His birthday (14 December 1895) was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort. Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her". Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good". Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St. Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later.[a] As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known formally as His Highness Prince Albert of York from birth. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie". His maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".
what is the byword for all that is great and good?
Albert