r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Main_Locksmith_2543 • 1d ago
Video A pyramid in the middle of a Scottish forest erected by Queen Victoria to commemorate Prince Albert.
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u/Radiant-Noise6415 1d ago
No way the Victorians could have built that. Must be aliens
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u/Gwynplaine-00 1d ago
Huh oh no they were white so definitely not aliens. Now the ones in Egypt definitely aliens.
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u/WisestAirBender 1d ago
Weren't the Egyptians white too
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u/veggiejord 1d ago
Ancient Egyptians, during the period the pyramids were built? No, they weren't
You're maybe thinking of the ptolomaic era (Cleopatra), where they debatably could have been as they were partially descended from Greeks.
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u/CaptainLoggy 1d ago
If having "white" as a category of human is to make any sense at all (I don't think it possible or useful), then the border must be drawn at the Sahara, not the Mediterranean.
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u/UnifiedQuantumField 1d ago
Hello there, fellow reasonable thinker!
I agree. Why?
North African populations (especially the Amazigh) do act as a genetic reservoir for certain traits associated with "white people". Lighter colored hair eyes and skin. Also facial structure that's closer to European than SubSaharan African.
And since the Ancient Egyptians were more closely related to this group of people (genetics as well as language), it makes sense why there are so many mummies that look they way they do.
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u/KrustyKrabFormula_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
ancient egypt was very diverse. saying a definitive statement like this just isn't accurate.
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u/veggiejord 1d ago
The reasonable default is that they would look something like Egyptian Arabs of today. What's your basis for claiming they are or could be white?
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u/EduinBrutus 1d ago
They would look like Copts of today rather than Egyptian Arabs who were a later arrival in the region.
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u/razor21792 23h ago
Egyptians (Arabs and otherwise) run the gamut between olive-skinned Mediterraneans in the north to darker, horn-of-Africa-esque types in the South. They're not uniformly lighter skinned.
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u/FadedVictor 1d ago
The genetic makeup of a modern Egyptian is pretty damn similar to the Ancient Egyptians. From what I understand, being "white" or "black" wasn't exactly a concept back then. I'm sure they had there variation of the idea though.
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u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch 1d ago
Yeah, but that's true secret knowledge. Don't let them in on it.
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u/veggiejord 1d ago
It's not even true. The ancient Egyptians had no greek roots. That came later, around the Roman era.
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u/KrustyKrabFormula_ 1d ago
what does this comment even mean
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u/jamesreyne 1d ago
The notion that ancient (non-white) peoples couldn't figure out how pile up rocks in a triangle by themselves is racist.
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u/SuitableBlackberry75 1d ago
Carl Sagan called it the "our ancestors were dummies" hypothesis, or something like that. It's pretty nuts, when you look up the long history of fraud and criminality behind the people who came up with the "Ancient alien theory".
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u/cattecatte 1d ago
Ever wonder why there are virtually no aliens conspiracy for ancient rome or greek?
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u/mwaaah 1d ago edited 1d ago
A lot of the "pyramids were made by aliens" conspiracies boil down to "I can't believe these non-white people built that shit all this time ago so there probably was some advanced civilization doing it for them" which is often just a form of racism.
So since here we're talking about a pyramid made by white people, nothing to see, just good old european brick-laying.
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u/KrustyKrabFormula_ 1d ago
yeah the egyptian pyramids are so impressive people can't accept the egyptians did it. tells you just how crazy it was to do it. still boggles my mind thinking that it was nearly 5,000 years ago.
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u/Eldermillenial1 1d ago
What does a pyramid have to do with a bolt through the 🐓
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u/Artichokeypokey 1d ago
We brits dont share this often so keep it tight lipped. Its not a pyramid, its the screw for his piercing. Prince Albert's Prince albert
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u/Dry-Tumbleweed-7199 1d ago
the piercing guy was a different prince albert. he was pyramid prince albert and queen victoria’s son
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u/MissingBothCufflinks 1d ago
Once someone has drilled a hole through it youll pee-in-a-myriad of directions
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u/Main_Locksmith_2543 1d ago
It is a Prince Albert memorial pyramid and people can not help but think of the Prince Albert piercing.
