"The Queen and her consort" A marriage that shaped Era.

Albert, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Born near Coburg, Germany, Aug. 26, 1819. Died London, England, Dec. 14, 1861.Albert was at first regarded with disfavor by many in Great Britain because he was not an Englishman. However, his devotion to the queen and to his adopted country eventually won him the friendship and respect of the British people.

His marriage to Victoria, who was his cousin, had been planned by his uncle Leopold I of Belgium while Albert was still a student in Germany. When he was 17, Albert visited England to be introduced to Victoria. A correspondence was begun, and in 1840, Albert and Victoria were married.Albert soon became Victoria's confidant and adviser. He informed himself conscientiously and thoroughly on political and economic issues affecting Great Brit-ain, and this knowledge was often of great help to the queen. He did much of the work of organizing the Great Exhibition, an international fair in 1851.Albert's most important accomplishment was the advice he gave to Victoria in regard to the Trent Affair. The U.S. government, then engaged in the Civil War against the Southern Confederacy, had stopped the British ship Trent at sea and had seized two Confederate envoys who were aboard en route to England. The British reaction was one of hostility toward the United States, but Albert persuaded Victoria to soften the tone of Britain's official demands in order to make it easier for the United States to comply. His wisdom in this matter helped prevent the possi-bility of a conflict between the two nations.

Albert died in 1861 after a brief illness. Victoria went into mourning for three years, refusing to appear in public. Several memorials were later built to honor the prince consort, among them Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial in London.

The main tributaries of Lake Albert are the Semliki River, which empties into it on the southwest, and the Victoria Nile, which enters the lake on the northeast. The Albert Nile flows out of the lake at its northern end. The chief ports on the lake are Butiaba, in Uganda, and Mahagi Port and Kasenyi, in Zaire. The British explorer Samuel White Baker discovered the lake in It was originally named for Prince Albert, the Victoria.