Miss Mariann

Photograph of a full length portrait of Miss Marianne Skerrett (1793-1887), standing, facing left. She turns her heads slightly towards the camera. Photograph taken at Osborne.  

Skerrett Head Dresser and Wardrobe-Woman to Queen Victoria (1819-1901).  On 4th August 1887, on receiving the news that Miss Skerrett had died Queen Victoria wrote in her Journal: She came to me at my accession, & was most useful at the head of my Wardrobe, ordering everything, looking over my bills, &c, & arranging with the different artists. She was quite a superior person, very clever, read enormously, had an intense passion for animals, & was a great friend of Landseer's, & of many of the artists. She was very stressed, & plain spoken, most devoted & attached to me & mine. She used to come & see me at Windsor & in London. She was 94, & in full possession of her faculties. It is sad that she too is gone!

Miss Skerrett was quoted by Hon. Eleanor Stanely that she [The Queen] could be bought, and sold for a Photograph! (E Stanley. Twenty Years at Court, 1916, p.377).