Queen Victoria's Deep Grief on Husband Revealed in New Notes

Sketches by Queen Victoria and writing is seen in one of her journals on display at a special exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria which marks this year's Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace in London. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Sketches by Queen Victoria and writing is seen in one of her journals on display at a special exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria which marks this year's Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace in London. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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Queen Victoria's Deep Grief on Husband Revealed in New Notes

Sketches by Queen Victoria and writing is seen in one of her journals on display at a special exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria which marks this year's Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace in London. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Sketches by Queen Victoria and writing is seen in one of her journals on display at a special exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria which marks this year's Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace in London. REUTERS/Toby Melville

British royal documents including Queen Victoria's heart-wrenching, handwritten account of her husband Prince Albert's death have been shared online, offering a firsthand account of her overwhelming grief.

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901. She and German-born Albert had nine children before he died of typhoid in 1861 at age 42.

She writes that, as he passed away, she "kissed his dear heavenly forehead and called out in a bitter and agonizing cry: 'Oh! My dear Darling!' then dropped on my knees in mute, distracted despair, unable to utter a word or shed a tear." For the rest of her reign, she wore black.

Images of Victoria's leather-bound notebook and its handwritten pages have been uploaded as part of thousands of documents and photos on the website www.albert.rct.uk that went online Friday to mark next week's 200th anniversary of Albert's birth.

Helen Trompeteler, project manager for the website, said Victoria's account of Albert's death, has been available to scholars before, but is being made public in full for the first time. "It reflects upon obviously the impact that Albert continues to have on her throughout her many extended years of mourning. And it's a testament to the remarkable partnership that they had," she added.

According to The Times, it was 10 years until Victoria could even bring herself to write about the day the love of her life died. "I have never had the courage to attempt to describe this dreadful day," Victoria wrote of Albert's death at Windsor Castle.

The profound love had always been mutual. In a letter written to Victoria on the day of their engagement, Oct. 15, 1839, Albert writes: "I can only believe that Heaven has sent down an angel to me, whose radiance is intended to brighten my life."

The three-year Prince Albert Digitization Project, which is uploading around 23,500 items from sources including Britain's Royal Collection and Royal Archives, should be finished by the end of next year.

The documents and photographs also highlight Albert's role in Victorian society, his patronage of the arts and sciences and his involvement in social causes including his outspoken opposition to slavery.

"He was certainly the most prominent member of the royal family to speak on the issue of the abolition of slavery," Trompeteler said.



Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

FILE - This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
FILE - This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
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Soviet-era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth after 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

FILE - This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
FILE - This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)

A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.
The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry, based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed to appear over a German radar station.
It was not immediately known where the spacecraft came in or how much, if any, of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time that some if not all of it might come crashing down, given it was built to withstand a landing on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet.
The chances of anyone getting clobbered by spacecraft debris were exceedingly low, scientists said.
Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction.
Much of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch. No longer able to resist gravity’s tug as its orbit dwindled, the spherical lander — an estimated 3 feet (1 meter) across — was the last part of the spacecraft to come down. The lander was encased in titanium, according to experts, and weighed more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms).
After following the spacecraft’s downward spiral, scientists, military experts and others could not pinpoint in advance precisely when or where the spacecraft might come down. Solar activity added to the uncertainty as well as the spacecraft’s deteriorating condition after so long in space.
As of Saturday morning, the US Space Command had yet to confirm the spacecraft's demise as it collected and analyzed data from orbit.
The US Space Command routinely monitors dozens of reentries each month. What set Kosmos 482 apart — and earned it extra attention from government and private space trackers — was that it was more likely to survive reentry, according to officials.
It was also coming in uncontrolled, without any intervention by flight controllers who normally target the Pacific and other vast expanses of water for old satellites and other space debris.