0:00:11 > 0:00:14Throughout history, the Kings and Queens of Britain
0:00:14 > 0:00:17have collected great works of art.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20For pleasure...
0:00:20 > 0:00:22For show...for prestige.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41But Queen Victoria and Prince Albert created a collection unlike any other,
0:00:41 > 0:00:45intimate and deeply personal, a collection that reflects
0:00:45 > 0:00:48their life together and their love for each other.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54They built houses and palaces
0:00:54 > 0:00:59in which they could live out a grand version of domestic bliss.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03They filled them with tokens of their love.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07And love for their children.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Even their animals.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15And reflecting all the splendour of royal life.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Together they built a collection
0:01:19 > 0:01:24bursting with the traditional, the regal and the unexpected.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50A new exhibition at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
0:01:50 > 0:01:56puts many of Victoria and Albert's gifts to each other on public view for the first time.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Some are dazzling.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Some surprisingly sexy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Some distinctly odd.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21A lot of the collection helps to indicate
0:02:22 > 0:02:26the history of that whole period.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30That why, I think, an art collection is so fascinating
0:02:30 > 0:02:33because it helps to freeze moments in time.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40From its romantic beginning to its tragic end,
0:02:40 > 0:02:46the love between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is one of history's great royal love stories.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55Victoria may have been small and rather plain, but she had a passionate nature.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00She was strong-willed and when she'd set her heart on something, she had to have it.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09And she'd set her heart on Albert, her first cousin, whom she met when she was just 17.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14"He is so excessively handsome", she said.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20"Such beautiful eyes, an exquisite nose and such a pretty mouth, such a beautiful figure."
0:03:33 > 0:03:37On the 10th February 1840 they were married in the Chapel Royal.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39"It was", said Victoria,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42"the happiest, brightest moment in my life."
0:03:42 > 0:03:44They were both just 20.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48The Archbishop of Canterbury
0:03:48 > 0:03:51suggested the Queen might like to delete the word "obey"
0:03:51 > 0:03:53from her part of the marriage vows.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56She was Queen after all.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59"No", said Victoria, "I'd like that to be kept."
0:04:03 > 0:04:08It was a marriage based on powerful physical attraction.
0:04:10 > 0:04:11Shortly after the wedding night,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14a breathless Victoria wrote in her journal
0:04:14 > 0:04:18"My dearest Albert put on my stockings for me.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22"I went in and saw him shave, a great delight for me."
0:04:29 > 0:04:32They chose the renowned painter Franz Winterhalter
0:04:32 > 0:04:34to immortalise their romance.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37He did more than any other artist
0:04:37 > 0:04:40to create their image for the British public and the world.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Winterhalter knew how to turn a rather dumpy young woman
0:04:47 > 0:04:50into a glamorous royal presence.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58And a slightly nervous young prince into a virile master of his domain.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Well, they adored Winterhalter. Well, of course, anybody would.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13He was the kind of combination of Mario Testino and Cecil Beaton.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14He waved a wand of magic over them.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18A German painter, height of romanticism,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20goes through the 19th Century transforming royalty
0:05:20 > 0:05:24as though they'd floated down on a cloud covered with diamonds.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Like a Vogue photographer, managed all the highlights,
0:05:27 > 0:05:33any wrinkles went away, the dress and everything looked incredible.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45We're just going to lift this slightly. We're going to just place it out of the way to the back.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53Perhaps the most striking portrait at the exhibition is one that has rarely been seen in public.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06The painting hung for many years in Albert's bedroom, for his eyes only.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14She called it the secret painting because her with her hair loose,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16that was quite dashing.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20- It's rather come hither.- It was but it was done entirely for him.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28She has her hair, her tresses undone cascading round her shoulders,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31leaning back looking extremely voluptuous.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37Really, as she must have greeted him when he crossed from his bedroom to hers frankly.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40It's a very, very, very sexy portrait.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47As children followed,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Winterhalter was always on hand to weave a royal fairytale.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59The young Victoria and her baby as a 19th-Century Madonna and Child.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06Or a royal household that echoed the Holy Family.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09The old Duke of Wellington offers a gift to the baby prince,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12one of the three Kings at the nativity.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Prince Albert then wrote to Queen Victoria in his 20s, saying
0:07:18 > 0:07:22"Where is the present the Duke of Wellington gave me in that painting?"
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Queen Victoria had to write back and say "I'm terribly sorry there wasn't one, it was all made up."
0:07:27 > 0:07:31- So just made up for the painting. - He thought it had been kept from him.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34- There he was being presented it. - By his godfather. - There was nothing inside.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It was designed to make it look, you know.
