The Blue DEATH ROOM Where Prince Albert Died

When Prince Albert fell gravely ill, he was moved from the bedroom he shared with Queen Victoria to the Blue Room, which was transformed into his sickroom. This room, adjacent to the White Drawing Room—one of the opulent salons in Windsor Castle's Private Apartments—was named for its blue silk damask wall coverings and matching curtains.
On the evening of Saturday, December 14, 1861, Princess Alice summoned her mother back to the Blue Room, where Prince Albert was suffering from typhoid fever. Queen Victoria, realizing the end was near, was at his side when he passed away at 10:50 p.m. Years later, in 1872, the Queen vividly remembered the moment:

"Two or three long but perfectly gentle breaths were drawn, the hand clasping mine and... all, all, was over... I stood up, kissed his dear heavenly forehead & called out in a bitter and agonizing cry 'Oh! my dear Darling!' and then dropped on my knees in mute, distracted despair, unable to utter a word or shed a tear! Ernest Leningen & Sir C. Phipps lifted me up, and Ernest led me out."
On the first morning of her widowhood, she returned to the Blue Room to gaze upon her beloved husband's face. Advised by her doctors not to kiss him, she kissed his clothes instead. She had every part of the room photographed to preserve it exactly as it had been at that fateful moment, ten minutes to eleven on December 14, 1861, when her own life had been irreparably changed.

She visited the death chamber twice the next day and wrote to her eldest daughter, the Crown Princess of Prussia, describing Prince Albert as appearing "beautiful as marble – and the features so perfect, though grown very thin." Though his body was not placed in the coffin until the 18th, Queen Victoria chose not to look upon it again. She explained to her daughter that she preferred to remember him as he was in life and health rather than imprint the sad, albeit lovely, image of his death too strongly in her mind. Overwhelmed with grief, the Queen withdrew to Osborne on the 19th, unable to endure the funeral service held at St George's Chapel on the 23rd.
Fresh flowers and memorial wreaths were kept in the room constantly. Each evening, Albert's dressing gown and fresh clothes were laid out on his bed, and a jug of steaming hot water was placed on his washstand. The glass from which he had taken his last dose of medicine remained on the table beside his bed. On his writing table, his pen rested upon his open blotting book, ready for his grasp. This arrangement remained undisturbed for over forty years.
She ordered Albert’s dressing gown and fresh clothes to be laid out every evening and a jug of steaming hot water to be placed on his washstand. Between the two beds in the room, a marble bust of him was placed, with his portrait hung above it, adorned with evergreens. Almost daily, fresh flowers were strewn beneath it on the pillows. The glass from which he had taken his last dose of medicine was kept on the table beside it, remaining there for more than forty years. His writing table was left with his blotting book open and his pen resting upon it, as if waiting for him to use it. Guests at Windsor were required to sign his visitors’ book as well as the Queen’s, just as they had before. She had herself photographed gazing at his bust and went to bed each night clasping one of his nightshirts, with a cast of his hand nearby, close enough for her to touch.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the fabric furnishings had deteriorated significantly, becoming faded, frayed, and even rotted, necessitating replacement. During Queen Victoria's absence, the hangings were secretly replaced with new silk that had been meticulously faded to match the originals. This ruse relied on the hopeful knowledge of Queen Victoria's greatly diminished eyesight; fortunately, she never noticed the change. After her son, Edward VII, ascended the throne, he had the room completely redecorated to serve as his study.