Hello history friend and welcome to this series looking at the Trent affair.

This is episode four and in the last episode we looked at the war plans that the British had to literally invade the United States in the event of the third Anglo-American War in less than a century.

Pretty interesting stuff, I'm sure we'll all agree, but the crisis did not sit still.

Plans were one thing, but how to deal with the passage of time,

and how to deal with the passage of certain members of the royal family back in Britain.

That's what we're going to look at today.

So without any further ado, let's get into this.

I'll take you to the middle of December 1861.

At 10.50pm on the 14th of December 1861, surrounded by Queen Victoria and five of their nine children,

Albert, the Prince Consort, died of typhus. It has since been suggested that Crohn's disease, kidney failure,

and even stomach cancer

were to blame for his death, but either way, the Prince Consort had not been himself for some

time. In his last act of political significance, Albert had intervened in the Trent dispute.

Albert's intention was to provide the Americans with a face-saving bridge in the form of a statement to the effect

that Lieutenant Wilkes had acted without Washington's knowledge. This assumption was generously

maintained by Russell and Palmerston, and it represents Albert's final diplomatic gift. Although

he had been by the Queen's side for over 20 years. Albert was just 41 years old.

Predictably the Queen was utterly distraught.

With some exceptions, Queen Victoria remained clad in black for the rest of her life.

She also did her level best to avoid any official business,

and ministers were expected to refrain from bothering her,

unless it was absolutely urgent. Even while wearing their morning clothes, Palmerston's government could not afford to stand

...