00:25:54,330 --> 00:25:56,930 of Albert's growing social awareness. 473 00:25:56,930 --> 00:26:00,050 So, this is the Chartist meeting on Kennington Common, 474 00:26:00,050 --> 00:26:02,810 taken on 10th April 1848. 475 00:26:02,810 --> 00:26:05,170 You really get a sense of the atmosphere. 476 00:26:05,170 --> 00:26:07,530 There's, sort of, an energy to the photograph. 477 00:26:07,530 --> 00:26:10,650 You do get a sense of the movement of people, the crowds. 478 00:26:10,650 --> 00:26:13,930 Specifically, the details of the flags and also 479 00:26:13,930 --> 00:26:16,290 the details of the buildings in the background. 480 00:26:16,290 --> 00:26:18,050 It's absolutely fascinating, isn't it? 481 00:26:18,050 --> 00:26:20,330 And how long after the photograph was actually taken 482 00:26:20,330 --> 00:26:21,650 did Prince Albert acquire it? 483 00:26:21,650 --> 00:26:24,010 So, we believe that he acquired this in May of that year, 484 00:26:24,010 --> 00:26:26,290 so only a few weeks after the actual event. 485 00:26:26,290 --> 00:26:28,170 Prince Albert was particularly 486 00:26:28,170 --> 00:26:31,290 understanding of the fact that the social and working 487 00:26:31,290 --> 00:26:33,810 conditions of the poor weren't great at that time. 488 00:26:33,810 --> 00:26:36,490 And I think, by purchasing this work, it shows his sympathies 489 00:26:36,490 --> 00:26:40,010 towards that. He often said those with station, wealth 490 00:26:40,010 --> 00:26:44,410 and education should use that to be able to assist people 491 00:26:44,410 --> 00:26:46,690 and make sure that their conditions were better. 492 00:26:50,210 --> 00:26:52,650 Albert was torn in his mind. 493 00:26:52,650 --> 00:26:55,570 On the one hand, he had a horror of revolutionaries. 494 00:26:55,570 --> 00:26:57,930 A horror of socialism. 495 00:26:57,930 --> 00:27:00,410 On the other hand, he could see that there was justice 496 00:27:00,410 --> 00:27:01,890 in the Chartists' cause. 497 00:27:01,890 --> 00:27:03,610 He buys the photograph, I think, 498 00:27:03,610 --> 00:27:08,010 because he is fascinated in popular movements and he feels 499 00:27:08,010 --> 00:27:10,370 very deeply about the plight of these people. 500 00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:13,170 He understands that the world is changing and I think 501 00:27:13,170 --> 00:27:16,450 there is a huge, kind of, moment 502 00:27:16,450 --> 00:27:20,050 for him and he sees that, you know, it's not enough 503 00:27:20,050 --> 00:27:23,610 for the ruling class to rule because that's their job. 504 00:27:23,610 --> 00:27:28,690 He wanted the political class to realise that the grievances 505 00:27:28,690 --> 00:27:32,770 of the Chartists, of the labouring classes, were legitimate grievances. 506 00:27:32,770 --> 00:27:34,970 Their living conditions were appalling. 507 00:27:36,370 --> 00:27:38,650 Their health, non-existent. 508 00:27:38,650 --> 00:27:40,690 Their education, non-existent. 509 00:27:40,690 --> 00:27:44,130 Only weeks after the Chartist protest, Albert gave voice 510 00:27:44,130 --> 00:27:46,130 to his concerns. 511 00:27:46,130 --> 00:27:48,730 He spoke out at a public meeting. 512 00:27:48,730 --> 00:27:52,370 He makes this incredible speech, where he says, "We, the ruling 513 00:27:52,370 --> 00:27:55,570 "class, cannot exercise power without responsibility. 514 00:27:55,570 --> 00:27:57,970 "We must put something back." 515 00:27:57,970 --> 00:27:59,530 We have here, in the archives, 516 00:27:59,530 --> 00:28:03,330 the actual draft of that speech that he made and I'll just read out 517 00:28:03,330 --> 00:28:07,410 a few extracts to give you a sense of what he was trying to get across. 518 00:28:07,410 --> 00:28:11,810 He writes of, "My feelings of sympathy and interest for that class 519 00:28:11,810 --> 00:28:15,770 "of our community, which has most of the toil and least 520 00:28:15,770 --> 00:28:18,450 "of the enjoyments of this world." 521 00:28:18,450 --> 00:28:20,970 And, "To show the way how man can help 522 00:28:20,970 --> 00:28:25,370 "man is more particularly the duty of those who, by the favour 523 00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:29,610 "of Providence, enjoy station, wealth and education." 524 00:28:30,610 --> 00:28:33,890 He wasn't a socialist in any sense of the word, 525 00:28:33,890 --> 00:28:37,970 but he was, on a human level, sticking up for the poor... 526 00:28:37,970 --> 00:28:40,530 ..in a way that very few public figures were. 527 00:28:41,970 --> 00:28:47,090 The following day, every newspaper published the Prince's speech. 528 00:28:47,090 --> 00:28:50,610 Albert's campaign for change was up and running. 529 00:28:50,610 --> 00:28:55,410 Prince Albert believed education, formal education through schools 530 00:28:55,410 --> 00:28:58,570 and colleges and universities, was an absolute necessity 531 00:28:58,570 --> 00:29:00,570 for the life of a nation. 532 00:29:00,570 --> 00:29:03,610 Very, very few people in Britain had ever believed that, 533 00:29:03,610 --> 00:29:05,810 certainly never expressed the belief. 