The royal family seemed to have brought out a classic as they ventured into the archives to reveal some of the lesser-known gems to the public, in addition to the literal gems.
The Royal Collection Trust shared an update as the team dug deep to recover a copy of a famous novel that came from Prince Albert’s private collection as they commemorated the 250th anniversary of the literary legend.
The Palace celebrated Jane Austen, who was born in 1775. Queen Victoria had a personal connection to the book.
Pride and prejudice was one of many novels 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 copy, a later edition published in 1853, but believed to be the royals’ personal copy.
On July 22 of the same year, Queen Victoria recorded in her diary that Albert “in the evening began to read Miss Austen’s book to me. “Pride and Prejudice”.
Albert continued reading it for several days and the Queen was evidently hooked, describing it as a “very funny,” “admirably written” and “interesting and entertaining” book.
In a tragic turn of events, when Albert died, Victoria had her Maid of Honor read the novel to her again in 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.
