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| Rupert Friend & Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria The Wedding Scene Copyright Unknown. Photo Source: Madame Guillotine |
Once Queen Victoria stood face to face with her beloved Albert, the crimson velvet, the golden plates, and the rich festoons adorning the majestic Chapel Royal must have faded from her mind. For a brief window in their very public life, she laid her royalty aside as they exchanged the most solemn of vows:
Albert, wilt thou give this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together
after God’s ordinance in the holy state of matrimony? Wilt thou comfort her,
honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsake all other, keep
thee only unto her, as long as ye both shall live?
In perfect English, the Prince answered ‘in a tone of softened feeling’:
I, Albert, take thee, Victoria, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold,
from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness
and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to
God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth. {17, pp. 779-80}
When it was her turn, Victoria, in bright and dulcet tones, both soft and resounding, emphasized the words, ‘love, cherish, and obey,’ with her eyes locked on his in rapt affection. {14}
She was enraptured by the experience of being called by their first names. However, it would be the next moment which would most captivate her in the days to follow. As he slipped the plain gold wedding band onto her left fourth finger, Albert repeated these words with heartfelt solemnity:
With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my
worldly goods I do thee endow; in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. Amen. {17, p. 781-82}
Read Part 19
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