Oxford historian Helen Rappaport’s latest book Magnificent Obsession “breathes fresh life into English history's most famous widowhood”, according to Earl Spencer. The endorsement by Princess Diana’s brother is significant because Diana’s death is the one event in recent memory that mirrors the atmosphere Helen describes following the death of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert.

Helen, who made her name writing about Russian history, was working on Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs when she began thinking about deaths that rocked the world. She said: “Albert came to mind immediately.”

To begin with, the population had been sympathetic to the Queen’s extreme response to the sudden loss of her beloved husband, but as the years turned to decades, their attitude changed. “I had always sensed that not enough had ever been said about the national response to Albert’s death five years after the end of that war. The details are as poignant in many ways as the reaction, in 1997, to the tragic death of Princess Diana,” said the author.

How she would describe Victoria’s reaction to the death of Albert?

“Like Dickens’s Miss Havisham — but without the dust and cobwebs. On December 14, 1861, the clock of her happy life stopped — she didn’t want to move on.

“She preserved Albert’s room, but in a pristine state, and wore black for the rest of her life, becoming an iconic figure of dignified, matronly mourning.

“When Albert was alive she had travelled the country and the monarchy had been accessible and visible. When, ten years later, the Queen was still refusing to take part in any public ceremonial, even her children were becoming infuriated with her.”

Contrast that with the project spearheaded by Prince Albert and opened by the Queen — The Great Exhibition, held in Hyde Park in 1851. At a time when road transport was dire, more than six million people headed to London by train, out of a population of fewer than 30 million.

I asked Helen what she thought of the Albert whom Victoria mourned.

“His brilliance never ceases to amaze me. He was a polymath, involving himself in everything from anti-slavery to art, model housing for the poor, photography and architecture. He was a talented musician, but above all his self-imposed mission was to promote the very best of British culture, business, industry science and education across the globe.

“When his vision for South Kensington actually came into being it was nicknamed Albertopolis. But he drove himself far too hard, was always too exacting, and his slavish sense of duty never allowed him to relax.”

So what did kill him?

“He was only 42, and the public thought this energetic man was fit and healthy. The traumatised Queen refused to allow a post-mortem, so for 150 years the accepted cause of death was typhoid fever. I came across an obscure article in a medical journal which suggested that Albert may have suffered from Crohn’s Disease.

“It seemed to tally with information that I had pieced together from royal diaries and letters and I decided to follow it up.

“With the help of Simon Travis, consultant gastroenterologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, I studied the evidence and became convinced that Albert suffered from Crohn’s. It didn’t kill him — but it precipitated the final crisis in December 1861 that led to pneumonia and Albert’s death on the 14th. I am very excited at the prospect of opening up serious debate on this issue.”

On January 19, she will accompany Dr Travison one of his gastroenterology grand rounds at the JR, followed by an open meeting with doctors and medical students, to debate the medical evidence.

* Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death That Changed the Monarchy is published by Hutchinson at £20. The author will be at a Victorian-inspired gala evening on Saturday, November 26, in aid of Kennington Library.

Tickets (£12.50, inc. dinner) can be booked via the library, tel. 01865 730763 or 07809 054969. The author will also speak at Blackwell’s on December 1.