| Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert | |
| Participants: | Queen Victoria Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Venue: | Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace |
| Location: | London, England |
The wedding of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later Prince Consort) took place on 10 February 1840 at Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, in London.
Though she was queen, Victoria as an unmarried young woman, was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Sir John Conroy.[1] Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to meet her.[2] When Victoria complained to Lord Melbourne that her mother's close proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "shocking alternative".[3] She showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.[4]
Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor.[5] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace, London. Victoria was besotted. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen's companion, replacing Lord Melbourne as the dominant, influential figure in the first half of her life.[6]
The wedding of Victoria and Albert remains the most recent wedding of a reigning British monarch. All monarchs since Victoria were already married when they ascended the throne, except for Edward VIII, who married Wallis Simpson after abdicating the throne.
See main article: Wedding dress of Queen Victoria. The lace was designed by William Dyce, head of the then Government School of Design (later known as the Royal College of Art), and mounted on a white satin dress made by Mary Bettans.[7]
The plain, cream-coloured satin wedding dress was made from fabric woven in Spitalfields, east London, and trimmed with a deep flounce and trimmings of lace hand-made in Honiton and Beer, in Devon.[7] This demonstrated support for English industry, particularly the cottage industry for lace.[7] [8] The handmade lace motifs were appliquéd onto cotton machine-made net.[9] Orange flower blossoms, a symbol of fertility, also trimmed the dress and made up Victoria's wreath, which she wore instead of a tiara over her veil. The veil, which matched the flounce of the dress, was four yards in length and 0.75 yards wide. Her jewellery consisted of diamond earrings and necklace, and a sapphire brooch given to her by Albert. The slippers she wore matched the white colour of the dress. The train of the dress, carried by her bridesmaids, measured long.
Queen Victoria described her choice of dress in her journal thus: "I wore a white satin dress, with a deep flounce of Honiton lace, an imitation of an old design. My jewels were my Turkish diamond necklace & earrings & dear Albert's beautiful sapphire brooch."[10]