Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick: Encyclopedia II - Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick - Marriage

Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick - Marriage

In 1851, Victoria met her future husband, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (18 October 1831-15 June 1888), when he and his parents were invited to London by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to attend the opening of the Great Exhibition. At the time, Friedrich, the son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, was third in line to the Prussian throne. The couple were engaged in 1855 while Friedrich was on a visit to Balmoral.

The Prussian Court and Buckingham Palace publicly announced the engagement on 19 May 1857. The couple were married, at Queen Victoria's insistence, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, on 25 January 1858. The marriage was both a love match and a dynastic alliance. The Queen and Prince Albert hoped that Victoria's marriage to the future king of Prussia would cement close ties between London and Berlin, and possibly lead to the emergence of a unified and liberal Germany.

Victoria and Friedrich had eight children:

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Marriage", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki