Completely overpowered by everything

Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria

Buckingham Palace, February 16, 1861

Poor dear Papa has been suffering badly with toothache since three days – which wears and worries him dreadfully, and seems particularly obstinate; it comes from inflammation at the root of the tooth; he had a little of it last autumn on the journey to and from Coburg, and also at Babelsberg in ’58, but not near so bad as now; I hope, however, it is a little better today, but dear Papa never allows he is any better or will try to get over it, but makes such a miserable face that people always think he’s very ill.  It is quite the contrary with me always; I can do anything before others and never show it, so people never believe I am ill or ever suffer.  His nervous system is easily excited and irritated, and he’s so completely overpowered by everything.

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(An engraving of Albert completed in the final months of his life.  The strain of poor health and increased responsibilities shows clearly in his face.  Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While Victoria could be alarmed and concerned by a major illness, she rarely had patience for complaints of minor illness from anyone in her household.  Vicky’s letters during her early years in Prussia include complaints of respiratory illnesses that seemed to plague her during the bitter Berlin winters; she also had periodic problems with headaches.  Victoria gave her advice, of course, most oddly avoiding warmth – keep the fires low or nonexistent, take cold baths in the morning, get plenty of exercise in the freezing air.  Vicky’s complaints continued from time to time, but she often did not receive much in the way of sympathy from her mother.

Victoria’s lack of patience with illness extended to Albert.  They were two sides of the same coin in this respect; Victoria was open about her emotions and moods almost to a fault and later to the worry of her friends and family.  Albert was known as rather undemonstrative in his affections with the exception of his wife and children in private; little seemed to sway, bother, or unduly upset him.  When it came to matters of human relations of any kind, Albert was not particularly passionate; he saved this for his work.   

On the contrary, Victoria seems to have been correct in her observation above about her constitution as compared to Albert’s.  She had hardly been sick in her life save a bout of what was believed to have been either typhoid fever or strep throat when she was sixteen.  She remained physically strong and sound after nine pregnancies and births.  And to the consternation of much of her family (including her husband), Victoria needed a constant supply of fresh, cold air, often forbidding fires from being lit in her home on the coldest days.  Albert once remarked to Vicky in a letter written during the early morning how dismayed Victoria would be when she woke up and saw him sitting by a fire.  Albert seemed to catch anything and everything that was going around, even in his early years.  At this point in his life (near the end), just about kind of cold, flu, and injury was taking its toll on an exhausted Albert, who had been gradually taking on more diplomatic, charitable, and internal duties during his time as consort. 

Albert had long noticed that he didn’t seem to have the same sort of strength and zest as his wife.  He told her at times, “I really do not cling to life; you cling to it very hard…I feel that I should make no struggle if I were ill – that I should give up at once.”  While Victoria seemed concerned at Albert’s morbid declarations, it seems in retrospect that perhaps he understood something that would probably deeply frighten his wife. 

Albert had been having what Victoria referred to as “stomach attacks” since at least mid-1859.  These seemed to occur when we was overly hot, cold, or particularly tired.  Generally Albert chalked up his bouts of sickness on worry over various political affairs.  His medical team believed that Albert likely suffered from ulcers, which are often (as I can attest!) aggravated by stress, anxiety, and poor sleep.  At around this time Albert also began suffering from periodic bouts of insomnia, partly due to his stomach problems. 

A carriage accident in Coburg during the fall of 1860 did not injure Albert seriously, but seemed to make him overly anxious and upset, for some reason convinced he was going to die.  It would seem Albert was likely suffering from exhaustion and depression due to his alarm over the situation.  His resistance may have also been down due to his continuing stomach problems.  Photographs and portraits from the time show a tired, worried, rapidly aging replacement to a once serene and handsome man.  Albert spent the rest of his time in his home country saying silent good-byes, certain he would never see the people and places of his childhood again.  Although his family thought he was being overly dramatic (unusual for Albert), he turned out to be right. 

Albert’s stomach problems continued on through the end of 1860 and into the following year.  After comforting Victoria devastated by her mother’s death in March 1861, Albert was indeed “overpowered by everything,” as he beefed up his schedule to compensate for Victoria’s lack of availability.  Uncle Leopold was disturbed enough hearing of his niece’s devastation to make a trip to Britain in the summer of 1861; Leopold found Victoria not as bad as he thought, but Albert’s ill appearance worried him greatly.  The fact that Albert didn’t seem to mind the severe court mourning as he claimed it matched his mood was particularly concerning. 

The Duchess of Kent’s mausoleum was ready by August, which would her birthday thanks to Albert’s arrangements.  This began to bring Victoria out of her alarming depression as Albert ailed further.  The outbreak of the American Civil War seemed to cause him particular anxiety, but it was the news of what was believed to be Bertie’s first affair crushed Albert.  Albert was in the midst of trying to arrange a marriage between Bertie and Alexandra, and Albert and Victoria seemed convinced that the Danish would refuse the match upon learning of the affair. 

Albert weathered further news that cholera had spread through the Portuguese royal family (also of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family), killing King Pedro V, who was something of a protégé to Albert.  Following a heart-to-heart chat with Bertie in the cold rain in November seems to have been the last straw to Albert’s terrible health.

During the first few days of December, Albert finally took to his bed in utter exhaustion.  Doctors were summoned, including William Jenner, and expert in typhoid fever.  He made a tentative diagnosis of the disease on December 9, but the fact that it had taken him several days to come to this conclusion leaves some question as to whether it was the right one.  Albert declined over the next week until December 14 when he was indeed overpowered. 

So what was the official cause of Albert’s death?  It very well could have been typhoid, as the disease was still quite common and had little successful treatment during that time.  Bertie, of course, had it several years after his father, and younger brother Leopold also suffered from and survived the disease.  Albert’s continuing stomach problems also suggest that cancer may have been the culprit.  Ulcers can, at times, eventually progress into cancer, particularly if such conditions as Barrett’s esophagus exist. 

We’ll likely never know what truly killed Albert, and at this point it probably does not matter a great deal.   But it is thought-provoking and rather eerie to see his downfall – seemingly known to Albert, and alarming to those closest to him – spelled out so clearly in Victoria’s letter.  It’s frightening to know just what was in store for Victoria in the following months.