Albert was born at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.[2] Albert's future wife, Queen Victoria, was born in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife.[3] Albert was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau with water taken from the local river, the Itz.[4] His godparents were his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; the Emperor of Austria; the Duke of Teschen; and Emanuel, Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly.[5] In 1825, Albert's great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, died. The death led to a re-arrangement of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert's father became reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.[6] Albert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in a close companionship scarred by their parents' turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce.[7] After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Polzig and Beiersdorf. She probably never saw her children again and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831.[8] The following year, their father married his own niece, his sons' cousin Princess Antoinette Marie of Württemberg, but the marriage was not close, and Antoinette Marie made little, if any, contribution to her stepchildren's lives.[9] The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later in Brussels, where Adolphe Quetelet was one of their tutors.[10] Like many other German princes, Albert studied at the University of Bonn as a young adult. He studied law, political economy, philosophy, and art history. He played music and excelled in gymnastics, especially fencing and riding.[11] His teachers in Bonn included the philosopher Fichte and the poet Schlegel.[12]

By 1836, the idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, had arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle, Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831.[13] At this time, Victoria was the heiress presumptive to the British throne. Her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III, had died when she was a baby, and her childless elderly uncle, William IV, was king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was the sister of both Albert's father—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and Leopold, King of the Belgians. Leopold arranged for his sister, Victoria's mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his two sons to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of meeting Victoria. King William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander, second son of the Prince of Orange. Victoria was well aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.[14] She wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful."[15] Alexander, on the other hand, was "very plain".[15] Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy."[16] Although the parties did not undertake a formal engagement, both the family and their retainers widely assumed that the match would take place.[17] Victoria came to the throne aged just eighteen on 20 June 1837. Her letters of the time show interest in Albert's education for the role he would have to play, although she resisted attempts to rush her into marriage.[18] In the winter of 1838–39, the prince visited Italy, accompanied by the Coburg family's confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar.[19] Albert returned to England with Ernest in October 1839 to visit the Queen, with the object of settling the marriage.[20] Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839.[21] Victoria's intention to marry was declared formally to the Privy Council on 23 November,[22] and the couple married on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.[23] Just before the marriage, Albert was naturalised by Act of Parliament,[24] and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council.[1] At first, he was not popular with the British public. He was perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county.[25] The British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, advised the Queen against granting her husband the title of "King Consort". Parliament even refused to make Albert a peer—partly because of anti-German feeling and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role.[26] Melbourne led a minority government and the opposition took advantage of the marriage to weaken his position further. They opposed the ennoblement of Albert and granted him a smaller annuity than previous consorts,[27] £30,000 instead of the usual £50,000.[28] Albert claimed that he had no need of a British peerage; he wrote, "It would almost be a step downwards, for as a Duke of Saxony, I feel myself much higher than a Duke of York or Kent".[29] For the next seventeen years, Albert was formally titled "HRH Prince Albert" until, on 25 June 1857, Victoria formally granted him the title Prince Consort.[30]

Albert was seriously ill with stomach cramps in August 1859.[94] During a trip to Coburg in the autumn of 1860 he was driving alone in a carriage drawn by four horses that suddenly bolted. As the horses continued to gallop toward a stationary wagon waiting at a railway crossing, Albert jumped for his life from the carriage. One of the horses was killed in the collision, and Albert was badly shaken, though his only physical injuries were cuts and bruises. He told his brother and eldest daughter that he sensed his time had come.[95] In 1861, Victoria's mother and Albert's aunt, the Duchess of Kent, died and Victoria was grief-stricken; Albert took on most of the Queen's duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble.[96] The last public event he presided over was the opening of the Royal Horticultural Gardens on 5 June 1861.[97] In August, Victoria and Albert visited the Curragh Camp, Ireland, where the Prince of Wales was doing army service. At the Curragh, the Prince of Wales was introduced, by his fellow officers, to Nellie Clifden, an Irish actress.[98] By November, Victoria and Albert had returned to Windsor, and the Prince of Wales had returned to Cambridge, where he was a student. Two of Albert's cousins, King Pedro V and Prince Ferdinand of Portugal, died of typhoid fever.[99] On top of this news, Albert was informed that gossip was spreading in gentlemen's clubs and the foreign press that the Prince of Wales was still involved with Nellie Clifden.[100] Albert and Victoria were horrified by their son's indiscretion, and feared blackmail, scandal or pregnancy.[101] Although Albert was ill and at a low ebb, he travelled to Cambridge to see the Prince of Wales on 25 November[102] to discuss his son's indiscreet affair.[49] In his final weeks Albert suffered from pains in his back and legs.[103] When the Trent Affair—the forcible removal of Confederate envoys from a British ship by Union forces during the American Civil War—threatened war between the United States and Britain, Albert was gravely ill, but intervened to soften the British diplomatic response.[104] On 9 December, one of Albert's doctors, William Jenner, diagnosed typhoid fever. Congestion of the lungs supervened, and Albert died at 10:50 p.m. on 14 December 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, in the presence of the Queen and five of their nine children.[105] The contemporary diagnosis was typhoid fever, but modern writers have pointed out that Albert was ill for at least two years before his death, which may indicate that a chronic disease, such as Crohn's disease,[106] renal failure, or cancer, was the cause of death.[107]