London, England: Albert Memorial

If you are a Queen and your spouse dies, cost probably isn't a factor in what sort of tribute he might receive. That's no doubt the story of the Albert Memorial.

Prince Albert died in 1861 at the not-so-old age of 42. There was said to be plenty of discussion about what sort of tribute should be made to the husband of Queen Victoria. Scholarships and an entire university came up. But Victoria would have none of that. She wanted a standard, big memorial. It took a couple of years to come up with agreement on the concept by all concerned, but one was approved in 1863. It was scheduled to be placed in Kensington Gardens. 

The idea of having Prince Albert in a sitting position came first, and everything else fell into line eventually from there. The memorial was finished in 1872, and Albert was formally seated on a spot in the middle four years later.  

Queen Victoria, by the way, lived until 1901. That means she was a widow for about 40 years. 

Let's get a closer look than the photo taken from a briefly parked bus.