534 00:29:07,090 --> 00:29:11,810 Once again, Albert would test out his ideas close to home. 535 00:29:11,810 --> 00:29:15,050 When he realised the children of the Osborne estate workers 536 00:29:15,050 --> 00:29:17,970 didn't have a school of their own, he had a new one built 537 00:29:17,970 --> 00:29:19,290 specially for them. 538 00:29:20,930 --> 00:29:24,450 This document is evidence of Albert's systematic approach 539 00:29:24,450 --> 00:29:26,050 to a lot of things in life, 540 00:29:26,050 --> 00:29:29,730 but, in this case, education. It's headed, "Children, list 541 00:29:29,730 --> 00:29:32,970 "of on estate." And then there were a series of headings - 542 00:29:32,970 --> 00:29:37,050 the name, the age, whether they're at school or not, their state 543 00:29:37,050 --> 00:29:39,930 of education, whether they can read or write. 544 00:29:39,930 --> 00:29:42,210 "Ready only. Neither. 545 00:29:42,210 --> 00:29:43,850 "Imperfectly or otherwise." 546 00:29:45,130 --> 00:29:48,370 We've got Charles Bull, who's 17, 547 00:29:48,370 --> 00:29:50,970 and you might have hoped he could read or write. 548 00:29:50,970 --> 00:29:55,050 He can do neither. And what you see here, and what is particularly 549 00:29:55,050 --> 00:29:58,730 significant, is that younger children in the list generally 550 00:29:58,730 --> 00:30:01,210 have higher educational attainment. 551 00:30:01,210 --> 00:30:03,570 James Hunt. He's nine. 552 00:30:03,570 --> 00:30:07,290 He is at school and, yes, he can read and write. 553 00:30:07,290 --> 00:30:10,290 He believed passionately that, for people of the labouring 554 00:30:10,290 --> 00:30:14,970 classes to get on in life, and therefore for Britain to prosper 555 00:30:14,970 --> 00:30:19,410 as a country, it was necessary for them to have education. 556 00:30:19,410 --> 00:30:22,370 This is evidence that, even in a small way, on the Isle of Wight, 557 00:30:22,370 --> 00:30:23,730 it could work. 558 00:30:23,730 --> 00:30:26,930 And if you translate this right across the United Kingdom, 559 00:30:26,930 --> 00:30:30,010 you really would have a revolution in the education 560 00:30:30,010 --> 00:30:32,010 of the working classes. 561 00:30:32,010 --> 00:30:35,610 Albert's ideas were starting to be taken seriously. 562 00:30:35,610 --> 00:30:39,210 His next project was the inner cities, encouraging wealthy 563 00:30:39,210 --> 00:30:42,130 benefactors to fund housing for the urban poor. 564 00:30:43,370 --> 00:30:46,290 If you were a working class family 565 00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:50,010 in one of these newly-built hellhole cities... 566 00:30:52,130 --> 00:30:56,450 ..in the Black Country, in the north, or in London itself, 567 00:30:56,450 --> 00:30:57,810 life wasn't much fun. 568 00:30:57,810 --> 00:31:02,730 And your children were going to die of rickets, and cholera, and typhus, 569 00:31:02,730 --> 00:31:06,210 and all these horrible diseases. You were piled on top of one another, 570 00:31:06,210 --> 00:31:09,090 so crowded that you had to... I mean, half the family had to take 571 00:31:09,090 --> 00:31:11,010 it in turns to go to sleep and the other half 572 00:31:11,010 --> 00:31:12,570 had to be wandering the streets. 573 00:31:16,330 --> 00:31:19,570 Albert threw himself into the problem, commissioning a team 574 00:31:19,570 --> 00:31:23,890 of experts to come up with new solutions to the housing crisis. 575 00:31:23,890 --> 00:31:25,290 This... 576 00:31:25,290 --> 00:31:27,130 ..is a publication 577 00:31:27,130 --> 00:31:31,450 of the designs for model houses that were built under 578 00:31:31,450 --> 00:31:33,530 the aegis of Prince Albert. 579 00:31:33,530 --> 00:31:38,570 He financed these houses and then this publication was produced 580 00:31:38,570 --> 00:31:43,570 in order to literally provide a blueprint for these residences 581 00:31:43,570 --> 00:31:47,330 for future builders - how to build them, the sorts of costs 582 00:31:47,330 --> 00:31:49,450 that would have been involved - 583 00:31:49,450 --> 00:31:53,890 and that is married with a series of plans. 584 00:31:53,890 --> 00:31:56,290 I mean, it strikes me, looking at all the detail in this... 585 00:31:56,290 --> 00:31:58,210 There's extraordinary detail in this, Carly, 586 00:31:58,210 --> 00:31:59,850 that's just quintessential Albert. 587 00:31:59,850 --> 00:32:01,690 It's got the design, it's got the costing. 588 00:32:01,690 --> 00:32:03,490 I mean, nothing really is left out, is it? 589 00:32:03,490 --> 00:32:07,050 This is the blueprint for an early form of social housing 590 00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:10,090 and I suppose the question is - was it actually used? 591 00:32:10,090 --> 00:32:13,490 Did this change housing in Britain? 592 00:32:13,490 --> 00:32:16,170 It was certainly very influential 593 00:32:16,170 --> 00:32:19,610 and this publication was instrumental in changing attitudes 594 00:32:19,610 --> 00:32:22,370 towards the housing of the working poor. 595 00:32:25,250 --> 00:32:28,690 The model cottage designed by Albert's team still stands 596 00:32:28,690 --> 00:32:31,250 at the very place where the Chartists once gathered, 597 00:32:31,250 --> 00:32:33,530 demanding change, 598 00:32:33,530 --> 00:32:35,250 Kennington in South London. 