0:07:48 > 0:07:54A regal husband and wife preside over a nursery teeming with royal children.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04Winterhalter's pictures gave the British public an image of a new kind of Royal Family.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09"They say no sovereign was ever more loved than I am", said Victoria.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14"And this is because of our domestic home, the good example it presents."
0:08:20 > 0:08:24For both of them a happy home must have come as something of a relief.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27For all their rich and privileged backgrounds,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31both had suffered a childhood that had nearly broken them.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Victoria was born in Kensington Palace in London.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48It was her home until she became Queen.
0:08:48 > 0:08:54As a child, Victoria's character was forcefully, even brutally, formed here.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05In June 1819, the future Queen Victoria was christened in this room.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11For the first 18 years of her life, she was a pawn in an elaborate game of royal chess.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Sometimes it was nasty, sometimes it was farcical.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23Victoria was the only legitimate heir to the throne but she was still just a girl.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Her father died the year after she was born.
0:09:27 > 0:09:33Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, devised a rigid system of upbringing
0:09:33 > 0:09:35designed to break her daughter's spirit.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48She even had a name for it, the Kensington System.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52It was the most unnatural and abnormal childhood you can imagine.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58It involved treating Victoria like a cross between a naughty infant and a china doll.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59She wasn't allowed her own room.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04She shared this one with her mother, even past her 18th birthday.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17She wasn't allowed to walk down stairs without someone holding her hand.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18She might injure herself.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26She was never allowed to be alone, she might come to harm.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31Or worse, she might start thinking for herself.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38Then the moment came when Victoria learnt she was now Queen.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45She seized her chance and for the first time excluded her mother from the room.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57The Kensington system was not only monstrous, it also backfired.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01It was supposed to break her will, actually it strengthened it.
0:11:01 > 0:11:08And it helps to explain why a happy domestic life with a husband and children became so important to her.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11She wouldn't have to wait long.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15She met her future husband at her 17th birthday party.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Albert was her first cousin and the same age as Victoria.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22He'd been brought up not in Britain, but in Germany.
0:11:33 > 0:11:39Albert came from Coburg, a tiny medieval town that had barely changed since the Middle Ages.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48At the time it was just one of dozens of tiny dukedoms and principalities
0:11:48 > 0:11:50that made up greater Germany.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Albert's father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg was neither rich,
0:11:58 > 0:12:03nor powerful, but he was a master at playing the royal marriage market.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Albert said that he'd known from the age of three,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11if all went according to plan, he'd marry the future Queen of England, Victoria.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27Albert grew up in the castle of Rosenau, just outside Coburg.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35It looks cosy enough.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Half castle, half gingerbread house.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Albert's father had turned the family home into a Gothic fantasy.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It's a miniature romantic version of a medieval fortress.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01It looks much the same now as it did in Albert's time.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20But Rosenau wasn't a very happy place. Albert's father had affairs.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25Albert's mother, whom he adored, felt neglected and miserable.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39The young prince was a solemn and studious sort of chap,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43who took life very seriously from an early age.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50He and his brother shared these attic rooms with their tutor.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00This is what he wrote in his diary on the 26th January 1825
0:14:00 > 0:14:05"In the lesson we recited and I cried because I could not say my repetition,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07"for I had not paid attention."
0:14:07 > 0:14:09He was just six.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14And then a month later
0:14:14 > 0:14:18"I cried at my lessons today because I could not find a verb.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23"The tutor pinched me to show me what a verb was and I cried about it."
0:14:28 > 0:14:30There was plenty to cry about.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36A year earlier, his mother had been banished for having a lover.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Albert never saw her again.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Albert's childhood was quite a disastrous one.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It was traumatic and he told his oldest daughter, Victoria,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51he was very close to this daughter,
0:14:51 > 0:14:58that sometimes he really had wished himself away and he more or less felt suicidal as a child.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02So, yes, he was a bit of a cry baby, but it's very understandable
0:15:02 > 0:15:09because he had been through a traumatic experience and nobody wanted to talk with him about this.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Though the childhoods of Albert and Victoria were not identical, they were amazingly similar.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Both suffered emotionally from selfish parents,
0:15:24 > 0:15:31both were disgusted by the behaviour of their parents' generation, adulterous, chaotic, irresponsible
0:15:31 > 0:15:36and as adults they'd both reacted strongly against this picture of married life.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44More than anything, they wanted to create a happy family home.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Albert built a seaside palace for their growing family.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Osborne House was in his favourite Italian-Renaissance style
0:16:05 > 0:16:07with every possible ornament,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10bell towers...
0:16:10 > 0:16:12courtyards...
