Since 1846, Sir Robert Peel had dimitted and a new government was formed with Sir John Russel as Prime Minister. Henry John Temple, lord Palmerston was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Palmerston paid less or no attention to Prince Albert; both men were opposed each other in character and ways of thinking. Victoria and Albert dissaproved Palmerston's policy but the Minister didn't care. The Royal couple dissaproved Palmesrton's attitude towards several events, but,the climax arrived when in 1851, Louis Napoleon, Napoleon Buonaparte's nephew, proclaimed himself Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, and Palmesrton supported him. Lord John Russel was very upset and at Victoria and Albert's instance he dismissed Palmerston. But Palmerston's political career was not over. In 1852, Lord Russel dimitted and Lord Aberdeen became Prime Minister. With the new government Palmerston became Minister of the Interior.
In 1853 Russia invaded the Turkish principates in the Danube. England was afraid Russia could strenghten in the mediterranean wich would be inconvenient for Brirtish interests in India. Palmerston, witout the Queen's autorizathion, decided to send a flote to the Black Sea. When Turkey declared war to Russia, British opinions were devided. Palmerston wanted England to declare war to Russia in order to defend Turkish interests. Lord Aberdeen, the Queen and Prince Albert wanted to remain neutral. Almost the whole nation supported Palmerston, so the mayority believed the Queen and her German husband were traitors against British interests. With a victim attitude, Palmerston dimitted, and poeople believed his dimittion had been at Albert's instance. As Plamerston was a popular idol, the Prince's unpopularity increased. A week later, Palmerston returned. On February 28 Engalnd and France declared war to Russia. It was the beginning of the Crimean War.
During this bloodish war a British nurse named Florence Nightingale created a body of volunteer nurses, which was a precursor of the International Red Cross. In aknowledge of her work, Queen Victoria wrote her a letter:"You are, I know, well aware of the high sense I entertain of the Christian devotion which you have displayed during this great and bloody war and I need hardly repeat to you how warm my admiration is for your services, which are fully equal to those of my dear and brave soldiers, whose sufferings you had the privilege of alleviating in so merciful manner. I am however anxious of making my feelings in a manner which trust will be agreable to you and therefor send you with this letter a brooch, the form and emblems of which conmemeorate your great and blessed work and which I hope you will wear as a mark og high approvation of your Sovereign".
In 1855 Aberdeen dimitted and it was Palmerston who formed the new government. On March 30, 1856, the war ended with a defeat for Russia and with a garantee of independence and integrity for the Otoman Empire.
The wedding of the Princess Royal
Albert had always dream about a Germany unificated under a powerful and constitutional Prussia and he saw the way to achieve his dream by the marriage of his eldest daughter Vicky, the Princess Royal, with the son of the Prussian Crown Prince, Prince Friedrich. He had made Vicky at his image and resemblance; he had inculcated her his political ideas and his high moral and he had set his hopes in the fact that by Vicky's influence on his future husband, who would be the Prussian king one day, Germany could be unificated under a liberal and constitutional Prussia. Vicky and Friedrich got married in 1858. Albert had lost his dearest and favourite child but he had won a way to make his dream come true.
1861: the worst year in Queen Victoria's life
Albert devoted himself to work and his health began to deteriorate. In March 1861, Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, became ill and die on March 16. The Queen was devasted, being mainly supported by her second daughter Alice. Short before the Duchess's death, Victoria had wrote on her journal: "I knelt before her, kissed her dear hand and placed it next to my cheek. But though she opened her eyes, she did not, I think, knew me".
That same month, Bertie, the Prince of Wales, was sent to Curragh Camp in Ireland, in order to receive military training. As a result of a joke performed by his companions, Bertie had a sexual experience with a woman named Nellie Cliffton. The news of the affair spread through London and it soon reached Albert's ears. The Prince Consort's health was poor; he had caught a cold while supervising the building of the new Military Academy, and he had begun with sympthoms of tiphoyd fever. Altough he was feeling so bad, he decided to make a last attempt te reform the Prince of Wales and went to meet him at Cambridge, where he was now. When he returned to Windsor, Albert told his wife that the interview with their son had been favourable, but he was feeling so bad, with a terrible ache in the back and legs. Altough she was worried, Victoria didn't afront her husband's real condition; he was in fact dying. Princess Alice was a continuos companion for both her parents durig those terrible days. She played at the piano some of her father's favourite pieces, like some Lutheran hymns and the Rock of the Ages. On December 14th, Albert experimented a light improvement, but it was brief; by the end of the day, he had worsened. He died after eleven that same night. It was the worst day in Queen Victoria's life. She was more than devasted. She cried inconsolable and remained awake all night long. She wrote on her journal: "Never can I forget how beautiful my darling looked lying there with his face lit up by the rising sun, his eyes unusually bright, gazing as if were on unseen objects and not taking notice of me. I stood up, kissed his dear heavenly forehead and called out a bitter agonizing cry: Oh my dear darling! and then I dropped on my knees in mute distract despair, unable to utter a word or shed a tear".
The Queen decided that everything should go on as if Albert was alive. His room should remain as he had left it and his bed and nightclothes should be prepared each day as if he was going to use them. Even Alice's wedding to prince Louis of Hesse should take place as Albert had planned. In fact she married at Osborne in July, 1862 but the ceremony appeared to be a funeral more than a wedding. To the Queen, everything seemed a funeral without Albert. Since his death, she secluded herself either in Osborne or in Balmoral. She rarely went to London and she didn't even attend her government's obligations.
The wedding of the Prince of Wales
Bertie should also be married, as Albert had planned too. The chosen bride, Alexandra of Denmark, had already accepted and the wedding took place on March 10, 1863, at St. George Chappel in Windsor. Many people wanted the wedding to be held in London but the Queen refused and insisted it shoul take place in Windsor. During the nuptial ceremony, she remained hidden from the public's view in the Catherine of Aragon's box..