The royal family seemed to have released a classic as they ventured into the archives unveiling some of the lesser-known gems to the public, aside from literal jewelry.
The Royal Collection Trust has shared an update that the team has been working on to recover a copy of a famous novel from Prince Albert’s private collection, to mark the literary legend’s 250th anniversary.
The palace paid tribute to Jane Austen, born in 1775. Queen Victoria had a personal attachment to the book.
Pride and prejudice was one of several novels that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert read together, the palace revealed. It was first published anonymously in three volumes in January 1813.
In a video clip, they shared the Royal Library’s copy, a later edition published in 1853, but believed to be the royal’s personal copy.
On July 22 of the same year, Queen Victoria recorded in her diary that Albert “in the evening he began to read Miss Austen’s work to me. Pride and Prejudice ».
Albert continued to read it for several days and the Queen was visibly hooked, describing it as a “very amusing”, “beautifully written” and “interesting and entertaining” book.
In a tragic turn of events, upon Albert’s death, Victoria asked her lady-in-waiting to re-read the novel to her during the summer of 1867.
Over the years, the novel has been adapted into several films, the most popular being the 2005 film starring Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen.