599 00:32:37,090 --> 00:32:40,170 And, although it's one building, it actually comprises four apartments 600 00:32:40,170 --> 00:32:42,850 for four families, and it's got some really innovative features 601 00:32:42,850 --> 00:32:44,330 for the time. 602 00:32:44,330 --> 00:32:49,410 Katy Layton-Jones is a social historian, specialising in housing. 603 00:32:49,410 --> 00:32:52,890 It's got a very large parents' bedroom, which was spacious and gave 604 00:32:52,890 --> 00:32:56,010 them some privacy, which was unusual for the working classes. 605 00:32:56,010 --> 00:32:58,890 It's got two children's rooms, which were separate from the living room, 606 00:32:58,890 --> 00:33:01,690 which gave them, really, a sense of that middle class parlour 607 00:33:01,690 --> 00:33:03,490 that the other classes enjoyed. 608 00:33:03,490 --> 00:33:04,930 Albert really believed 609 00:33:04,930 --> 00:33:08,130 that, if you could tackle the living standards of the working classes, 610 00:33:08,130 --> 00:33:11,170 really improve their quality of life, that you could also tackle 611 00:33:11,170 --> 00:33:14,410 social problems and social conflict in society. 612 00:33:17,890 --> 00:33:21,730 Another of Albert's ambitious housing projects was an innovative 613 00:33:21,730 --> 00:33:25,530 five-storey apartment building, replacing a block of decaying 614 00:33:25,530 --> 00:33:28,130 working class slums in Central London. 615 00:33:30,730 --> 00:33:34,610 Every flat in Parnell House had running water, a lavatory, 616 00:33:34,610 --> 00:33:37,330 and a minimum of three bedrooms. 617 00:33:37,330 --> 00:33:40,610 I think the main impact of buildings like Parnell House 618 00:33:40,610 --> 00:33:44,250 was that they really raised expectations for how the labouring 619 00:33:44,250 --> 00:33:48,650 classes could live, and they themselves then had improved 620 00:33:48,650 --> 00:33:50,930 aspirations - what they wanted from their lives 621 00:33:50,930 --> 00:33:52,610 and what they expected from society. 622 00:33:58,330 --> 00:34:01,090 This image was produced when the building was brand-new 623 00:34:01,090 --> 00:34:03,090 and it had its first residents. 624 00:34:03,090 --> 00:34:06,970 And, you can see, it's astonishing how little has changed. 625 00:34:08,330 --> 00:34:10,810 The residents of that time still had pot plants. 626 00:34:10,810 --> 00:34:13,130 You've got the same wrought iron railings and even 627 00:34:13,130 --> 00:34:14,810 the same light fittings. 628 00:34:14,810 --> 00:34:18,210 And, right in the centre, in this open space that was so important 629 00:34:18,210 --> 00:34:21,570 in the model dwellings, you've got people enjoying the outdoors 630 00:34:21,570 --> 00:34:23,450 with their little child and their family 631 00:34:23,450 --> 00:34:26,090 because, after all, this building was built for families. 632 00:34:27,890 --> 00:34:32,930 Parnell House was used as a model for generations of social housing 633 00:34:32,930 --> 00:34:35,570 and Albert was earning respect across Britain 634 00:34:35,570 --> 00:34:38,450 as a leader striving to build a fairer society. 635 00:34:40,050 --> 00:34:43,530 By his own industry, he really invents the idea 636 00:34:43,530 --> 00:34:45,450 of the hardworking royal - 637 00:34:45,450 --> 00:34:48,610 the royal who justifies their existence by doing good. 638 00:34:48,610 --> 00:34:51,810 And, you know, Victoria, 639 00:34:51,810 --> 00:34:54,130 you know, never worked as hard as he did. 640 00:34:55,730 --> 00:34:58,730 Albert was no longer confining his energies to charity 641 00:34:58,730 --> 00:34:59,970 and social reform. 642 00:35:01,890 --> 00:35:05,050 An extraordinary collection of documents in the Royal Archives 643 00:35:05,050 --> 00:35:07,930 reveals his ambition for a more powerful role 644 00:35:07,930 --> 00:35:10,290 in British public life. 645 00:35:10,290 --> 00:35:12,970 You can see the level of detail in this book, you know, written 646 00:35:12,970 --> 00:35:14,730 in his own hands. 647 00:35:14,730 --> 00:35:17,770 But it's also a very telling indication of the role 648 00:35:17,770 --> 00:35:19,210 he was beginning to play. 649 00:35:19,210 --> 00:35:22,370 It's a record of his political dealings. 650 00:35:22,370 --> 00:35:26,290 He is absolutely immersing himself in the business of Government. 651 00:35:26,290 --> 00:35:29,330 He's recording all these conversations, this correspondence 652 00:35:29,330 --> 00:35:32,610 that's coming in from ministers and also with significant figures 653 00:35:32,610 --> 00:35:34,130 in the Empire. 654 00:35:34,130 --> 00:35:38,770 On this page, a report of a conversation with Sir Robert Peel. 655 00:35:38,770 --> 00:35:41,450 Now, Peel, of course, is Prime Minister at this time, 656 00:35:41,450 --> 00:35:44,890 so this is a hugely important political conversation 657 00:35:44,890 --> 00:35:47,250 and it absolutely underpins that 658 00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:50,970 he is determined that he will play his part in the political life 659 00:35:50,970 --> 00:35:55,210 of this country, whatever the establishment wishes or wants. 