Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
Francis Albecht (Albert) Augustus Charles Emmanuel Saxe-Coburg (1819-61) was born at Rosenau (near Coburg), now part of Bavaria in Germany. Here Ernest and Albrech grew up togetgher. Their mother played with the boys as they were three children. The younger Albrecht was her favorite and he always in later life spoke of his mother with the greatest tenderness. The happy three-some were separated in 1824 when Ernest and Akbrech were only 5-6 years old. After Duke Ernest had begun to ignore her, Louise took a lover herself and her husband used this to demand a separation. Louise left Coburg in 1824 and tghe two were fornmaly divorced in 1827. She was thus separated from the two beings she loved most in all the world. It was probably even more traumatic for the boys. They never saw their mother again--but they never forgot her. Their happy childhood came to a close.
Francis Albecht (Albert) Augustus Charles Emmanuel Saxe-Coburg (1819-61) was born at Rosenau (near Coburg), now part of Bavaria in Germany.
Here Ernest and Albrech grew up togetgher. Their mother played with the boys as they were three children. The younger Albrecht was her favorite and he always in later life spoke of his mother with the greatest tenderness.
The happy three-some were separated in 1824 when Ernest and Akbrech were only 5-6 years old. After Duke Ernest had begun to ignore her, Louise took a lover herself and her husband used this to demand a separation. Louise left Coburg in 1824 and the two were fornmaly divorced in 1827. She was thus separated from the two beings she loved most in all the world. It was probably even more traumatic for the boys. They never saw their mother again--but they never forgot her. Their happy childhood came to a close.
Albert never discussed the loss of his mother in public. He did begin to keep a journal. It conveys a deeply introspective and insecure boy. He became quiet ans subdued, subject to prolonged fits of weeping. There are entries such as "I cried at my lessons today." He was a very docile and obedient boy. A wave finger or a frown was apparently sufficent corection wehen he was naughty. No one was probably aware of how much he had been hurt by the separation from his mother. Nor in his father's house woukld he have received much sympathy.
As a young boy he almost certinly unaware as to the extent that his mother's disappearnce was actually the fault of his father. Without fully understanding the circumstances, he as a child did come to blame his father and it for ever affected their relatioinship. His father was not a very invoved father, except that he was very stict and had little concept of childhood and the imopact on such young boys of depriving them rom their mother. (Interestingkly, Albert as a father took a great interest in his chikldren and was a loving father.)
Albert's childhood appears to have been saved by both his strength of character as well as two wnderful grandmothers and a remarkable tudor--Florschütz. He created a peaceful and regular school life for the two disdraught boys. He developed the habit of hiding his true feelings. While their tudor set reasonable expectations for the boys, their father Duke Ernest bulied his children and drove them to hard. Albert remembers one occassion when he was only 10, his father insisted that the boys ride over the mountains to Gotha with him during the winter. The boys arrived cold and exhausted, but did not dare complain.
It was two very dutiful grandmothers that, after the disappearnce of their mother, kept the boys' from facing harsh and loveless lives. The two thus complemented each other. The boys were sicked with whooping cough on the very days their mother left. The two grandmothers moved right in to care for them. Augusta of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg was elderly, but a liberal. She undobtedly helped instill a belief in constituional rule and how to be relgious without being a bigot. Her devout Luthernism did not prevent her from advocating full civic rights for Catholics. Younger Duchess Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg was more inclined toward music and literature. She understood better the nature of small boys. Whil e with her the boys may stay up late to see a play. She had gardens allloted to them and bought them a goat cart which was an endless source of pleasure.
Interestingly the docile Albert took the leadership in boyhood games with his brother and village children. Unlike the more class stratified England, the boys were allowed to play with the village children. (Albert was struck by the separation of social class when he came to England.) Albert did not hold back in these games and appears to be a natural leader. His behaviior, however, varied markedly at home and with the other boys.
Uncle Leopold had liked Louise and woried how his brother the Duke would care for the boys. He dispatched his personal physcician (Stockmar) from England. After observing the boys, he recommended that they be taken from Müller, their nurse. The grandmothers were frantic. But the new tutor worked well.
A wonderful tutor was secured for the boys. Florschütz the tudor put in charge of them was a remarable teacher. He was already caring for two boys of the Duke's elder sister. He believe that competition would help motivate his two new charges. All four boys were bright, Albert more than Ernest, so there was considerable challenge. Their titor managed to instill a love of leraning in them. He taught them English--which of course proved useful to Albert. He also taught them science which was at the time a rare subject in German or English schools. As a result, Albert as Prince Consort helped to promote science in England and converse inteligently with luminaries like Fraday. Florschütz also helped to promote a love of music. Albert appears to have had some talent because the tight-fisted Duke refused all but the most basic tutoring for them.
Bennett, Daphne. King Without a Crown: Albert Prince Consort of England, 1819-1861 (New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1977).
Woodham-Smith, Cecil. Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times (1972).
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