0:16:14 > 0:16:16..fountains.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38They always wanted where they lived to be what they called gemutlich, German for cosy.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41OK, it's a pretty grand type of cosy,
0:16:41 > 0:16:46but more than anywhere else, this place gives you a real sense of how they wanted to live.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Unusually for the time, they decorated their rooms with bright colours
0:16:58 > 0:17:03with painted columns and cornices in the Italian style.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16This is where they began to surround themselves with the art they gave each other.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40One thing that strikes me at Osborne it that Victoria surrounded herself
0:17:40 > 0:17:45with very sensual, even sexy, statues, paintings
0:17:45 > 0:17:49there was lots of flesh on show and perfect bosoms.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Given that Albert was looking at all these images as well,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57any woman would have to be pretty confident about her own physical attractions,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01not to feel at least a bit threatened by it.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17There really is a spectacular amount of naked flesh on show at Osborne.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28It firmly dispatches any notion that Victoria was, well, a prude.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47Victoria gave this fantastic display of voluptuous flesh to Albert
0:18:47 > 0:18:49and had it placed opposite their desks
0:18:49 > 0:18:51where they could gaze on it for hours.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55She described it as
0:18:55 > 0:18:59"A most lovely picture containing a group of beautiful women."
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Aren't they just?
0:19:01 > 0:19:04But you can't help noticing a similarity
0:19:04 > 0:19:08to one of Winterhalter's other pictures.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11There was, in fact, a scandalous rumour at the time
0:19:11 > 0:19:13that Empress Eugenie and her ladies in waiting
0:19:13 > 0:19:18must have been the models for the naked figures in Albert's picture.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24I suppose if it was art it was all right.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26It was painted, do you know what I mean?
0:19:26 > 0:19:28It was one way, presumably,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33of having something like that but it was always with a classical theme, wasn't it.
0:19:33 > 0:19:40So that, I think, helped to centre it a bit rather than just...
0:19:40 > 0:19:44The titillation element it seemed to me.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50There's more flesh on display up in Albert's bathroom.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56It's a picture of Hercules
0:19:56 > 0:20:00surrendering his power to his mistress, the slave Omphale.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02There's a nice touch of role reversal here.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Look, he's holding her distaff which was used for spinning
0:20:06 > 0:20:09and an ancient symbol of womanhood,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and she is wearing his lion's costume.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15So this painting is asking "Who is in charge here?"
0:20:15 > 0:20:17"Who's wearing the trousers?"
0:20:26 > 0:20:29But among the nudes and heavy symbolism,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33romance was never far away.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Look at this, it's a Minton porcelain dressing set
0:20:39 > 0:20:43that Albert gave Victoria as a Christmas present in 1853.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49There's all the little pots for Victoria's potions and powder puffs.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53And each one has VR on it for Victoria Regina.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55And then the crowning glory, literally with the crown,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59is this fabulously and preposterously
0:20:59 > 0:21:01over-the-top mirror here.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But there's something fantastically romantic as well,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07because as Victoria sat and looked at herself in the mirror,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12she'd be surrounded by Albert's angels looking on adoringly
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and then there's a final romantic touch,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18this little couple down here, stealing a kiss.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Osborne is Albert's creation.
0:21:27 > 0:21:34Increasingly his taste, in architecture and in art, would come to dominate.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37"How anxiously nervous I always felt",
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Victoria wrote, "knowing what taste he had.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43"What a judge of art he was and how great was my joy
0:21:43 > 0:21:47"if any picture I had bought gave him real pleasure."
0:21:50 > 0:21:56Queen Victoria felt that she came nowhere near Prince Albert in terms of his knowledge and taste
0:21:56 > 0:22:01and everything else. She kept saying "My taste is so bad compared to his."
0:22:01 > 0:22:08I suppose you could say that Prince Albert's taste was more intellectual
0:22:08 > 0:22:15and hers was more about wanting to have records of people and events
0:22:15 > 0:22:18and family and goodness knows what else.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20She had a marvellous eye, obviously.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Victoria herself drew her children
0:22:26 > 0:22:28again and again.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Into this album she placed an enormous number of sketches
0:22:35 > 0:22:39of her children, starting, of course, with Vicky, the eldest child.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44She's being fed with a bottle here, by the nurse, yes.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48With a bottle, and then we see her sitting up.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51The things that intrigues me, you see this sketch here,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53of the gorgeous, plump little arm,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55is Victoria's written in her diary,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59around this time and how she doesn't think little babies are attractive.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03When they are so small and they look like little frogs, she says.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Here she looks like she's revelling
0:23:05 > 0:23:08in the plumptiousness and squidginess of little babies.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10I think what she hated about children
0:23:10 > 0:23:13was childbirth which cannot have been fun.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15She was not happy when she was pregnant.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18- No.- She was very cross that she'd fallen pregnant so quickly.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And she's got some talent, Victoria as well, look at that.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Yes. I think what is unique about her is she was head of state,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28she was doing all these amazing things
0:23:28 > 0:23:31and she was also still finding time to do these sketches.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Absolutely, what else have we got here?