660 00:35:59,090 --> 00:36:02,090 Albert has become totally indispensable to Victoria. 661 00:36:02,090 --> 00:36:05,890 He basically runs the show and she is well aware of it. 662 00:36:07,370 --> 00:36:11,130 It is Albert who has taken all the decisions, 663 00:36:11,130 --> 00:36:14,130 Albert who has had the new projects, 664 00:36:14,130 --> 00:36:16,490 Albert who has controlled her relationships 665 00:36:16,490 --> 00:36:19,050 with the politicians. 666 00:36:19,050 --> 00:36:23,930 And her role is basically reduced to copying out letters that Albert 667 00:36:23,930 --> 00:36:26,770 has already drafted before she gets up in the morning, 668 00:36:26,770 --> 00:36:29,330 and saying what Albert tells her to say. 669 00:36:30,570 --> 00:36:34,290 Albert was winning over the politicians and the people. 670 00:36:34,290 --> 00:36:38,330 His next big idea would cement his place in history - 671 00:36:38,330 --> 00:36:42,730 a world-class event that few believed was possible. 672 00:36:42,730 --> 00:36:45,210 It would test Albert's resilience to the limit. 673 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,560 In 1851, Albert would embark on his greatest gamble. 674 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,160 A daring project to unite his many passions 675 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,960 and bring together people from the four corners of the globe. 676 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:12,360 Albert believed that trade and invention and technology 677 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,080 would unite the human race, and there would be universal peace. 678 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,560 And that was really the extraordinarily idealistic 679 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,400 thought behind the Great Exhibition. 680 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,920 A vast palace, the largest man-made glass structure on Earth, 681 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,280 would house the world's first trade fair. 682 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,840 Where they were 100,000 exhibits. 683 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,920 We look back on it, at the pinnacle of the 19th century, 684 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:43,480 but at the time everyone thought it was going to be a disaster. 685 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,400 In parliament, they said the exhibition would fail. 686 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,520 London would be overwhelmed with crowds, 687 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,240 spreading disease and hiking up prices. 688 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:56,160 Once again, Albert faced prejudice and mistrust. 689 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:03,000 They thought Albert was a spy, foreign spy, and they thought 690 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,600 wanting all the people of the world to come and exhibit, 691 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:11,400 Indians, Persians, Chinese people were invited to exhibit their wares. 692 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,800 I mean, there must be something wrong with that. 693 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,360 They're trying to infiltrate. 694 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,760 They thought that a hailstorm would make the glass roof break. 695 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,120 The American president wouldn't come, because he was worried 696 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,640 about being decapitated by the glass. 697 00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,760 You know, there were all these, kind of, ludicrous, sort of, rumours 698 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,800 and so forth that were going about. 699 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,600 As the days ticked down to the grand opening, 700 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,640 Albert was under enormous personal pressure. 701 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,400 The stress and public criticism were relentless. 702 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,440 This is a wonderful letter, written by Prince Albert just weeks 703 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,040 before the Great Exhibition actually takes place. 704 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:47,320 And he writes, 705 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:51,240 "Dear, Mama, I am at present more dead than alive from overwork. 