Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy

Having written an excellent history of the Victorian age and an acclaimed biography of Queen Victoria herself, it was not particularly surprising to see A N Wilson turn his attention to the Prince Consort for his latest subject.  Wilson’s thesis is that Albert, through his industry, moral rectitude and seriousness, transformed the British monarchy, thereby saving it for the democratic age.  But this is not hagiography.  Wilson sees something faintly comical in Albert’s Stakhanovite work-rate in fulfilling a role that was largely ceremonial and certainly devoid of any real political power.   A very entertaining read full of interesting anecdotes about Albert and reflections on his successful, but in many ways curious, marriage to Queen Victoria.