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Oh, look, the little pigtails.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38That is so lovely.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Vicky... And this is fancy dress, one assumes, look at that.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50I think that's such a wonderful way
0:23:50 > 0:23:57of trying to record moments in somebody's life.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00I mean, nowadays people take photographs.
0:24:00 > 0:24:07I never think they're as interesting, funnily enough as somebody's personal attempt
0:24:07 > 0:24:10to try and record however good or bad it is.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15So many of them had drawing teachers in those days.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20They had a real foundation in understanding how to observe, which is half the battle.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35Professional artists too were commissioned to paint picture after picture of their family.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Paintings of the children even adorn the furniture.
0:24:47 > 0:24:53If you look back on it, it's immortalising a totally closed world.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55It's a totally enclosed world.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Everything to do with them, and which they did,
0:24:59 > 0:25:05what they collected within that area was totally closed and the heart of it is the family
0:25:05 > 0:25:10and just endless pictures of those children, endless pictures of each other.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14within a kind of closed domestic interior.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17It gets a bit spooky at times.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Now talk me through this rather gruesome little collection.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40These are marble replicas
0:25:40 > 0:25:45of several of Queen Victoria's infant children at particular stages.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49When visitors come to Osborne, they often come through here, this room
0:25:49 > 0:25:51and say, "Oh no, dead babies."
0:25:51 > 0:25:56In fact, these children grew up to have perfectly good adult lives.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00I suppose it's because marble is a material of death in a way.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01It's what you use for monuments.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04It looks like a collection of severed limbs.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Well, it does, but let me tell you how you made these.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11You first of all had to take a plaster cast of the particular limb
0:26:11 > 0:26:16and I don't know if you've ever tried to take a plaster cast of a three-month-old or a three-year-old,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18it was done while they were asleep.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Probably here in the nursery at Osborne.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25This old bearded man would creep in with a bucket of plaster, make a plaster cast.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28That's not what we're looking at, we're looking at a carving.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33What's happened is the sculptor has idealised, he's ironed out the tiny imperfections in the plaster
0:26:33 > 0:26:37and they are most exquisitely-carved objects.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40In this one, I think this is Princess Louise
0:26:40 > 0:26:43and she's holding a little pea between her thumb and forefinger.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47I think the sculptor just didn't dare to remove that last bit of marble
0:26:47 > 0:26:53because he would have knocked off the finger or thumb in the process.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58I can see the charm, sort of, of a little podgy foot,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01but talk me through the ear, what's that all about?
0:27:01 > 0:27:03This is Prince Albert's ear.
0:27:03 > 0:27:04This was a feature of her husband
0:27:04 > 0:27:08that Queen Victoria would have wanted the sculptor to get right.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10I wonder if she talked into it?
0:27:10 > 0:27:16Albert, I'm thinking of having another nude done, I'm sure you'll like it.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Who knows?
0:27:33 > 0:27:38Victoria and Albert were the first royal couple to make Buckingham Palace their London home.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54It had stood empty for years, neglected and unloved.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57As at Osborne, they were keen to make it their own.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06For a start they filled it with pictures of the family.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Everywhere they lived they turned their walls into a giant family album.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Buckingham Palace is an official residence.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27The statues here have rather more clothes on than at Osborne.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Victoria gave this statue to Albert shortly after they were married.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36For this Victoria told the sculpture, John Gibson,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40to make it like a Greek statue and to make it life-size.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Well, Victoria was tiny, of course, and Gibson knew he has to make it look regal
0:28:44 > 0:28:46so he's given her a garland in one hand
0:28:46 > 0:28:51with which to bestow honours and a scroll in the other to symbolise law making.
0:28:59 > 0:29:00And this is what he gave her.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05Albert in similarly noble mode, this time he's a Greek warrior.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10He's customised it, of course. On his armour are the national flowers of his adopted country,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13showing his commitment to his new country, Britain.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18Here, on his breastplate, the winged figure of victory, or Victoria, of course,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22showing that he was Victoria's defender, her champion.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Very romantic.
0:29:34 > 0:29:42They transformed what had been a rather run down, shabby palace into a vibrant, colourful affair.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Together, they built a ballroom.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58They held grand costume balls and danced till the small hours.
0:29:58 > 0:30:04For a while, Buckingham Palace was known as the headquarters of taste.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08QUACKING
0:30:08 > 0:30:13But despite enjoying the crowded whirl of life in the royal court,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Victoria and Albert also craved peace and privacy.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29They found it about as far away as it is possible to get,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31the Highlands of Scotland.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH MUSIC PLAYS
0:30:50 > 0:30:56Their passion for Scotland was part of the reinvention of the Highlands as wild and romantic,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00all started by the novels of Sir Walter Scott earlier in the century.