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u/Eldermillenial1 1d ago
Well ask anyone what is Prince Albert and see who refers to the royal family 🤷♂️
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u/Resident_Course_3342 1d ago
Nice little shiny thing right on the tip to commemorate prince albert.
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u/Trackballer 1d ago
Wait, I thought they put him in a can…
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u/adamwho 1d ago
Yeah I thought of that joke too.... Looks like it isn't getting much traction
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u/AfterUse136 1d ago
She built that? Impressive.
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u/guythatlovesbikes 1d ago
With her bare hands.. she dragged the stones, one by one, from the other end of the land. Mighty woman !!
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u/apple_kicks 1d ago
People forget Queen Victoria was a literal giantess towering over the land and ate small children. We lived in fear
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u/Senior_Bad_6381 1d ago
Someone should let him out.
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u/Muppetude 1d ago
So he can start indiscriminately putting holes through people’s dicks again? Queen Vic locked him away for a reason.
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u/roamzero 1d ago
Why a pyramid of all things and not something culturally British?
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u/A_Cat_Typingg 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's a stylised cairn - which is absolutely something culturally British. https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250710-the-secret-royal-pyramids-of-scotland
It's also important to note that pyramids are not exclusive to one particular culture or country - they appear all over the world at various times, so why not a pyramid?
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u/llccnn 1d ago
This cairn dates from 1861. ‘Egyptomania’ and orientalism generally was big in the 19th century. Compare with Egyptian Avenue in Highgate Cemetery (1839).
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u/A_Cat_Typingg 1d ago
Which is kind of why I went with "stylised" - yes, Egypt was a popular thing in the 19th century so I could well imagine there was a definite cultural influence to the design of this particular cairn. It's still a cairn, though.
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u/emilysnootycow 1d ago
Yes, there is also the Star Pyramid, beneath Stirling Castle in Scotland, built in 1863.
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u/Synner1985 1d ago
technically - and this is serious nerd shit now - its a Cairn - OLD SCHOOL Scotish tradition, and i'm talking prehistoric "Old school" - its pretty much a stack of stones arranged in a circular or pryamid fashion (I suspect the pyramid shape was used for stability purposes given the size)
They are used as markers for various things - burial sites, trail markers, so on so for.
This one in memory to Prince Albert
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u/Gentle_Snail 1d ago
I don’t know why people are shocked that “big pile of stones” exists in literally thousands of cultures.
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u/WisestAirBender 1d ago
Egyptians don't own the pyramid shape lol
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u/A_Cat_Typingg 1d ago
That's very true. We've got the ancient South American and Chinese civilizations for a start.
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u/PJenningsofSussex 1d ago
Stealing stuff is culturally British
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u/naughtyreverend 1d ago
We've never stolen stuff... we liberated land and were gifted things by grateful nations. Thats all. And no this sharp stick had absolutely nothing to do with how grateful they were feeling
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u/CrispBedSheet 1d ago
Things were better when we had breech loading rifles and they had soft fruit.
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u/naughtyreverend 1d ago
Hmm... it was an awfully sharp mango sir...
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u/Corsair833 1d ago
Stick two pencils in your ears and pretend you're mad!
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u/JustAvi2000 1d ago
And don't forget to say "whibble".
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u/Think_Air9714 1d ago
Do you have a flag? No flag no country, these are the rules that I just made up.
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u/JohnnyCanuckist 1d ago
The museum in Liverpool is the first one I've ever been in where they have admitted that certain items were looted
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u/Crazy_Biohazard 1d ago
Sounds like you are a well trained Helldiver, managed democracy thanks you o7
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u/OkCaterpillar8941 1d ago
Stealing things is culturally an 'upper' class British thing to do. My mill working, farming and fishing ancestors were struggling to survive not off on their jollies bringing back 'souvenirs'.
