The Albert Memorial & the Coming Empire

This summer I visited the Albert Memorial in London. It is one of the most exquisite landmarks I have visited, combining the dignity of a nation’s grief with the glory of its imperial zenith. Prince Albert was a good man; a committed Lutheran, he was always ranked below his wife, yet he privately strengthened and guided her. He was a patron of arts and industry and supported the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, of which he was President, expressing his "sympathy and interest for that class of our community who have most of the toil and fewest of the enjoyments of this world". He was also President of the Society for the Extinction of Slavery, seeking to eradicate that vile viper that continued to stalk the Americas and middle east. His untimely death was a blow to the nation and to his young wife, who never recovered. The memorial cost over £10 million in today’s money, and the bill was paid entirely by public subscription.

The memorial itself incorporates two allegorical sculpture themes: four groups depicting Victorian industrial arts and sciences (manufacturing, agriculture, commerce, and engineering), and four more groups representing Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe at its four corners, with each continent-group including several people and animals.

Prince Albert, and the Great Britain he represented, did much to benefit the world. Education, democracy, commerce and Christianity were all advanced by this nation’s global reach. So, sadly, were the less pleasing aspects of imperialism and industrialisation: poverty, racism, exploitation and war. Much as I admire Albert and my own nation’s heritage, I look for One whose current memorial is nothing but bread and wine, but whose benevolent empire will one day cover the earth:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder…Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”

Isaiah 9