Man for the monarchy

It is unfortunate, though indicative of the English sense of humor, that today in the country of which he was Prince Consort the name of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, husband to Queen Victoria and ancestor of a large slice of European royalties, should be most associated with a cosmetic piercing of the penis. It was a part of the princely anatomy of considerable importance—Albert fathered nine children, hence his formidable dynastic effect—but it is not dwelled upon in A. N. Wilson’s thorough, well-written, and insightful biography, Prince Albert. This is the more reliable story of Albert: participant in an arranged marriage that turned into a passionate love-match, embodiment of the Victorian determination for self-improvement, a man thwarted by the limitations of the role of husband to the Queen Regnant and whose death at the age of forty-two was not merely a...