'Inspection by The Queen & Prince of the Sick and wounded men of the 3 Regiments of Guards lately returned from the Crimea, in the Gardens of Buckingham Palace'

Photograph of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert meeting wounded Crimean War veterans in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. The Queen and members of the Royal family are standing in a small group to the right with a number of the veterans. The other soldiers, around fifty in total, are seated on benches in a semi circle around the Royal party. There is a large tree to the right and Buckingham Palace can be seen behind. 

Throughout the war Queen Victoria had taken an active interest in the welfare of the troops and on their return to Britain she met a number of the wounded veterans at Buckingham Palace and at the military hospital at Chatham. The Queen wrote about the event in her Journal. In the morning, Prince Albert had visited Woolwich, then in the afternoon, 'we saw, in the garden, 100 wounded & sick Guardsmen. Upon the whole, they looked well, & were remarkably fine men. Amongst the Grenadiers there were, I think, 2 who had lost their legs, & one or 2 cases of bad frostbites.' (QVJ, 9 July 1855, Royal Archives).

The photograph is titled, dated and attributed to 'Mr Williams' in manuscript ink on the page, below the photograph. Another copy of this photograph can be found in an album of portraits of Crimean soldiers (RCIN 2500175).