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u/ZolotoGold 1d ago
We should all recognise this more. Ordinary people for the most part just want to survive and build for their families.
Huge wealth and power corrupts, and then bad things are done in everybody's name.
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u/Little_View_6659 1d ago
Yep. Life has taught me that most people just want to live. They want enough food to eat and a roof over their head. And the rich and powerful are constantly mucking about and causing trouble. Look at those poor Ukrainians. Bombs raining down in their heads, threatened with rape and torture, starving, frightened, children kidnapped. And why? Putin.
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u/cockycrackers 1d ago
But also think about the regular-ass Russian citizen just trying to live their life in a border area and getting merc'd by some random drone. War is fucked up and the civilian populations of both side suffer because some elite assholes can't figure their disagreements out. Unfortunately this has been consistent throughout our written history.
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u/agent_sphalerite 1d ago
Yeah ordinary people were also soldiers and part of the British trading companies that wreaked havoc , killed countless , pillaged and stole for themselves and their lords.
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u/pienofilling 1d ago
Wellington was very clear about being aware of what the British soldier under his command was capable of doing and was prepared to execute them to keep order.
It's important to acknowledge all of it.
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u/Glassiam 1d ago
Always "British steal stuff" comments from Americans, living on stolen land lol.
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u/Wow-WhatARide 1d ago
I'm taking this comment.
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u/Drenaxel 1d ago
That's the spirit.
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u/ScalpelCleaner 1d ago
Egyptian grave robbers took most of what was there. You can thank the French and the British (as well as German and Italian scholars) for founding Egyptology. Much of the Giza Plateau was actually buried before Europeans excavated the site. No one would have ever seen King Tut’s tomb if not for the British. Yes, many artifacts were taken out of Egypt for public display. Things like Tut’s golden sarcophagus have never left Egypt.
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u/Far_Astronaut_818 1d ago
Also side note, pyramid-shaped stoneworks/megalithic sites aren't a uniquely Egyptian cultural product, archaeological evidence of many different pyramidal monuments have been found on every continent spanning thousands of years. China has pyramids, different cultures across Africa built pyramids in isolation of Egyptian influence, pre-Columbian indigenous cultures built pyramids in the Americas etc etc.
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u/-6h0st- 1d ago edited 1d ago
Precisely this. Egypt nowadays has had nothing to do with ancient Egypt - it’s Arabic now for once - culturally very different- they adopted the ancient history very recently (in the last few decades). Previously they would not care for ancient artefacts one bit and many were destroyed by them. Started to care only when the Europeans showed interest.
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u/bimbammla 1d ago
Thats every culture, the British were just uniquely good at it combined with its relative recency.
Though France kept it going longer, they werent nearly as successful in the final days of colonialism, the British kinda quit while they were on top, colonies were no longer profitable, alongside a wave of anti colonial sentiment in Europe, US and Soviet Union, and most importantly; colonial nations developing their own national identity, meaning colonial rule was numbered.
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u/kinokomushroom 1d ago
I mean, it's a triangle
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u/droppedketchuppacket 1d ago
This is not a triangle. It's a pyramid. Specifically, it's a square pyramid. Hence why it's called a pyramid. A triangle is a two dimensional shape.
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u/IsolatedFrequency101 1d ago
Why are the pyramids in Egypt? Because they wont fit in the British museum.
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u/Casitano 1d ago
Pyramides are not that culturally specific. Big stone surviving pyramides are also found across south America, egypt, Malaysia. But burial mound like pyramides are even more common. Napoleon made pyramides across Europe for instance. If you wanna make a monument, the simplest way to go about it is just a big stack, so that's what people have done throughput history.
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u/robottosan 1d ago
Pyramids are just a step above giant mounds which also are many. I have never understood the fascination.
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u/ActiveFrosty3663 1d ago
Because prince Albert was a huge fan of human engineering he admired cultures like the Egyptians and Romans for their strength of mind and creativity and the pyramid represents one of the first man made structures that will stand the test of time she wanted her Albert to be remembered forever (sorry for the lack of punctuation im a thumb down and using talk to text)
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u/RollinThundaga 1d ago
Victoria and Albert famously got busy. There's a (possibly apocryphal) anecdote somewhere about how, for medical reasons Albert's doctor said to lay off the man, and Queen Victoria allegedly asked what else they would even do to pass the time.
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u/Rabid_Mexican 1d ago
A pyramid is literally one of the best shapes you can build upwards that will last for the longest amount of time and survive basically any natural event.
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u/SuitableBlackberry75 1d ago
Nobody owns the concept of pyramids.
Although if we do follow that logic, and Greeks own the rights to the Platonic solids and Euclidean geometry, they're due some serious royalties..
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u/True_Realist9375 1d ago
Yes they are very much into Ancient Egypt, look up YT CS on youtube, she has a great knowledge of them.
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u/HammerBgError404 1d ago
They couldn't take them from Egypt so they build their own /s
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u/qqYn7PIE57zkf6kn 1d ago
it's called Prince Albert’s Cairn
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u/DanielleAntenucci 1d ago
I think you are trying to trick me into googling something that i dont want to see
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u/Crucifister 1d ago
Oh, right. And when I erect my Prince Albert I get called a pervert.
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u/guythatlovesbikes 1d ago
It's near Balmoral castle.. so it's not "in the middle of a Scottish forest".
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u/SassySirennn 1d ago
That doesn’t compute for me? Balmoral is in Scotland, it is surrounded by forests woodland, the pyramid also seems to be tucked deep within it. I know you’re nitpicking, but I can’t see where the nit is in your statement
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u/MyOldNameSucked 1d ago
The pyramid is on a hilltop surrounded by trees for a fair distance. It's not trees as far the eye can see, but I would call it a forest.
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u/Nabs-2 1d ago
...where do you think Balmoral is... its inside the Cairngorms National Park area, the UKs largest national park which has multiple forested areas including the walk up to the cairn. Theres a whole section of ancient Caledonian Pine forest aswell, but I guess that doesnt count because its right next to Aviemore
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u/SchmeatiestOne 1d ago
To be fair, there's not much forest there to be in the middle of. Pretty much all of the accessible land has been altered by people
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u/Simon0O7 1d ago
Accessible yes, but what about the unaccessible land?
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u/areethew 1d ago
It’s basically all accessible, the whole island used to be forest but it was all cut and turned to moors thousands of years ago
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u/Lilja-Logason 1d ago
Can it be visited? It looks incredible!
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u/WellThatsJustPerfect 1d ago
Yes absolutely. There are also other smaller pyramids nearby she built for each if her children.
They are all on a walking path that leaves from the Lochnagar distillery.
Most fun is that when the royals are not at Balmoral you can go into the grounds and walk about by yourself. I smoked a joint on the front lawn!
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u/Own-Lecture251 1d ago
Yes, I was there a few years ago. There's a small car park and I think it was about a 30 or 40 minute walk.
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u/SassySirennn 1d ago
I think so. I say that purely based on what looks like tourist images on google maps.
But I don’t think it is as big as it looks in the image. This one seems to be 5 feet smaller than the one in Norfolk and I visited that one and that doesn’t seem massive.
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u/homer_glumplich85 1d ago
There’s no way Queen Victoria built that
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u/wowsomuchempty 1d ago
Sexist.
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u/thefuckevengoingonan 1d ago
tbf she was 3 foot tall and built like a beach ball
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u/OneCrustyEarbud 1d ago
What in the illuminati tarnation
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u/Dark_Foggy_Evenings 1d ago
It’s got more to do with the Victorian obsession with popular Egyptian pseudoscience than it has with the Illuminati, Bavarian or otherwise.
They were fucking mental for it, including but not limited to-and I shit you not- hosting parties where they unwrapped imported Egyptian mummies (in which there was a ‘healthy’ trade), ground bits up and ingested them in various ways, including snorting and tea.
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u/Duel_Option 1d ago
Wait…really?
Shit I don’t need to Google at 5am but I’m gonna cause this is actually interesting
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u/Dark_Foggy_Evenings 1d ago
Fuck yeah. Search stuff like ‘Victorian mummy parties’ & the infamous ‘mummia’
Also ‘Charles Piazzi Smyth’ etc. It blows away all that utter nonsense about the pyramids being exactly mathematically scaled down representations of earth’s dimensions and ‘alignments’ with astronomical bodies etc.→ More replies (1)3
u/Wonderful-Fix5761 1d ago
Here’s a great funny podcast about it. https://www.citationpod.com/victorian-mummy-mania-and-sundry-weirdness/ The Victorian elites were a wacky bunch. All that pent up proper behavior on the surface sure seemed to bubble up in weird ways.
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u/Imesseduponmyname 1d ago
Call me a pervert, but I can't see "erected" and "Prince Albert" in the same sentence and not laugh
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u/Nachooolo 1d ago
You just know there's some looney that says that the pyramid is waaay older than the Victorian Era. And that it is evidence of Ancient Egyptians reaching Great Britain.
I've seen similar stuff being said about the Guimar's "pyramids". Even if we know that they were built in the 19th Century by field labourers.
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u/BamberGasgroin 1d ago
I'd guess they've tied it in with the old myth about the Egyptian Princess Scota, 'founder' of Scotland.
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u/AlarmingAffect0 1d ago
Do they have Prince Albert in a can?
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u/Gedwyn19 1d ago
telephone rings
"hello?"
"Hi. do you have Prince Albert in a can?"
"Why yes, we do."
"Well let him out then!!!"
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u/imlostintransition 1d ago
It seems Prince Albert is not in a can but in a cairn. I don't think we should be letting him out of that.
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u/BornanAlien 1d ago
My buddy had a prince albert. Insisted on showing anyone/everyone
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u/kraftdinnerwithsalsa 1d ago
The city I live in is called Prince Albert and we were recently recorded for having the highest meth count in our waste water in the whole country 🙃
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u/GibsonG45 1d ago
Albert is the guy with the piercing right? Isn’t that enough of a legacy?
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u/djdaedalus42 1d ago
Chances are the forest wasn’t there when the pyramid was built. There was a big reforestation push in the 20th century to create a home grown supply of wood. Originally the pyramid would have been visible for miles.
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u/ElectronicRegular218 1d ago
"Chances are" based upon what? This is easily verifiable information, as the Cairn is in the ancient Ballochbuie forest, part of the Balmoral Estate
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u/Ok-Masterpiece-7096 1d ago
Excuse me sir! Do you have Prince Albert in a pyramid? You do?? Well, ya better let the poor guy out!
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u/Mach5Driver 1d ago
Nine kids and she mourned him the rest of her life. Now I find out about this. What a fantastic sex life they must have had!
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u/throwmeawaysoon-ish 1d ago
You know if there's one thing i learned from reading some of Victoria's diaries it's that she absolutely loved going to pound town with Albert and was a freak in the sheets. I'm not surprised she erected a giant effigy to his sexual prowess.
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u/just_jason89 1d ago
I hope one day to find a woman who loves me as much as Queen Victoria loved Albert!
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u/el__duffo__o__muerte 1d ago
We could build pyramids to honor Prince Albert? And here I am with a dick piercing. Someone shoulda told me.
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u/ConcentrateDirect523 1d ago
Is that the guy who had an allegedly large member that got in the way while riding horseback, and installed a ring piercing with which to chain it to a more comfortable position?
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u/chakrablockerssuck 1d ago
Reminds me of when I was a kid in the 60s and we would prank call mom and pop stores asking, “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” And when they would say yes, we would say, “well let him out!”
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u/guyonanuglycouch 1d ago
Clearly built by aliens using giant diggerydoos because there is no technology know to man past present or future that can stack rocks in a pyramid shape.
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u/Nmase88 1d ago
Must have taken her ages to do that on her own