Welcome back to another blog in the Myth Busters series! It is here that we will be looking at common piercing myths. This week features the history of the Prince Albert piercing and where it got its name.
When it comes to intimate piercings, the Prince Albert, or the PA, may be the first male piercing you think of. Placed on the underside of the head of the penis and through the urethra, generally with a ring, it is notorious in the modification industry for having quick healing times and desirable results. The Prince Albert was popularised in modern piercing in the early 70’s by Jim Ward, an influential body piercer based in Los Angeles (he also features in our blog post here https://roguepiercing.co.uk/2020/06/05/myth-busters-which-side-is-the-gay-side/). But where did it get its infamous name? Doug Malloy, a friend of Ward’s, is said to have created a pamphlet in which he wrote stories of the piercings they performed, but many say they were just urban legends. To look further into this, we must ask – who was Prince Albert, anyway?
Albert, Prince Consort, was born in 1819 and was married to Queen Victoria of the UK. Together they had 9 children and he supported the Queen throughout her reign. Initially reluctant towards the role of Prince Consort and the lack of power he had, Albert became known for supporting public causes such as educational reform and abolishing slavery! One of the rumours that Malloy wrote in his pamphlets was that Prince Albert invented the legendary piercing to hide his large penis in his tight trousers. If only they thought of this in the 70’s!
There are many stories about how it got its name, from the theory that Prince Albert himself had Peyronie’s disease and used the piercing to straighten his penis, to the general public tying down their penises to hide their erection from the Queen’s daughters. Legend also has it that Prince Albert used the piercing to pull back the foreskin to keep his member sweet-smelling so as to not offend the Queen. How considerate!
The Prince Albert is clearly a historical piercing. It is difficult for anyone to say how exactly the piercing got its name, however the most likely theory is that Victorian haberdashers called it the “dressing ring” and used it to firmly secure male genitalia to the more comfortable leg. It was very popular in those days for men to wear extremely tight trousers and the piercing helped minimize visible endowment.
It is most certainly an interesting piercing that has been the subject of a lot of speculation throughout the years. But whatever the reason is, it is a timeless piercing that many people enjoy across the globe, and is just one of many intimate piercings that are available! Please check back again for another blog in the Myth Busters series. If you have any interest in getting an intimate piercing, please give us a call or a message to talk about your options.
Have you seen 1845 photo of Victoria and Albert in the Balmoral garden? He is H U G E! These were thick cloths but no elastics and rubber in underclothing, just strings in cotton. Soft he appears to have in three photos to be 8-9″ and to have very large tested. It’s significant from the 1830’s military costumes and uniforms. Baggy pants were never an issue from the 18-19th century.
Definitely the two brothers were Sax Coburg royal family. And both were pierced by the father intentionally for strapping the penis to the leg. The boot had a inner step. The leather from the PA to the boot helped create flopping around and being excessively showing.
Albert’s brother sadly did not marry had looser morals with married and unmarried women spreading syphilis through aristocratic circles. He died from tercery STD in his 40’s. STD’s in Victorian England gave rise to the mercury treatment. Scraping the urethra was exceptionally painful. Then liquid mercury was poured down with a syringe. This treatment continued through WW1 until antibiotics with penicillin was invented. But Gamma gobullin was a cure as it was a two shot treatment that halted the disease, made it impossible to spread to others.
I know a vet I was a hospital buddy to in his 90’s. In WW1 Very was stationed in Ireland and his job was strapping men down, doing the treatment and running like hell as it was extremely painful.
Thank you for sharing this fascinating snippet of history! That poor man! I bet his career, health, and life were routinely threatened. Like many, I love to learn of the minutiae of specific important/historic events and topics from those who were involved, even vital, to the event in question but were not necessarily friends or colleagues of the protagonists (or any celebrities or VIPs who were present). These are often the people referred to as staff or more condescendingly, The Help. They are routinely overlooked to the point of being perceived and treated as a fixture of the environment or even invisible. Because of this, the principle characters feel comfortable saying and doing things in the presence of their essential (but forgettable) personnel that they would NOT say or do:
• in public
• in the presence of a perceived equal
• the designation of friend or enemy determining the action/inaction
• in the presence of a perceived superior
• in the presence of law enforcement they respect/fear
• if they know they’re being recorded.
It’s why series like “Upstairs, Downstairs” are almost inevitably both critically acclaimed and popular with the public.
[…] If you want to read more about the Prince Albert and it’s surrounding mythos, then click here. […]
isn’t the myth that Victoria got the Prince Albert on prince Albert to have it locked down to prevent him from being unfaithful when she was not around ??
There are several myths based around this piercing and it’s namesake but sadly they are all just myths.
[…] Currently, in 2022, ball closure rings (BCR) or curved barbells are most commonly worn in the PA. However, it’s unclear as to when this piercing first came to be. We know that ancient tribes all across the world have been piercing their genitals for a multitude of cultural and spiritual reasons since before we had the ability to document the procedure, but the origins of the PA are so far unclear. In the early 70s, Doug Malloy published the ‘Body Piercing in Brief’ flyer (illustrated by Jim Ward) for the Gauntlet. The flyer perpetuated the rumour that Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, was responsible for the naming of the PA piercing due to sporting one himself. Rogue did a whole blog about this myth which you can read HERE. […]
I always thought it referenced Prince Albert of Monaco and his antics with women.
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