Following the death of Prince Albert on December 14th, 1861, Perth Town Council were examining possible memorials.
A bust in the council offices was rejected because “none but the privileged few would see it” and similarly a reading room was not considered to be sufficiently permanent. They decided on a statue at the southern tip of the North Inch adjacent to the corner of Charlotte Street and Charlotte Place.
The statue is dressed in the robes of a Knight of the Thistle, the highest award of chivalry in Scotland. In his hand he holds the design of the Great Exhibition of 1851. During the construction of the statue Prince Alfred, the Queen’s eldest son paid regular visits to the sculptor, Brodie of Edinburgh, to comment on the design of Albert’s face and dress. Queen Victoria was shown a photograph of the statue and after amendments, approved it. She agreed to inaugurate the memorial on her way to Balmoral.
Queen Victoria was making one of her rare visits to Perth. Her royal train arrived in Perth Station at 8:40am on 30th August 1864. She alighted and was escorted in procession along Marshall Place and on to the site at the North Inch. Following the inauguration, the queen’s procession returned to the station by way of Athol Street to resume her journey north. The whole visit lasted barely one hour.
William Brodie was possibly the first Scottish sculptor to have his work inaugurated by royalty.
