Read a Rare Love Letter to Queen Victoria from Prince Albert
This month, to mark the 200th anniversary of Prince Albert's birth, more than 17,500 photographs, prints, and official papers relating to Queen Victoria's consort are being made available to the public online by the Royal Collection Trust.
The website titled "Prince Albert: His Life and Legacy," goes live this morning, and features a number of fascinating historic documents, including a love letter from Albert to Victoria on the day of their engagement.
"How is it that I have deserved so much love, so much affection? I cannot get used to the reality of all that I see and hear, and have to believe that Heaven has sent me an angel whose brightness shall illumine my life," it reads.
Other notable items in the digital collection include a photograph of Albert, commissioned by Victoria and taken at Buckingham Palace, works from Albert's own collection of photographs, and diary entries written by Victoria about her husband and their children.
"It is fitting that in the year in which we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Prince Albert’s birth, we launch the website ‘Prince Albert: His Life and Legacy,’ which reflects the contribution the Prince Consort made to 19th-century Britain and the wider world," Tim Knox, the director of the Royal Collection, said in a statement about the new initiative.
"We hope that the publication of material held in the Royal Archives and the Royal Collection and by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 will increase awareness and understanding of the achievements of this extraordinary man."
By the end of 2020, 23,500 items from the royal archives relating to Albert are expected to be published online, an undertaking which is known as the "Prince Albert Digitisation Project."
Explore the project at albert.rct.uk.
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