On 18 December 1900
Alberta carried the Queen to the Isle of Wight for the last time. Aged 81, and in failing health, the Queen spent Christmas at Osborne, and her condition rapidly declined. Close members of her family were summoned, and on 19 January 1901
Alberta carried
Prince Edward and Princess Louisa across the
Solent to be at her bedside. Over the next few days
Alberta conveyed numerous royal persons and their attendants across to the Isle of Wight, including the Prince of Wales and the Queen's grandson
Kaiser Wilhelm II, on the morning of 21 January. Queen Victoria died in the evening of 22 January. After her body had been prepared, Admiral
Sir John Fullerton and the officers of
Alberta came ashore to pay their respects with the rest of the royal staff and servants. On 24 January
Alberta carried the new King Edward VII back to Osborne after his journey to London for his proclamation as king. The
Royal Standard, which had been lowered to
half-mast following the Queen's death, was raised again, and the king took the salutes fired by the warships anchored in the Solent as he passed. Arrangements were made for the funeral procession and service, and it was decided that
Alberta would carry the Queen's body from Cowes to Gosport, passing through a line of warships. On the afternoon of 1 February the Queen's body was brought from Osborne to Cowes, and taken on board the
Alberta moored alongside Trinity Pier. Her coffin was placed on a crimson platform on the sterndeck, covered by an awning, with an officer at attention, and the Royal Standard at half-mast. The rest of the royal family, including the King, boarded the larger
Victoria and Albert.
Alberta then sailed out of Cowes, escorted by a flotilla of eight destroyers, and leading the other royal yachts, the
Victoria and Albert,
HMY Osborne and the German yacht
Hohenzollern. As they passed by the anchored warships, their crews fired salutes, bands played funeral marches, the officers saluted and the marine guards presented arms. One of the spectators,
Randall Davidson, the
Bishop of Winchester, remarked the calm sea, the slow motion of the vessels, which seemed to glide without visible propelling power, the little 'Alberta' going first through the broad avenue of towering battle-ships booming out their salutes, the enormous mass of perfectly silent black-clothed crowds covering Southsea Common and the beach. I do not envy the man who could pass through such a scene dry-eyed. The following morning the captains of the warships which had saluted the Queen's body as the
Alberta passed by, came aboard the yacht to pay their respects. The royal family attended a brief service around the coffin, read by
Rev. Cosmo Lang, and then ten petty officers carried the coffin ashore and placed it aboard the
funeral train that was to take it to London. ==Later service==