It has the name of a Prince song but the content comes straight from Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s journals and letters. Victoria 4 Albert is an animated series in five parts that tells the story of Victoria’s and Albert’s relationship in glorious stop-motion puppetry, cut-out/collage animation, traditional drawn animation and shadow puppets. The script was written using excerpts from Victoria’s journals and Albert’s correspondence which gives the production a genuinely intimate feel.

The four-minute episodes depict their lives from birth to their wedding. The first episode was released on Valentine’s Day and a new episode will be released every day until February 18th. I include the first three below. Visit the Victoria 4 Albert website for the next two days to see the remaining two episodes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3mqmrsB2JY&w=430]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9FtlVm7oVo&w=430]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdLSp_KeuPc&w=430]

The private non-profit Historic Royal Palaces — stewards of the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace — commissioned animator Chiara Ambrosio to create the series as a teaser for their upcoming new permanent exhibit on Queen Victoria’s life that is being installed at Kensington Palace even as I type. Like the Victoria 4 Albert series, Victoria Revealed uses extracts from Victoria’s journals and letters to give visitors an inside view of her life as a girl and young woman living in Kensington Palace, her marriage to Albert, her life as Queen, mother and grieving widow.

Important paintings, sculpture, jewellery, clothing and many other historic objects will be combined with audiovisual displays and low-tech interactives to evoke key moments and themes in Queen Victoria’s life.

The fascinating history of Britain’s longest reigning monarch will be illuminated through these carefully selected exhibits – ranging from her tiny black silk baby shoes, a collection of her toys, her wedding dress (displayed for the first time in a decade), mourning clothing worn following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, and archive footage of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Exhibits will also include music Albert wrote for her, jewelry he designed for her, and drawings they made of each other as newlyweds. For a glimpse into their family life, their children’s baby clothes, toys and accessories like a carved cradle and a teething ring will be on display.

The new exhibition opens March 26th, in time for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics. The Palace has been closed since January to set up the exhibit and for other refurbishments that will spruce up the State Apartments, improve the visitor facilities and provide wheelchair access to all the floors.