(21 Oct 1998) English/Nat

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday night officially reopened a monument commemorating one of the Royal family's great love stories - the Albert Memorial.

In a lavish ceremony watched by large crowds, she unveiled the gold leafed statue of her great-great Grandfather, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert.

The event marked the end of a four-year restoration project.

It's the first time the statue has been restored to its original gold colour in more than 80 years.

And the gothic-style memorial itself, which stands across the road from the Royal Albert Hall in central London, is now in better condition than when it was first built in 1867.

The statue, which is three-times life-size, had its gold leaf removed in 1915.

Back then, it was blackened - supposedly to stop it shining in the moonlight and allowing German Zeppelins to target their bombs on nearby Kensington Palace.

The whole memorial was in urgent need of restoration, as design faults had allowed rainwater to penetrate its iron core, undermining the structure.

It was declared unsafe in 1983 when a large piece of lead cornice fell to the ground, and was covered in scaffolding for eight years.

Some 17 (M) million U-S dollars later, the Victorian Gothic edifice, with a re-gilded 14-foot-high statue of the prince at its centre, emerged in all its splendour.

The memorial features mosaics and statues celebrating the arts, science and industry and reflects the great work Albert did as a patron.

The golden statue itself shows the German-born Prince seated in his garter robes, holding a catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851 - his greatest achievement.

Declaring the restoration work "a triumph", the Queen spoke warmly of the Prince, who was Queen Victoria's adviser and mentor as well as her husband, until his untimely death in 1861 at the age of only 42.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"A memorial worthy of her remarkable husband was duly created. It is indeed no artistic monstrosity, but in Queen Victoria's words "really magnificent"."
SUPER CAPTION: Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen also noted that Prince Albert had once vetoed a statue of himself, saying he did not want to be "permanently ridiculed and laughed at in effigy".

But 15 years after his early death, the memorial was commissioned.

Fittingly it stands on the edge of Hyde Park, overlooking a part of London forever associated with Albert.

The area to the south of the park, containing the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Natural History and Science Museums, and Imperial College of Science, was farmland when the 1851 Great Exhibition was held.

With the profits of the Exhibition, the land was bought and "Albertopolis" was created, a centre of the arts, science and technology named after their great champion.

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