The royal family seemed to have pulled out a classic as they ventured into the archives unveiling some of the lesser known gems to the public apart from the literal jewels.
The Royal Collection Trust shared an update the team delved in to recover a copy of a famous novel that came from Prince Albert’s private collection as they marked 250th anniversary of the literature legend.
The Palace celebrated Jane Austen, who was born in 1775. Queen Victoria had a personal attachment to the book.
Pride and Prejudice was one of the many 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 copy from the Royal Library, a later edition published in 1853, but believed to be the personal copy of the royal.
On July 22 of the same year, Queen Victoria recorded in her journal that Albert “in the evening began reading to me Miss Austen’s Pride & Prejudice”.
Albert continued to read it over several days and the Queen was evidently hooked describing it as “very amusing”, “admirably written” and “interesting and entertaining” book.
In tragic turn of events, when Albert died, Victoria had her Lady in Waiting read the novel to her again in the summer of 1867.
Over the course of years, the novel has been adapted into several movies, the most popular one being the 2005 film starring Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen.