0:31:00 > 0:31:07Kilts, clans, chieftains, wild scenery, all this was once dismissed by the English as primitive.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Now it was exotic and exciting.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24Their first trip together started a lifelong love affair with the Highlands.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31For Albert, Scotland's forests and glens were a welcome reminder of his native Germany.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42What he and Victoria wanted here too was a refuge,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44a place of their own.
0:32:01 > 0:32:08The castle they designed was half Highland romance, half German fairytale.
0:32:14 > 0:32:20Some people called it pepperpot and gingerbread, Albert and Victoria called it beautiful.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31They hurled themselves into the Highland lifestyle.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Everyone had to wear Highland dress, porridge and kippers were served for breakfast
0:32:41 > 0:32:47and, according to one maid of honour, the pipers played loud enough to blow your head off.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05Inside, the style was robustly, even overwhelmingly Scottish.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10From curtains to carpets to wallpaper,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13it was disparagingly dubbed "tartanitis".
0:33:15 > 0:33:22One of their grandchildren recalled, "It had a way of flickering before your eyes and confusing your brain."
0:33:34 > 0:33:40One artist in particular was their favourite to depict life at Balmoral.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48I've always, always loved the Carl Haag watercolours.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54A real genius, I think, and he stayed a lot at Balmoral.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59He did all these, I think, wonderful watercolours of the children
0:33:59 > 0:34:05and the scenes of the family going up Lochnagar, the mountain,
0:34:05 > 0:34:08for picnics or whatever it was.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12A very royal kind of picnic.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16As Victoria, the children and attendants follow on behind,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20an intrepid Albert leads the way to the top of the mountain.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22The painting was his present to Victoria.
0:34:30 > 0:34:36In Victoria's present to Albert, she's come out from the Castle to admire the day's hunt.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Albert proudly shows off a dead stag.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45Actually, Albert was a terrible shot, so a bit of poetic licence there.
0:34:48 > 0:34:53For them, Scotland wasn't only an escape into a kind of simulated Duchy of Cobourg
0:34:53 > 0:34:55dropped in the middle of Scotland,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59it was an escape to an earlier period.
0:34:59 > 0:35:05In the South everything was the world of commerce and the city and business and manufacture
0:35:05 > 0:35:10and up in Scotland there were feudal laws and castles and everybody bowed and scraped.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14It was a world which had completely gone in the South.
0:35:15 > 0:35:23There they were up with clansmen and tartans and chiefs of the clan
0:35:23 > 0:35:27and quite a primitive society
0:35:27 > 0:35:30and that I think appealed to her.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56The Royal Workshops in London are where the art and objects
0:35:56 > 0:35:59of the Royal Collection are conserved and restored.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13A pair of candelabra from Balmoral are being spruced up for the coming exhibition.
0:36:18 > 0:36:25These are good examples of things that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had made for their own house.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29They're great English craftsmanship of the mid-19th century.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Minton of Stoke here
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and Winfield of Birmingham,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38and in this very striking Highland style, clearly designed for Balmoral.
0:36:38 > 0:36:46The figures were designed by Edwin Landseer, the painter, who was often a guest staying at Balmoral.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48How would you describe the style of these?
0:36:48 > 0:36:54They're really in the Scottish, Baronial, Scottish style!
0:36:54 > 0:36:57- Very grand.- Very, very grand with all the motifs -
0:36:57 > 0:37:01the stags heads, the shooting bags, the rifles, the dirks, daggers,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06hunting horns here, and, of course, the full Highland dress,
0:37:06 > 0:37:11and no doubt hunting and hunting hunting dogs depicted as well.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I think it's a great sense of fun to be able to say,
0:37:13 > 0:37:18"Well, we built a Highland castle, "let's give everything a Highland theme."
0:37:18 > 0:37:24Now, in this rather handy picture you've got here... when would this be painted?
0:37:24 > 0:37:26This was painted in 1857.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29And it works as a brilliant reference guide, doesn't it?
0:37:29 > 0:37:33These are here and you can see exactly what they used to look like.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35Absolutely! Here you can see the candelabra
0:37:35 > 0:37:43in the Queen's drawing room, showing their original decoration of gold and patinated silver.
0:37:43 > 0:37:49- And you can see that the hunting horns here were black as well as the stag's head.- What made them black?
0:37:49 > 0:37:51That was a form of patination.
0:37:51 > 0:37:57It was artificially oxidising the surface of the silver to give it this rather blue/black finish.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00I notice that as well as the wear and tear here,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04there's a break around the neck here, so they've had a few knocks, these things.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06- When they're done you won't see any of that.- Really?
