The Life and Times of Prince Albert

by Patrick Allitt

How did Prince Albert, an obscure German prince, leave an indelible mark on the British monarchy?

In 10 lectures, award-winning historian Patrick N. Allitt transports listeners to England in the 1840s and 1850s. During those two decades, Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, became one of the most influential people in the country and remains a figure of fascination even today. In fact, the British royal family as we know it wouldn’t exist without the private and public actions of this detached, impartial, and upright political figure.

During his brief life of only 42 years, Prince Albert gave the world the new Houses of Parliament and the Great Exhibition of 1851. He helped Great Britain nimbly dodge the violent revolutions sweeping through mainland Europe and played important roles in both the Crimean War and the American Civil War. Trusted by politicians 25 years his senior, Prince Albert was a negotiator with superior insight into the minds of foreign leaders like Abraham Lincoln. Finally, he was husband to an iconic queen who would define an entire era in British history.

Parliamentary leaders come and go, but the British monarchy endures. Listeners will learn what great debt the monarchy owes to Prince Albert.

Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Historical, British Literature, Biography Memoir

5 pages, Audible Audio

First published February 18, 2020

Reviews

[Melindam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, general and not too demanding series of lectures about the life and times of Prince Albert and how "Victorian" (or should that be "Albertian"?) Britain came to be.

Also I could not help drawing parallels between the Monarchy then and now.

Seems Albert had quite a lot of hate-press to deal with in his time, but knew the value
of and could handle PR much better than some members of the royal family today (though I guess it helps when you are a decent fellow altogether).

[Jason Koivu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick N. Allitt is a British historian and academic who serves as the Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University in Atlanta. He has produced quite a few lectures for the Great Courses series. This is a short lecture in the GC style, though without an audience and more in keeping with the reading of a history book, like a typical non-fiction audiobook. Allitt does an excellent job narrating it himself. He has a good voice and engaging manner, making this interesting book a real joy to listen to!

[Xiomara · Rating 5 out of 5]

AHHH so good!!! I love the Queen Victoria, Prince Albert love story and learning more about them, but sitting down and learning about him was just so refreshing and welcoming. Patrick Allit was well spoken making it a relaxing lecture series.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prince Albert was much more than the consort of Queen Victoria, he was her primary advisor. In this Great Courses volume, Patrick Allitt uses the prince’s life as a vehicle to explore many important moments in nineteenth century English history showing how Prince Albert learned to work behind the scenes to help his adopted kingdom navigate many difficult times. Military reform, foreign policy, relations to Parliament—Albert played a critical role in all of these. Touchingly, he and the queen also appeared to have enjoyed a genuinely loving relationship—something uncommon in a time of arranged political marriages.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Holwanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched, well-written, and delivered quite well by the author. He shed a lot of light on Prince Albert. Interesting throughout.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, this is not the Prince Albert in a can. That was his son.

Prince Albert was a German prince who married his cousin Victoria, the Queen of England, because that's how royals do (he was not quite her only available choice, but her dating pool was very small). It turns out that Victoria and Albert were quite the hot little couple. Their courtship resulted in Victoria being utterly smitten (Albert seems to have, well, liked her) and their marriage resulted in nine children. Despite the fact that Victoria hated being pregnant, and suffered physically and mentally each time, when the doctors told her after her sixth or seventh that further pregnancies would be very dangerous, she asked "Does that mean we can't have any more fun in bed?"

Hah. So much for "Victorianism"!

In fact, it turns out that the so-called prudery of the Victorian age was largely because of Victoria and Albert trying to set a more moral tone from a court that had previously been known for non-stop debauchery and scandals.

