Editor says, what if Prince Albert had recovered? muses Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2010 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

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Editor says, in reality Prince Albert died after his lungs became congested. The Queen would grieve for him the rest of her life, and Britain, who had received him at times with mediocrity, showered his memory with sympathy. Memorials crowded London and the world, such as Prince Albert Hall, the Prince Albert Memorial, the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, and Africa's Lake Albert.

Eric Oppen commented on 2010-12-14 19:54:14 ~ I don't think the South would have touched the institution of slavery until its back was literally right against the wall---they had much too much of an emotional investment for that. And "British interference" in US affairs would not have pleased the US government.

Eric Lipps commented on 2010-12-15 00:29:52 ~ I agree, except that it wasn't just an emptional investment. The Southern economy was utterly dependent on slavery and collapsed after 1865 largely because of the end of that institution. It didn't begin recovering until, after the end of Reconstruction, Southerners found substitutes in sharecropping and the use of (largely black) convict labor.

Bruce Johnson commented on 2010-12-15 18:06:26 ~ I too am skeptical of the implications for the CSA. As for the notion that he might have had significant influence on his grandson Willy / Kaiser-to-be, perhaps, esp. since Vicky was so much his favorite, but it's hard to imagine it being enough to shape German unification in a more democratic, pacifistic direction (with all the the militaristic influences he'd have to overcome). // Of course, there is the problem at the start that the "typhoid fever" diagnosis was probably far off to begin with, given his family history and the fact that his health had clearly been declining for years. If Stanley Weintraub's argument is followed (in his fine biography of the Prince consort -- *Uncrowned King:the Life of Prince Albert*, 2001), it was probably some form of stomach cancer, altogether untreatable at the time. (It's still OK to imagine, 'what if he had lived', though it's no longer a fascinating case of 'he almost did, if only some minor decision, accident, etc had turned in another very plausible/possible direction.)

Jeff Provine commented on 2010-12-15 19:08:10 ~ Surprising how many Southern abolitionists there were. Large slave owners would instantly have access to government payments, meaning they would keep (or even magnify) their wealth. A clever plantation owner would gives slaves their freedom to appease international influence ($), then turn to sharecropping quickly, which supposedly is better.

Bruce Johnson commented on 2010-12-15 22:49:15 ~ I can't begin to believe the idea of the CSA *itself* setting up a plan of compensated emancipation... first because LINCOLN was ALREADY willing to do that, beginning with the loyal border states.. and even Delaware had no interest! And Lincoln's original plan depended in part on the colonization of slaves which it was thought would help relieve racial tensions. There is NO way the Deep South would have accepted a planned freeing its own slaves without such a provision (which was really not going to work, esp. on a voluntary basis), as petrified as they were about how large numbers of former slaves would respond. (There is much evidence of this from the antebellum period, not to mention the behavior of white Southerners AFTER the war.. slaves codes.. lynching... all borne of fear of their own former slaves.) I'm also skeptical of Albert's ability to carry enough political clout vs. Palmerston, et.al., to have shaped British policy THIS radically. But who knows? He actually DOES seem to have been a major influence in his final days in slowing down the government's reaction to the Trent Affair , enough to allow time for cooling off, and soon after a resolution short of war with the U.S.

Jared Myers commented on 2011-06-15 05:11:05 ~ The South's very identity was tied up in the institution of slavery (see Chandra Manning's definitive work, "What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War", as well as the Southern secession declarations themselves), which is evident in the pre-war speech of Confederate Vice-President Andrew Stephens. Even in 1865, when it became evident that the South was obviously losing the war, the Slave Power resisted the call from several Confederate generals to arm slaves and use them as soldiers. Perhaps Albert just might have been so fortunate, but seeing that it was the desire of the Confederacy to build a slave empire consisting of the West, Central America, and South America, I have trouble seeing his efforts being possible.