Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. dress trousers.

1882		G.A. Sala in Living London (1883) Nov. 509: A select coterie of young dandies attired in ‘Prince Albert trousers.’ What on earth are Prince Albert trousers?
1896		P.L. Dunbar ‘The Party’ Lyrics of Lowly Life 200: Men all dressed up in Prince Alberts, swallertails ud tek yo’ bref!

2. (also Prince Alfreds) strips of cloth, usu. calico, and rubbed with suet to cut down chafing, used as a substitute for socks, usu. by tramps.

1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 20 July 6/1: This led us to suppose that ‘Prince Alberts’ were preferred to socks in his time.
c.1890		‘Prince Albert’s Fashion’ at warrenfahey.com 🌐 Prince Albert’s ain’t in fashion now / The shearers all wear socks.
1893		K. Mackay Out Back 191: They ‘mouched’ along, their trousers strapped up below the knee, showing glimpses of brown, unwashed skin above the frayed edges of their ‘Prince Alberts’.
1893		H. Lawson ‘Stragglers’ in Roderick (1972) 93: A pair of trousers, and a pair or two of socks — or foot-rags (Prince Alfreds, they call them).
1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 31: Then he removed his unmatched boots, and, unlapping from his feet the inexpensive substitute for socks known as ‘prince-alberts’, he artistically spread the redolent swaths across his boots to receive the needed benefit of the night air.
1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Sept. 52/1: Wal, I watches, an’ by-’n’-bye he [i.e. a mosquito] darts for my boot. There was a crack in the uppers, an’ he sticks his trunk through an’ bores into me prince alberts till he ’ad half his head buried.
1920		Western Mail (Perth) 30 Dec. 4/3: I got the old woman to get me two yards of strong single-width calico, and out of that calico I cut three pairs of Prince Alberts, and I have been wearing those Prince Alberts for the last four months.
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 108: A large boot padded with cloth – the Prince Alberts of the derelicts.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 57: prince alberts: Foot or toe rags, worn by swagmen and itinerants of the ‘water’ type. [...] prince alfreds: ‘Foot rags’. A variant of the above.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 240/2: toe-rags (prince alberts) – rags which tramps tie around their toes for socks.
1964		J.A. Lee Shiner Slattery 123: He [...] had wound a stocking around each foot to make the feet fit the boots. ‘Prince Alberts’, he called the wrappings.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 20: Without warning he removed his boots and the narrow strips of rag wrapped round his feet. ‘By cripes! They’re a bit on the nose,’ said my mate [...] ‘What’s the Prince Albert’s for? have you got corns?’.

3. rough, lace-up boots.

[1840		Port Phillip Patriot (Vic.) 17 Sept. 1/4: [advert] Boots! Boots! Boots! [...] / M. Cashmore / Has just received 1,000 pair of / PRINCE ALBERT, WELLINGTON, CLARENCE AND BLUCHER BOOTS].
1926		Truth (Sydney) 15 Aug. 23/2: He landed in Bourke-st. minus socks silver and plus a pair of ‘Prince Alberts,’ two flat tyres, an aching void under his belt.
1932		Narromine News (NSW) 22 July 6/3: When a man wants to fight a policeman you can wager your best pair of ‘Prince Albert’s’ that he is as sozzled as a wet hen.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.