Albert and Victoria, despite being quite in love, fought a lot. Meanwhile, Albert wanted more influence, not because he was hungry for power (though his attempts to gain influence certainly got him accused of being power hungry), but because he genuinely thought he had good ideas and should be listened to. He was largely responsible for the Great Exhibition that produced the Crystal Palace, he was an advocate of military reforms, and an opponent of slavery. He also saw that the monarchy was at a critical juncture, where the authority of the Queen was not always clear, and the rise of democracies (and Jacobinism) was bringing into question whether England really needed a monarchy still. A lot of his views turned out to be very correct and prescient, and he and Victoria in many ways established the monarchy as the beloved (with mixed feelings) combination celebrity family and symbol of national continuity it is today.

Albert died at the young age of 42, and Victoria never really got over it. She went into a mourning that lasted for years, until even Charles Dickens was growing impatient with her.

I wasn't initially very interested in this freebie from Audible, but I listened to it in an afternoon and really enjoyed learning a bit about Prince Al.

[abthebooknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as entertaining as I thought it would be, but still interesting!

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

The German Prince & the British Monarchy
Review of the Audible Original audiobook edition (February 18, 2020)

In the introduction to The Life and Times of Prince Albert, historian Patrick Allitt says that he will rely on two primary sources and will attempt to strike a balance between them. The main sources are the 5 volume The Life of the Prince Consort: Prince Albert and His Times (1875-1880) by Theodore Martin, described as "solemn, worshipful and reverent" and Queen Victoria (1921) by Lytton Strachey, described as "tart, satirical and detached." Overall, the tone of this series of 10 lectures of about 30 minutes each did lean towards the worshipful though, but in an entertaining manner that wasn't dry.

It was fascinating to hear about historical trivia such as Albert introducing the German custom of Christmas Trees to Britain, and thus to the rest of the world. Also that his influence probably steered the British Monarchy towards its popularization, which was his intent to prevent it being subject to revolutions such as those on the European continent. I was curious about what Allitt describes as Albert's "strong foreign accent" and did look up some further information (I don't remember it being expanded on by Allitt) that he and Victoria actually spoke German in private as she had grown up with a German governess. That is kind of interesting to think about.

The narration by author Patrick Allitt was excellent.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert was originally released February 18 2020 and was also a free Audible Original for members in the month of May 2020. It is available to everyone for a standard price.

[Reg · Rating 3 out of 5]

"If I've whet your appetite for Prince Albert..."

You have not. You've whet my appetite for Queen Victoria, actually.

She comes off as a silly, shrewish woman. She hated being pregnant, disliked children, and had the GAUL to take drugs during childbirth even though "THE BIBLE." And thank goodness Albert came along to be the "strong hand" she needed to rule properly.

Look, the book was good. The information is engaging and well presented. Patrick Allitt is a great speaker.

But this was my take-away:

Prince Albert was FUCKIN AMAZING and did AMAZING, GREAT THINGS, and we named lots of STUFF after him! And that one place that was named after his daughter WAS ALSO NAMED FOR HIM BECAUSE SHE WAS NAMED FOR HIM.* HE WAS SO COOL WOW.
Victoria was a woman.

*Literally in the book and not an exaggeration. He got credit for the place named after Alberta.

TL;DR: He was legitimately a cool dude and the information was good and I liked it. But this book still smells like patriarchy.

[Lorena Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante; muchos de los datos ya los había leído en Reinas Malditas; por lo que no me pareció muy novedoso, pero claro que incluyen datos extras sobre todo detalles y contexto de la época.

[Sassa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it! Learned from it! The world is so interesting and, for me, there is a special draw to England. The life and reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert have so many firsts and it was delightful to learn about them.
A most interesting quote was “There is nothing more English than German.” So, I learned a bit about Germany, too.
I did have to slow the Audible down a notch. My Southern brain could not keep up with the smart speech rate of the narrator. I am used to a slow drawl. 😆 I wish there was a text or transcript to go along with the Audible.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of ten lectures, less than half-an-hour each, available as an audio download. Given away for free in May 2020 to subscribers by Audible, in apparent cooperative cross-marketing with The Great Courses. Total running length: four hours, 28 minutes.

