see also The Albert Memorial - click here

see also The Frogmore Mausoleum - click here

see also David Bartlett in London by Day and Night - click here

Albert was disliked and suspected all his lifetime in England by everyone, from the highest to the lowest; and the more than well-deserved reaction from this unjust judgment only began two or three years after his death. I have heard in my childhood ridicule poured on his artistic attempts; sneers at his meanness; indignation at his impertinent interference in home and foreign affairs, and every abuse showered on him that any one can imagine: I have lived to hear his praise in every mouth, and to know that he honestly loved art for art's sake; that in his short time he did more for artists than any king or prince ever did before or since; that he reformed abuses in the domestic arrangements of the Palace that would have ruined a far richer woman than the Queen of England ; and that to his wise advice we owe the French alliance, now "going strong," as boys say," under the name of l'entente cordiale; and that to him above all do we owe peace with America, and the splendid domestic example, the loss of which can never be replaced, until we are fortunate enough to be sent such another man among us. Victoria's era may have been dull - personally the part I knew best was delightful and perfect - but it was good.

Mrs. Panton, Leaves from a Life, 1908