Roger Fenton, Lady on Horseback, MET, 1850s via
The Billiard Room, Mentmore by Roger Fenton, 1858 via
Bolton Abbey by Roger Fenton, 1850s via
Wharfe and Pool, Below the Strid, MET, by Roger Fenton, 1854 via
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by Roger Fenton, 1854 via
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by Roger Fenton, 1854 via
Victoria, Princess Royal and her sister Princess Alice by Roger Fenton, 1855 via
Queen Victoria first met her German cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1836, and they became engaged during his second visit to England in 1839. Their wedding ceremony took place on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.
Queen Victoria chose to marry Prince Albert in a white silk satin gown featuring Honiton lace, an unusual color choice for bridal gowns at the time; she started the white wedding gown tradition that remains today. On her wedding morning, Queen Victoria wrote in her journal:
Dressed….I wore a white satin gown with a very deep flounce of Honiton, imitation of old. I wore my Turkish diamond necklace and earrings, and Albert’s beautiful sapphire brooch.
She also wore a wreath of orange blossoms (symbolising purity) and myrtle (symbolising love and domestic happiness), and these became the most common flowers carried and worn in Victorian weddings.
Their wedding day itself was inauspicious, a heavy rain falling; but immense multitudes assembled to gaze upon the processions. The bridal procession from Buckingham Palace to St. James’s begun to move through the triumphal arch at 12 o’clock. It was the first wedding of a reigning Queen in England since 1554.
Queen Victoria spent the evening after her wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:
I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! … to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!
Her marriage to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her children married into other Royal families of Europe.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their return from the marriage service at St James’s Palace, London, 10th February 1840. Engraved by S Reynolds after F Lock via
A middle aged Victoria and Albert recreate their wedding day. Photo by Roger Fenton 1854 via
FROM THE BYGONE 