One of the happier results of the pandemic is the uptick in my consumption of audiobooks, especially as I am determined to cook more frequently and also because the house needs more frequent cleaning as self, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW), and Enormous Black Cat are hanging around, generating prodigious mountains of cracker crumbs, all day long.

This series of lectures is enjoyable because listening to an interesting educated person talk about something they know a lot about is one of life's simple pleasures, even if the topic is not one you'd go out of the way to learn about. Apparently, there are people who aren't that interested in history, and felt that they did not enjoy listening to this series of lectures much, to which I can only say: “It takes all types to make a world but I'm glad I'm not you.”

I read one reviewer here that seemingly enjoyed listening but said the lectures “smelled of patriarchy”, in a way that gave me the impression that we will not see a fragrance with this name gracing the shelves of America's dying department stores anytime soon. As an example of a moment which gave off this aroma especially strongly, the reviewer mentions the invention of certain drugs which, when inhaled, allowed women to endure childbirth with less pain. Victoria, who by this time had had given birth at least six times already, maybe more, was understandably eager to give this new advance in medicine a try with her latest pregnancy. However, leading theological minds of Victoria's age, none of whom were actually in possess of a single uterus between them (and perhaps therefore not really aware of the level of discomfort those in labor endure), advised the Queen that such relief was almost certainly sinful since God himself, in one of those spiteful old Testament moments which are as catnip for the narrow-minded, specifically mentioned that women will bear children in great agony.

When I listened to this, while adding too much dry sherry to the tomato soup, I muttered something like “Oh, fer cryin' out loud”, because the pompous idiocy of such an opinion was abundantly clear to me, even though the author did not come out and say so. I felt that the author knew his listeners would understand this without explanation, and could skip over pummeling the patriarchy just this once, if only for brevity's sake.

I mentioned this to LSW during one of the evening walks which have become one of the few pleasant aspects of pandemic-era life. I also mentioned that, in this audiobook, the writings of several other pompous Victorian male aristos denigrating Victoria's intellect (often made in private journals or letters in the same week that the same aristo was bowing, scraping, and flattering Victoria to her face) are quoted, also without the author specifically calling out the writer as the jumped-up hypocrites they clearly are, but again I felt that the small-minded mendacity of Victoria's critics was plain to all listeners.

LSW asked me to think about the fact that women have so few historical examples of women in power that they might not like unfair criticism of one of them to be mentioned and passed unlabelled, however obvious the unfairness might seem to me. Hmm, I shrugged, I never thought of it that way.

Listen to this story of Albert, because he was an unusual aristocrat in the sense that he acquired power against long odds and then used it for good while remaining relatively well-adjusted and a good parent. Remind yourself that such people are possible.

[عدنان العبار · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really a nice book to listen to. I got it because it was free and better than the rest of the garbage on Audible. I listened to it at around the 20th, maybe earlier maybe later, of May, though I don't exactly know when nor do I care.

It's not a good biography. It's very boring. It only helps to show you how silly politics is, and how unfair the political process is. (Although between us, I am starting to get convinced that monarchies with minimal political-judicial interventions are better than democracies and republics.) But this book is not fun to read or listen to. Don't get it unless it's assigned as homework. I listened to the rest of it while tidying my library so that was not a very complete waste of time.

[Sonsoles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well read and performed, the exposition of the events is clear and the book has a good structure and, since I had no idea of many of the things told here, it ended up being very interesting.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have 4 stars if he didn’t insist to always depict Victoria in a silly, demeaning voice. Also, it sounds like she was dealing with complicated grief after Albert’s unexpected death at a young age and did not particularly like that he took a mocking tone to this. Was she over the top? Maybe? But can overthetop people also struggle with grief? Yes.

[Nanuka · Rating 1 out of 5]

This makes Queen Victoria sound like a helpless, neurotic woman, who would have been lost without Albert. His work and role in the monarchy can be elevated and praised without sexist jabs at Victoria.

[Owlonmywrist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits, but mostly... meh.

[Lis Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prince Albert was the younger son of a fairly minor German prince, and he married the queen of one of the great powers of Europe. They were each among a very short list of eligible marriage partners for each other. That it was a love match was a bonus extra for them.

This isn't a biography of Victoria, or even of Victoria and Albert. This is specifically about Albert, his lie and times, and his unexpected and significant influence on British politics and culture.

Victoria and Albert were both twenty when they married, intelligent, and energetic. However, Albert had received a much better education. This was partly because young men were deemed to be more suited for education than young women, but also because Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, and the Duchess's lover, Sir John Conroy, were trying to mold Victoria into someone they could easily control. They weren't successful, but that didn't change Victoria's lack of education.

This is a lively and fascinating account of how Albert mastered the arts of politics, and built the ability to influence both Victoria, and the major political and social leaders of the time, while avoiding a prominent political role that would have been greatly resented. Albert successfully influenced the modernization of the army and the navy, and Britain's defense policy. He pushed Cambridge University to put more emphasis on the sciences, not just on theology and the humanities. He promoted the arts, creating new museums that made the arts more accessible--while moving works of art into better housing that better protected and reserved those works of art. The Crystal Palace exhibition promoted the usefulness and excellence of British technological advances.

While being in no sense a democrat, he did favor a broader franchise (mainly for the wealthy merchant class), and placed great importance on improving housing and living conditions for the working class. He said and did things that would be unsettling or even shocking now--but if they were unsettling in his time, it was because of his liberalism in contrast to much of the British upper class.

In his relationship with Victoria, and with her ministers, he encouraged each in a direction of less reactivity and impulsivity, moderating policy while teaching Victoria to be more effective in pursuit of her own goals. The Queen didn't have the power of past kings and reigning queens, but she did have influence, and Albert taught her how to use it.

None of which is to say he was without fault, or never made mistakes, but when they married, the government expected him to stay out of the way and exercise no influence at all. He was a very minor prince, after all, and a German one at that. He had to earn the respect of successive prime ministers and members of their cabinets.

This is really interesting and enjoyable, and not very long. Recommended.

I believe I got this free in Audible's May COVID-19 giveaway of Audible Originals. I am reviewing it voluntarily.

[Michael Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative story of the life of Prince Albert and the historical background of the events.

Prince Albert was a minor German prince. Given the limited choice for Victoria, she proposed to him and they married. He was not paid a lot when he came and was suspected of harboring German ambitions. But he turns out to be a progressive (by the times standards) and a cool head in the foreign relationships space. Victoria grew up with Melbourne as an advisor. When Peel was to become the new PM, Victoria was distrustful and didn’t want his people in the palace. Albert is the one that instructed Victoria to not side with any political party. He is also keen in reforming the military and improving the condition of the poor. When Duke Wellington finally retired as the commander in chief at the age of 81, he wanted Prince Albert to succeed him. Though flattered, Albert recognized the hostility he would have to face and declined. When an American warship captured a Brit and the countries are one the brink of war, it is Albert who suggested a toned down letter to allow Lincoln to state that it wasn’t his order to show hostility. This coolheaded act help avoid war. After he died at the age of 42, he was fondly remembered by the nation.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of lectures does not just comprise a biography of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, but they're also a neat summation of the times he lived in and his influence on them which was greater than most people know. Nicely done.