0:38:06 > 0:38:10- I promise.- There's a tell-tale bit of glue here I can see.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20The artist who designed the candelabra is better known
0:38:20 > 0:38:25as the man who sculpted the lions in Trafalgar Square.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35And animals were what Edwin Landseer did best
0:38:35 > 0:38:41and Victoria and Albert loved the heroic, often sentimental way he portrayed them.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52A stag surveys his kingdom.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59A sheepdog mourns his dead master.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07And Albert's favourite greyhound.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13Victoria commissioned this painting for Albert's birthday just a year after they married.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23It's a portrait of Albert without the prince, a collection of the things dearest to his heart.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28His dog, Eos, guards her master's possessions,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32his ivory topped cane, his top hat, leather gloves
0:39:32 > 0:39:37and a stool covered in deerskin, a reference to Albert the huntsman.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42Landseer borrowed these things without asking so there was a bit of a flutter in the royal household
0:39:42 > 0:39:46when Albert wanted to go out and his hat and gloves couldn't be found.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02Here's Eos again, another birthday present, and their daughter Vicky, aged two.
0:40:06 > 0:40:12Landseer's pictures portrayed Victoria and Albert as the very model of a royal couple.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17At home with the locals, joining in their pursuits.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Fond of children.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26Fond of animals,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29alive or dead.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36It was a very sentimental age. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41It depends on the way people are looking at the world at the time.
0:40:41 > 0:40:48You could say it was trite, or self-righteous, or moralising or something,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52but I don't think one should necessarily condemn because of that.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57It is interesting how, sometimes, things go through these fashions, don't they?
0:40:57 > 0:41:03People remove a lot of things, saying, "Oh, that's boring," or "overblown," or whatever.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Only to find 25, 50 years later, it's coming back again.
0:41:17 > 0:41:23Windsor Castle has been the home of English Kings and Queens since medieval times.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30The castle houses more of the royal art collection than any other royal residence.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48Growing up in those houses like Windsor, you know, you rush up and down corridors.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53I don't know, mucking about as small children, never really noticing the surroundings.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57I've never forgotten, suddenly, I think it must have been about the age of 14,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01I suddenly started to notice the paintings.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04I can't tell you how wonderful it was, that moment.
0:42:10 > 0:42:16Most of the art here is formal and official, staged to make a courtly impression.
0:42:16 > 0:42:23But for Victoria and Albert, art was also something more homely, a kind of diary in pictures.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Both of them were obsessed with recording everything.
0:42:28 > 0:42:34Little watercolours of the Christmas decorations, the rooms they went to.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38Every single event. It was absolutely every aspect of their lives.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43There's absolutely no precedent I know before Victoria and Albert
0:42:43 > 0:42:47of a sovereign or a royal couple
0:42:47 > 0:42:52setting out to record every significant moment in their lives.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04This is one of the albums which have survived from Victoria and Albert's collection.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07In this case, the Theatrical Album.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13- Can we have a look? It's a bit like, you know, these days people look through their photo albums.- Yes.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Exactly. This is by Edward Corbould.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21It is a depiction of a performance of King John, in London in 1852.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26So, this is full of images from plays that they had been to together?
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Yes. Indeed.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33- So, what else have we got? This is fascinating.- Here we have...
0:43:33 > 0:43:41"Una noche en Sevilla - the Spanish dancers at the Haymarket Theatre, 1855." Look at that.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44Occasionally, we know they actually travelled around with these albums.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48We know from Queen Victoria's journal that they would spend
0:43:48 > 0:43:53quiet evenings together turning through the pages and reminiscing.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57About things they'd seen, places they'd been? What about these, then?
0:43:57 > 0:43:59These scenes here? This looks like Buckingham Palace, isn't it?
0:43:59 > 0:44:04Yes. This is the garden front of Buckingham Palace, in 1839.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08And it was number one in Souvenir Album number one.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11So, this is the first one to be included.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15- It's a good place to start, isn't it?- A good place to start. - With your home.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18Here, to me, a very, very touching one.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20It's the heart of what these souvenir albums were all about.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25This is the schoolroom where Albert and his elder brother had their lessons.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28The table on which they were dressed by their nurse,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30the piano that they used to play,
0:44:30 > 0:44:35and Victoria in her journal in 1845 describes the holes in the walls
0:44:35 > 0:44:40which were the result of their fencing lessons, which took place in the same room.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43What have we got under here?
0:44:43 > 0:44:46- This is Manchester. - Wow, industrial Manchester.
