Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. Their wedding took place on 10 February at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London.
Victoria and Albert were first cousins and had met during Albert’s earlier visit to Britain. When he returned in October 1839, Victoria was impressed by him and proposed marriage on 15 October, because royal convention required the reigning monarch to make the proposal. Their wedding united the British crown with the German house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Victoria wore a white satin dress trimmed with handmade Honiton lace, a fashion choice that helped popularise white wedding dresses in Britain and beyond. The marriage became both a personal partnership and a public institution. Albert advised Victoria on political and cultural matters and supported scientific, educational and artistic projects. They had nine children, whose marriages connected Victoria’s family to many European royal houses, earning her the later nickname “the grandmother of Europe.”