706 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,640 "The opponents of the exhibition work with might and mean to throw 707 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:58,480 "all the women into panic to drive myself crazy. 708 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,320 "The strangers they give out are certain to commence a thorough 709 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:05,640 "revolution here, to murder Victoria and myself and to proclaim 710 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:07,240 "a Red Republic in England. 711 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:09,320 "The plague is certain to ensue 712 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,000 "from the confluence of such vast multitudes 713 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,400 "and to swallow up those whom the increased price of everything 714 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,920 "has not already swept away. 715 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,160 "For all this, I am to be responsible." 716 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,160 There's irony in this, there's humour. 717 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,440 But there's also a sense of the toll the whole business of putting 718 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,080 on the exhibition is taking on Albert. 719 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:32,520 Albert was a brilliant, natural bureaucrat. 720 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,920 I mean, civil servant, creator. 721 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,680 He could see projects through in a way that is, I think, very rare. 722 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,600 He was a visionary and he would imagine things 723 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,440 and then make them happen. 724 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:45,400 That's an extraordinary thing that's very, 725 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,800 in a way, that's quite un-English. 726 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:53,840 Finally, on May 1st 1851, Queen Victoria, with Albert by her side, 727 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:58,680 declared the Great Exhibition, her husband's brainchild, open. 728 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,840 Queen Victoria realised this was Albert's great day 729 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,600 it was Britain's great day and they went in and, as she describes 730 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,720 it in the Journal of drawers, it was an absolute triumph. 731 00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:15,320 It was, it was amazing. 732 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:19,640 I mean, hallelujah chorus was never more appropriately sung. 733 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,240 In the five months the Great Exhibition was opened to the public, 734 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:30,720 an astonishing six million visitors passed through its doors. 735 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,960 Albert's visionary idea became one of the greatest achievements 736 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,480 of the Victorian age. 737 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:40,880 In 1857, Victoria creates Albert Prince Consort, 738 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,480 and, of course, that's the name that we've come to know Albert by, 739 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:46,560 as THE Prince Consort. 740 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,240 And the fact that Victoria is able to do this for her husband 741 00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:54,400 and feels this need to do this, is just an indication 742 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,760 of how far he's come. 743 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,320 A remarkable letter in the royal archives reveals Albert's feelings 744 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,360 at finally receiving the acceptance and recognition 745 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,720 he has fought so hard for. 746 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:09,480 This is a very moving letter, about a great moment in Albert's life. 747 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:13,320 Because 17 years after he first arrived in this country, 748 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,080 he is able to tell his stepmother about a change of title 749 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:18,680 and he writes, 750 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,720 "Dear, Mama, I have not said a word to you about my change of title 751 00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:26,280 "and I now present myself before you as an entire stranger, 752 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:27,800 "as Prince Consort. 