0:44:46 > 0:44:52Yes. Shortly after their visit to Manchester in the late 1850s.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54You can feel the pollution in the sky.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59These huge chimneys, and then the spires of the churches in the background.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03But seen rather idyllically from the rural foreground.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Victoria and Albert's art reflected their life and their love.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19But it wasn't an entirely equal partnership.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Albert loved Victoria, certainly.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25But Victoria adored Albert.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30And like any couple, there were tensions.
0:45:31 > 0:45:37Albert avoided his wife if she was in a temper, preferring to have it out with her in writing.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46"You have again lost your self control quite unnecessarily.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51"I did not begin the conversation, but you have followed me about and continued it from room to room.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57"I do my duty towards you even though it means life is embittered by 'scenes.' "
0:46:03 > 0:46:08Their ever growing family placed an additional strain on their relationship.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Giving birth to nine children in 15 years, an exhausted Victoria
0:46:13 > 0:46:16found herself having to allow Albert to take the lead.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20It's mainly her pregnancies that slow her down,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24she realises this relationship can only survive
0:46:24 > 0:46:28if one of them gives in, and she's the one who gives in.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30In many ways, he breaks her will.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34And you can see that in the letters he writes to her when they are courting,
0:46:34 > 0:46:41he writes, "Beloved Victoria," and when they have been married for a while, "My dear child."
0:46:43 > 0:46:47Albert valued self control and liked to be in control of others,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50something that did not endear him to many around him.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Albert had few friends at court, or anywhere else.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01He could be ungracious in society, arrogant, humourless.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03And he didn't flirt. "Albert,"
0:47:03 > 0:47:07said the Queen, "is seldom much pleased with ladies or princesses."
0:47:09 > 0:47:13Albert was very driven. I mean, he was a Victorian before you invented the word "Victorian".
0:47:13 > 0:47:15He was into self-betterment.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17He was into religion.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21He wanted to do something with his life. He wanted to help.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25He wanted to work for a greater good. That's why he took on Victoria.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27I mean, she was a project in many ways to him.
0:47:27 > 0:47:33And, um...he believed in educating himself all his life.
0:47:33 > 0:47:39He has so many interests, he was in, in that way, a renaissance prince.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52The pinnacle of Albert's achievements came ten years into their marriage.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55To celebrate the progress of Victorian Britain,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59a Great Exhibition was to be held in London's Hyde Park.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02"It would be," said Albert, "a living picture
0:48:02 > 0:48:07"of the point of development at which the whole of mankind has arrived."
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Albert was in his element, tirelessly pushing through
0:48:13 > 0:48:17his plans for one of the greatest events Britain would ever see.
0:48:20 > 0:48:26A colossal building of steel and glass was constructed to house it.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29It would become known as the Crystal Palace.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35There were halls dedicated to art, science and industry.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48As always, Albert and Victoria commissioned dozens of paintings
0:48:48 > 0:48:51to record Albert's vision of universal harmony.
0:48:53 > 0:49:00Victoria believed that at last people would see the brilliant and creative Albert that she adored.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05"The greatest day in our history," she said. "Albert's name is immortalised"
0:49:15 > 0:49:176 million people
0:49:17 > 0:49:20went to see that exhibition in 1851.
0:49:20 > 0:49:236 million people! How did they get there, for a start?
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Presumably, the railways were beginning to become more effective, but even so,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29it was truly remarkable.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32And it obviously had a major impact generally.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36So the people could see what was happening, and what was available,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40and where things were going and so on. But it was a bold venture.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48Also on show were some of Victoria and Albert's own possessions,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51such as this extraordinary ivory throne.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59It's now being restored in the royal workshops.
0:50:00 > 0:50:06It's a throne that was presented to Queen Victoria by someone called the Rajah of Travancore
0:50:06 > 0:50:10and it was the centrepiece of the Indian Court of the Great Exhibition.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12And what did she do with it?
0:50:12 > 0:50:15- She used it.- She actually sat on it?
0:50:15 > 0:50:17Yes, she used it at Windsor in the audience room.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19We've got a number of images of her sitting in it.
0:50:19 > 0:50:25In 1855, a bit after the Great Exhibition, she received the ambassadors of Siam
0:50:25 > 0:50:31- who had to crawl towards the throne on the carpet, she was sitting in this.- What, crawl on all fours?
0:50:31 > 0:50:39Yes, out of tribute to the Queen. And she lost it, she went into uncontrolled fits of laughter.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41The poor chaps!
0:50:41 > 0:50:44- This must have been shaking. - And this is ivory, isn't it?
0:50:44 > 0:50:45Yes, solid ivory.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49- Ivory veneer, ivory plaques, and carved.- Wow.
0:50:52 > 0:50:59- These missing bits here? - It's not missing, we've removed it so it can be cleaned and reapplied.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03And when it comes to finding new ivory, you can't trade in ivory these days...
