Shirt, back, worn by Prince Albert

This shirt is believed to have been worn by Prince Albert (1819-1861), consort to Queen Victoria (1819-901). Prince Albert's death in 1861 at the age of 42 was a profound shock to Victoria, and she mourned him for the rest of her long life.

Surviving examples of Prince Albert's clothing are very rare. This is possibly one of only two of his surviving shirts, the other of a later date is in the Victoria & Albert Museum. It has a laundry mark with the initial 'A' hand embroidered in blue with a crown, the date 1854, and number 12, positioned towards the bottom of the shirt on the right-hand side. It was common to mark shirts with the owner’s name or initials in this position. Laundry marks in this format were used in the Royal Households, to track the identity of the owner of the garment as it was laundered.

The shirt is a good example of a typical man's formal shirt of the period, plain white with fine pleating around the sleeves and long square cut tails. It also features an early placket concealing the buttons and turned up cuffs. Worn tucked into high waisted trousers, the shirt was kept in place by the small loop at the bottom of the shirt front which was attached to a button inside the waistband of the trousers.