Prince Albert, the German-born husband of Queen Victoria, was something of a trendsetter. And he is generally credited with having created the fad of having Christmas trees.

The royal family's annual tree in Windsor Palace became a source of fascination to the public. And when illustrations of it reached America in the early 1850s, the fad took hold among fashionable New Yorkers. Christmas trees changed from being a tradition observed only in German enclaves to being a mainstream custom in American homes.

And it was all inspired by a German prince married to a British queen.