0:51:03 > 0:51:06No, we don't use new ivory, we use antique ivory.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Ivory from trophies and presents.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12So you're just plundering other ivory?
0:51:12 > 0:51:18Yes, we've had a lot of ivory in store from the hunting days of the Raj and the Royals.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20Here's a very old part of a tusk.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25This was a piece that was in the cheek of the elephant, and this is the other end.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28- You can see the vessel that runs through it.- Look at that!
0:51:28 > 0:51:30- It is very, very heavy. - So, clean it, obviously.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Let's have a go.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35That is extraordinary!
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Two of those, and that's only half of it.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41I had no idea it was so heavy.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46So you'd get this, and once you've cleaned it, I can see inside because there is a crack here...
0:51:46 > 0:51:50And once you get below this yellow, it's pure white?
0:51:50 > 0:51:53- It's not pure white, it's ivory white.- Yes, of course.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56But it will bleach in time due to UV light.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59And this little gap here, is there something missing?
0:51:59 > 0:52:01Yes, the whole centrepiece has been missing.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06- We've made a mock-up of it to see how it looks.- So this...
0:52:06 > 0:52:12This is actually ivory with a rope design around the centre and a jewel inset.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14And then it just slots beautifully into here?
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Yes, you can place it in.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18Perfect.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22When it's put together, it has green silk velvet cushions on it,
0:52:22 > 0:52:28it looks altogether much finer in its finished state, we hope.
0:53:10 > 0:53:16As Albert approached his forties, he seemed to be growing increasingly unhappy.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21The Great Exhibition had been his towering achievement, but it was soon forgotten.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26He was addicted to work, but neither the public nor the court
0:53:26 > 0:53:29had taken this foreign intellectual to their hearts.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33They thought he was too clever.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37I don't know, maybe he didn't always take part in all the things
0:53:37 > 0:53:39that they expected him to take part in, I don't know.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44But it is, I can see it's quite difficult to come from another country
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and...
0:53:46 > 0:53:48live in somebody else's.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52Perhaps they thought he was too clever by half.
0:53:53 > 0:54:00Basically, those last few years, he was practically dead with exhaustion with everything he took on,
0:54:00 > 0:54:06all the state papers, all the minutes, every time he interviewed somebody he made notes.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Everything was landed onto him, it was impossible.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Albert felt increasingly isolated.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27He had few British friends, and Victoria couldn't give him
0:54:27 > 0:54:29the intellectual companionship he needed.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32In a letter he sent home to Germany, he described his life
0:54:32 > 0:54:38as being like a donkey going round and round in circles to bring up water from a well.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Victoria began to worry.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48"My greatest of all anxieties,"
0:54:48 > 0:54:53she said, "is that dearest Albert wears himself out by all he does."
0:55:02 > 0:55:05She was right to be concerned.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10In the winter of 1861, Albert complained of feeling ill.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13At Windsor Castle, he fell into a fever.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21He realises that he has something worse than a cold, and he knew that
0:55:21 > 0:55:26he couldn't talk with his wife about it because she was writing letters
0:55:26 > 0:55:33to her children saying, "Oh, Papa's moaning again and I don't understand what's wrong with him."
0:55:33 > 0:55:38She loved him very much, but because she herself was such a robust person,
0:55:38 > 0:55:44she couldn't understand that her husband was totally burnt out at such a young age.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50On 9th December, the doctors diagnosed typhoid.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Five days later, Albert died.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05He was 42.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16The Queen was devastated.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19Why hadn't he put up more of a struggle?
0:56:19 > 0:56:22She appeared to feel strangely let down by him.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24"He seemed to care not to live,"
0:56:24 > 0:56:29she said. "He died from want of what they call 'pluck'."
0:56:35 > 0:56:40But he died so young, it obviously did completely and utterly,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44um...destroy her life.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53Albert never saw Victoria's last gift to him.
0:56:58 > 0:57:05The mausoleum in the grounds of Windsor Castle is in his favourite Italian Renaissance style.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16The effigy of Victoria was carved at the same time as Albert's.
0:57:16 > 0:57:22But it would be another 40 years before it was laid by his side.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34Victoria and Albert's love for each other had inspired their love of art.
0:57:34 > 0:57:40When Albert died, Victoria's passion for art died with him.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Royal marriages don't always touch the life of a nation.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13This one did.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Albert and Victoria's 21 years together created a wealth of art
0:58:17 > 0:58:20that spoke of their love for each other,
0:58:20 > 0:58:22their need to create a happy family home,
0:58:22 > 0:58:28and their desire to chronicle it all for themselves and for posterity.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:59 > 0:59:02E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk