Before Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, nobody in this country had ever heard of Christmas trees. Prince Albert introduced the tradition of the Christmas tree to us in this country.
Prince Albert came from Germany, where having a Christmas tree in the house at Christmas time, was a very old and popular tradition.
Victoria and Albert had 9 children and celebrating Christmas together was very important to them.
In 1848, ‘The London News’ newspaper published a picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s Christmas tree at Windsor Palace. Prince Albert liked decorating the tree with candles.
Victoria and Albert were very popular and people wanted to copy them, so having a Christmas tree became very fashionable. Before long, most people had a tree in their house at Christmas time.
Decorations were homemade and they included sewn snowflakes, paper baskets of sugar almonds, bread dough decorations, tinsel, candles, fruit and an angel at the top of the tree. Photos courtesy of World Journalist @wikicommons, Gunnvor Karita @wingsofwhimsy, Miami U. Library @wikicommons, Jackie Pennington @thepenningtonedition, Ryan Scranton @Flickr- granted under creative commons licence - attribution
Later on, glass decorations, glitter and toys became popular. The decorations on the tree became a sign of how wealthy you were. The more decorations on the tree, the richer you were! Photos courtesy aaekoxon @Flickr, Fredda Perkins @Flickr, Julie eab designs @Flickr- granted under creative commons licence - attribution
So, whatever type of Christmas tree you may have, traditional, modern, real or artificial, it’s all thanks to Prince Albert for introducing the Christmas tree to this country for us all to enjoy! Photos courtesy Liz Hall @Flickr, Joan Luo @Flickr, Barb Engelhardt @Flickr, Birdies100 @Flickr- granted under creative commons licence - attribution
