Albert designed the new family home at Osborne on the Isle of Wight, safely inaccessible from a prying public. True happiness, he claimed, was to be found in the country with her beloved prince and her young family. The creation of a private sphere вЂ“ of a space dedicated to domestic life вЂ“ was one of the most far-reaching changes made by Albert in his drive to reform the monarchy.Дisliking London with its late nights, and sneered at by the aristocracy as a German beggar, Albert persuaded Victoria that her enjoyment of society was wrong. It meant that VictoriaвЂ™s life was no longer bounded by the court, as it had been in the early days of her reign, when her court was a Camelot, famed for its parties and youthful high spirits. The withdrawal of the royal family from the public space of the court into the private apartments was AlbertвЂ™s doing. How she longed to get to know the queen, her employer, but Victoria barely spoke to her. It took place within the peculiar context of the court.ДЄs a young maid of honour in VictoriaвЂ™s court in the 1850s, Mary Bulteel would watch the door silently close on the queenвЂ™s private apartments. But the fact was that the royal marriage was unlike any other. The image of the Victorian monarchy, crafted by Albert, and projected in paintings such as WinterhalterвЂ™s The Royal Family in 1846 was one of a child-centred bourgeois family on the throne. She was torn between her passionate desire to be a perfect вЂVictorianвЂ™ wife to Albert вЂ“ an angel in the house, all sweetness and light вЂ“ and her Hanoverian inheritance. вЂњIt is a reversal of the right order of things which distresses me much and which no one, but such a perfection, such an angel as he is вЂ“ could bear and carry through.вЂќ But Victoria had a vein of steel, and her commitment to her birthright was absolute. Women, she believed, were not fit to rule. Victoria declared herself grateful to Albert for relieving her of the tiresome work of the sovereign. вЂњAs the natural head of family, superintendent of her household, manager of her private affairs, sole confidential adviser in politics, and only assistant in her communications with the officers of her government, he is, besides, the husband of the queen, the tutor of the royal children, the private secretary of the sovereign, and her permanent minister.вЂќ Not only was Albert king in all but name but he intervened in politics, pursuing an active role in foreign policy. By now he had become her private secretary.

At dinners with politicians, Albert could be heard prompting Victoria in German before she spoke. He started to attend meetings with ministers, dealing with the queenвЂ™s correspondence and drafting business letters for the queen to copy out. In November 1840, when her first child was born, Victoria gave Albert the key to the cabinet boxes. (Photo by Roger Fenton/Roger Fenton/Getty Images) King in all but name Prince Albert is in military uniform and is wearing his medals. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in a re-enactment of their marriage ceremony, 1854.

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