I have one small complaint though. When he lists the places and things named after Prince Albert, he even goes so far as to mention that the Canadian province of Alberta was named after Princess Louise Alberta who was named after her dad, thus pointing out that it was indirectly named after Albert. What he fails to mention is next door to Alberta is the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, where I live, and that contains the small city of Prince Albert, which is most certainly directly named after the subject of these lectures. He also fails to mention that Albert Street in our provincial capital of Regina (named for Albert’s wife, Victoria Regina) is also directly named after him. Living in Saskatchewan means that the rest of the world mostly ignores you. This is not something that particularly bothers me, but I couldn’t resist mentioning it. ;)

This was a worthwhile way to spend four hours of my time.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well presented biography of Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. (This was also a free book from Audible, so even better). Albert is well covered by historians, but I personally wasn't as familiar with 1800s UK history of the monarchy, so I learned a fair bit. Particularly interesting was that there were still issues of monarch vs. parliament even at that date, due to Victoria's preference for certain politicians and parties ("Bedchamber Crisis" of 1839), and how Albert potentially prevented war between the US/Union and Britain during the US Civil War over a naval interdiction (basically, by softening the letter sent to Lincoln after the incident, leaving open the possibility that the US captain had misinterpreted or exceeded Lincoln's orders in violating British sovereignty, rather than directly accusing Lincoln and the US of doing so). Overall, seems like a genuinely great leader, and the Great Courses program presents it well.

[H Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering this is Audible Original freebie, I expected very little of it. In fact, I decided never to spend any more time listening to Audible Original, so-called "audiobook" because they all suck. At best, these freebies are badly edited podcast episodes. But this, The Life and Times of Prince Albert, is so different. It is so good, so educational.

Patrick Allitt has written a wonderful book that teaches readers the history of England and the world when Queen Victoria was the Queen. The book flows so well and everything just fits in very well. Most importantly, this is the story of a remarkable man who achieved so much in such a short life. I am amazed at how much he accomplished for the history of modernity at such a young age. At the core, he was an intellectually curious man who always wanted to do better, know better. I can't say enough good things about this audiobook.

[Carol Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mini “Great Courses” audiobook that Audible is currently producing (and giving away free to monthly subscribers). It was a nice little morsel of history. My knowledge of the Victorian era is very generic, and this filled in some gaps. Prince Albert is the husband that Victoria mourned for forty years. He was aristocratic, elitist, but beyond that, a man with some common sense. He offered good political advice, embraced good causes – such as the abolition of slavery – and was a good husband and father.

[Zac Stojcevski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to fault a book that is titled for one person that tries to be scholarly and equanimous. The author / lecturer achieves this in this wonderful primer into the Victorian era as well as the internal lives of the monarchs and their children. Fascinating titbits of information such as the promotion of Christmas cards, Christmas Trees, family morals - to make up for the bacchanalian backgrounds of both spouses - and Victoria's influence of white wedding dresses that persists to today. Lacking POWER in a tyrannical sense of the word, Albert appears to have been the influencer of the times on both his wife and British society with precision, diligence, planning, record keeping and the like patronised by Albert and then, post his death he was lionised by his widow if not for the xenophobic British press and public who appeared more comfortable with marble effigies of the foreigner than the man himself. Informative audiobook!

[Aneil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve not read anything on Prince Albert before, but have watched the Masterpiece series, Young Victoria, enjoying it greatly. This book (Audible Original) added meat and bones to the heart of that tv series.

I appreciated the lecture approach, which was structured topically but also somewhat chronologically.

The author/narrator perfectly captures the tone and spirit of that times.

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Audible’s marketing team is really on the ball these days. I got this as one of my free downloads a couple months ago, and finally listened to it. It’s the first of Audible’s Great Courses series that I’ve done, but now I’m sure it won’t be the last. Well played, Audible.

If you’re a history nerd like me, especially as regards the history of the United Kingdom and its monarchy, you’ll appreciate this well researched and narrated series of lectures. It’s a short listen, and I don’t know if you can still download it for free, but I do recommend it.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting ride but I don’t know maybe wasn’t for me

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

More interesting than it really had any right to be. Queen Victoria was an idiot.

[Judith von Kirchbach]

Very interesting lecture on Prince Albert‘s life and influence, loved it !

[مُهنا · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice.