Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert

by Stanley Weintraub

Overview

Stanley Weintraub, biographer of Queen Victoria and other major figures of her era, here unveils for the first time the largely hidden role of Prince Albert, establishing him as one of the greatest men of his days.

Drawing on previously unexplored sources, Weintraub's Uncrowned King delves into Prince Albert's political, familial, financial, medical, and sexual life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780743206099
Publisher:	Free Press
Publication date:	04/01/2000
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Stanley Weintraub is Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University and the author of notable histories and biographies including 11 Days in December, Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, MacArthur's War, Long Day's Journey into War, and A Stillness Heard Round the World: The End of the Great War. He lives in Newark, Delaware.

Table of Contents

	Illustrations	xi
	Preface	xiii
I	Leaving for Good (1839-1840)	1
II	Silver Spoon (1819-1831)	20
III	The Student Prince (1832-1838)	39
IV	Courting a Husband (1838-1839)	66
V	Serene Highness to Royal Highness (1840-1841)	90
VI	Taking Hold (1841-1843)	123
VII	The Goldfish-bowl (1843-1844)	140
VIII	The Queen's Business (1845-1848)	160
IX	The Violent Year (1848)	192
X	Master Mason (1849-1851)	213
XI	The Palace of Glass (1850-1851)	245
XII	From Glory to Gloom (1852-1853)	267
XIII	Impeaching the Prince (1853-1855)	294
XIV	Albert's War (1855-1856)	316
XV	Managing Destiny (1856-1858)	336
XVI	Royal Enterprises, Ltd (1858-1860)	356
XVII	The Treadmill Donkey (1860-1861)	381
XVIII	Duty Done (1861)	405
	Afterword: Legacy	432
	Sources	444
	Acknowledgements	457
	Genealogical Charts	458
	Index	463

Editorial Reviews

Queen Victoria would doubtless have been delighted by this biography of her adored husband, after the implications of the title had evoked the royal scowl. Prolific biographer Weintraub writes that he learned to respect Victoria's prince consort so deeply while writing about the queen herself in Victoria that he now builds a strong case that Albert, far from being a minor German princeling, was in fact a conscientious, well-informed administrator who essentially acted as England's king while married to Victoria. On his early death at age 42 in 1861, Prime Minister Disraeli said, "This German Prince has governed England for twenty-one years with a wisdom and energy such as none of our Kings have ever shown." Albert's wife, after all, produced during those years an unprecedented nine children, who went on to repopulate the ranks of European royalty. While reviled by many of his wife's subjects as a foreigner and worse yet, a German, Albert fought valiantly to improve British education and single-handedly pulled together the Great Exhibition of 1851 with its magnificent Crystal Palace. He was involved in almost every aspect of Her Majesty's government, to the mixed reactions of prime ministers, and he met his match in Lord Palmerston, who ignored and thwarted Albert and Victoria at every turn. Drawing on his detailed knowledge of the protagonists, Weintraub's persuasive argument that Albert was certainly the power behind the throne should cause a reevaluation. The 40 years of Victoria's reign after her husband's death and the dynastic web she spun across the Continent by marrying off her many children have tended to obscure Albert's role. Weintraub sets the record straight, leaving the reader with new admiration for this underestimated man. Photos not seen by PW. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Weintraub (Shaw's People, LJ 5/15/96) is eminently qualified to write this book by virtue of his previous biographies of Victoria (LJ 1/87), Disraeli (LJ 9/1/93), and other important figures of Prince Albert's era. The depth and breadth of his knowledge inform this work throughout. There are no shocking revelations about Victoria's consort here but a well-researched and detailed portrait, which draws on accounts from Americans who met the prince and contemporary magazines and newspapers, including scandal sheets and satirical publications (Punch and others). The wealth of detail makes this more appropriate for the knowledgeable reader, but it is also accessible to the interested neophyte. A worthy addition to any library that does not have a recent biography of Prince Albert and for libraries that collect heavily in this area.Jean E.S. Storrs, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore

Library Journal

A distinguished biographer of Queen Victoria demonstrates the political importance of her beloved husband.

From the time of his marriage to Victoria in 1840 until his untimely death in 1861, Albert of Saxe-Coburg was never wholeheartedly accepted by the people of England. He always spoke German in private, and his public speeches were delivered in heavily accented English. A figure of fun in satirical periodicals such as Punch, he never received the civil or military honors that Victoria wanted for him. Weintraub (Disraeli, 1993; Victoria: An Intimate Biography, 1987; etc.) makes clear how much she adored him, how Albert bolstered her self-confidence, and how important their relationship was to the maintenance of the monarchy in the 19th century. Albert never usurped Victoria's role as monarch, but he took advantage of her repeated pregnancies, and of partisan shifts between Whig and Tory, to become acting monarch on occasion, and the most important adviser to the monarch on every occasion. A public figure who carved out a role as a promoter of science, technology, and educational reform, he achieved a public relations coup through his sponsorship of the famous Great Exhibition of 1851, a symbol of Britain's position as the world's dominant industrial nation. Albert's importance was underlined by Victoria's response after his death, when she put the monarchy in danger by virtually retiring from public life for nearly a decade. While establishing Albert's importance, Weintraub provides illuminating details of the private life and daily routine of the royal couple. Their strong physical attraction for each other and their mutual enthusiasm for eroticism in painting and sculpture were combined with a sincere commitment to higher moral standards at court and in public.

While providing a window into the private lives of 19th- century royalty, Weintraub also makes a critical historical point about the adaptation of the monarchy to the demands of a more democratic age.

Kirkus Reviews