753 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,800 "I was certain to appear to them..." And by them, he means 754 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,080 the British people. "..in the long run, like a stranger in the land. 755 00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,600 "As my sons alone were English princes 756 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:39,280 and I merely a Coburg prince. 757 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,520 "But now I have a legal status in the English hierarchy." 758 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:50,160 Albert was finally being accepted by the British establishment. 759 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,920 Yet the energy he invested in making Britain a better place 760 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:56,320 was taking its toll. 761 00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:00,640 If you look at photographs of Albert after the age of 30, 762 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,280 he does get prematurely old. 763 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,760 He's not fit, his shoulders are sloping. 764 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:06,400 He's not a well man. 765 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,640 For whatever reason, he was a dying man. 766 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,680 I think from his mid '30s you can see he was a dying man. 767 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,960 He basically killed himself, I think, through overwork. 768 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,040 Nobody quite knows what he dies of. 769 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,800 You know, people think it may have been typhus 770 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,200 or stomach cancer or Crohn's disease, God knows. 771 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,240 In the winter of 1861, 772 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:30,760 while staying at Windsor Castle, Albert felt desperately ill. 773 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,320 As he lay on his sickbed, Queen Victoria read to him. 774 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:36,200 Well, this really is, I think, a very sad object. 775 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:40,600 It's an edition of Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak. 776 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:42,960 A very popular author at the time, and you can see here 777 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,440 that this marker has been tipped into the volume 778 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:50,840 and a clue as to what that signifies is in this inscription at the front, 779 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,760 which is in Queen Victoria's own hand. 780 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:58,200 "This book was read up to the mark in Page 81 to my beloved husband, 781 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,040 "during his fatal illness and within three days 782 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,600 "of its terrible termination." 783 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,920 On December 14th 1861, 784 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,240 Albert died with Victoria at his side. 785 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:14,720 He was 42-years-old. 786 00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:16,200 It's extraordinary, isn't it? 787 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:18,600 This clearly was the last thing she was reading to him 788 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:20,640 and she wants to mark that. 789 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,040 You know, obviously it's very precious to her. 790 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:26,120 She's put a mark in it and here it is, kept forever more 791 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:30,520 as a, as a, sort of, memorial to their last few days together. 792 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,840 Absolutely, Queen Victoria kept many memorials 793 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,320 and this is this is yet another one. 794 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:41,400 It's unbelievably sad that somebody with all that talent... 795 00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:45,720 ..um, and so much to offer, both on a private and public level, 796 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:48,320 should have died so young. 797 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:52,240 The Observer newspaper captured the nation's grief. 798 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:55,720 England's will not soon look upon his like again. 799 00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:01,720 From the point of view of the monarchy, Victoria has lost the man 800 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:06,560 who's effectively ruled Britain for the past 20 years. 801 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:10,640 People say that Queen Victoria went over the top, she didn't. 802 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,000 The mourning was absolutely justified. 803 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,280 She was right to regard it as one of the great appalling tragedies 804 00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:18,160 of the 19th century. 805 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:26,560 Britain had lost a dynamic young leader, with so much to contribute. 806 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,880 Yet, Albert would leave a remarkable legacy. 807 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,880 This is a wonderful document and really part of our cultural 808 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:38,000 history, because it shows the plot of land... 809 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,240 ..that Albert bought with the £200,000 profit 810 00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:43,040 from the Great Exhibition. 811 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,880 You can see here in this section here, this blue section, 812 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:50,480 and the intention is to create a cultural quarter, a lasting legacy 813 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:51,840 from the exhibition. 814 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:58,840 And that plot of land was London's South Kensington. 815 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:03,320 Profit from that exhibition in 1851, 816 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:07,880 ultimately financed what we call the "Albertopolis". 817 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,240 The V&A Imperial College. 818 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,520 What eventually became the Royal Albert Hall. 819 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,880 The Natural History Museum, The Science Museum, 820 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,200 The Royal College Organist, The Royal College of Music, 821 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:20,960 all these things. 822 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:25,280 This was an element of our culture, our cultural heritage, 823 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:26,840 that was created by Albert. 824 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,200 Albert's idea for the Great Exhibition, 825 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:31,480 and then, ultimately, to have a lasting legacy 826 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,840 for that exhibition. 827 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,720 At the heart of South Kensington stands the museum 828 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:39,040 that bears Albert's name, the V&A. 829 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:42,800 Famously, Victoria thought it should just be called 830 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:44,080 "The Albert Museum". 831 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:45,920 And she had to be convinced that it should be called 832 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:48,280 The Victoria and Albert Museum. 833 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:52,680 When we think about the V&A today, and we think about Albert's role 834 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:54,560 in its creation, we think of two words, 835 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,080 which are ingenuity and imagination. 836 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,240 The purpose of this place as Albert envisaged it, 837 00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:07,520 was to showcase the greatest works of human ingenuity. 838 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:11,320 It was there to inspire artists and architects and engineers 839 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:12,800 and designers. 840 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,640 To spark the imagination of the next generation. 841 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:23,040 I don't think people do him justice, 842 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:28,720 because....they don't really understand what he did for us. 843 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:30,920 He was one of the great kings we never had. 844 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,000 Subtitles by Red Bee Media