Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries…
February 1840 CE
Victoria had come to the throne aged eighteen on June 20, 1837.
Her letters of the time show interest in Albert's education for the role he would have to play, although she had resisted attempts to rush her into marriage.
In the winter of 1838–39, the prince had visited Italy, accompanied by the Coburg family's confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar.
Albert had returned to the United Kingdom with Ernest in October 1839 to visit the Queen, with the objective of settling the marriage.
Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen had proposed to him on October 15, 1839.
Victoria's intention to marry had been declared formally to the Privy Council on November 23, and the couple marry on February 10, 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace.
Just before the marriage, Albert had been naturalized by Act of Parliament, and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council.
Initially Albert is not popular with the British public; he is perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county.
The British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, advises the Queen against granting her husband the title of "King Consort"; Parliament also objects to Albert being created a peer—partly because of anti-German sentiment and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role.
Albert's religious views had provided a small amount of controversy when the marriage was debated in Parliament: although as a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Church Albert is a Protestant, the non-Episcopal nature of his church is considered worrisome.
Of greater concern, however, is that some of Albert's family are Roman Catholic.
Melbourne leads a minority government and the opposition takes advantage of the marriage to weaken his position further.
They oppose the ennoblement of Albert and grant him a smaller annuity than previous consorts, £30,000 instead of the usual £50,000.
Albert claims that he has no need of a British peerage, writing: "It would almost be a step downwards, for as a Duke of Saxony, I feel myself much higher than a Duke of York or Kent."
For the next seventeen years, Albert will be formally titled "HRH Prince Albert" until June 25, 1857, when Victoria will formally grant him the title Prince Consort.
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