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Prince Consort's statue unveiling

Explore how Albert was memorialised across art forms

Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901)

'Tis better to have loved & lost than never to have loved at all' c.1862-81

Hand-written transcript on mourning paper | 17.5 x 11.2 cm (whole object) | RCIN 1005991.a

This four page document contains a transcript by Queen Victoria of 'In Memoriam' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria found comfort in Tennyson's poem, recording in her journal,

Much soothed & pleased with Tennyson's "In Memoriam." Only those who have suffered, as I do, can understand these beautiful poems"

Queen Victoria’s Journal, RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 5 January 1862 (Princess Beatrice’s copies)

This document was kept with other documents and various photographs, held together by a brass tablet with black cotton ribbon. A label attached to this object, possibly added after Queen Victoria's own death in 1901, states that the tablet and its contents was 'always placed on the Queen's writing table'.