Victoria the Great characters Albert, Prince Consort
Plot
In June 1837, 18-year-old Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent ascends the throne as Queen Victoria following the death of her uncle, King William IV. She soon shows her independence from the influence of her German mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her Belgian advisor, Baron Stockmar.
Lord Melbourne, her trusted Prime Minister, tells her he is growing old and she needs an advisor. He suggests she marry her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria considers Albert too straitlaced and serious, while he thinks she is frivolous, self-willed, overly talkative and too fond of dancing. Victoria decides to postpone inviting Albert and his older brother Ernest to visit, but when Melbourne informs her that Albert does not want to come, she immediately changes her mind and insists he come.
Britain does not make a favourable first impression on Albert and Ernest; their passage across the English Channel is rough and rain-drenched. When they are first presented to the Queen, Albert is not very friendly. Later, at a ball, Albert tells Ernest they are returning home the next day, but after a waltz with Victoria (the orchestra conducted by Johann Strauss), he cancels that plan. In the meantime, Victoria has decided to marry Albert, but he cannot propose to a sovereign, so she must do it herself.
After their marriage, Victoria devotes herself to government, leaving Albert with nothing to do. He chafes at his idleness. When Sir Robert Peel talks to Victoria about the merits of an income tax with Victoria during a party, Albert tries to join the discussion, only to be rebuffed by his wife. When Albert finally rebels, Victoria is unsympathetic at first, but then gives in and lets him participate in governing. She grows to rely on him.
During the social unrest and depression of the "Hungry Forties", Albert spots a would-be assassin and shields his wife during an open-carriage ride. The man only manages to shoot Albert's hat before being overpowered.
In November 1841, Victoria and Albert's first male child, Prince Albert Edward, is born.
After an angry mob gathers outside the palace demanding bread, Victoria and Albert support Peel in repealing the Corn Laws.
In 1861, the Trent Affair threatens to bring the United Kingdom in on the side of the South in the American Civil War. Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Minister, is strongly in favour of a strong message to the United States, but Victoria insists otherwise, and Albert rewrites it so that hostilities are avoided.
That same year, Albert dies. Grieving, Victoria goes into seclusion, eventually resulting in public discontent with the monarchy. Finally, Prime Minister William Gladstone pleads with her to resume her public duties, asking her what Albert would have wanted. At this point, the film switches from black and white to colour, as she heeds Gladstone's advice.
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