The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was solemnized on the 10th of February 1840, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London. Queen Victoria's wedding day was inauspicious, a heavy rain falling; but immense multitudes assembled to gaze upon the processions.

At the beginning of December, 1861, Albert was very unwell. He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861. Victoria was devastated. She blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering. He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said. She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances, and rarely set foot in London in the following years. Her seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor".

During their 21 years of marriage Victoria and Albert had done so much to rescue the ailing monarchy from the lingering dissolute reputation of the Hanoverians and reinvigorate it as a democratic and moral example for the new age. The royal family had become popular again and accessible to ordinary people, thanks to the example it set of the simple domestic virtues of monogamy, bourgeois decency and family life. It was an image that Albert had assiduously promoted, right from the first popular magazine illustrations of the royal family enjoying Christmas at Windsor, German-style, with decorated fir trees.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org