This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Portraiture

Prince Albert was an early adopter of portrait photography

AFTER SIR WILLIAM ROSS (1794-1860)

Four daguerreotype portraits of Queen Victoria; Prince Albert; Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Albert Edward, Prince of Wales

1840-45

Daguerreotype | 3.9 x 7.5 x 11.7 cm (whole object) | RCIN 52507

Wooden box with a metal inlay. In the centre of the lid is an oval gilt hinged second lid, engraved with a crown, which opens to reveal a daguerreotype after a miniatute of Prince Albert by Sir William Ross. Inside the lid of the box itself is a design showing the Rosenau at Coburg, with the initials 'E', 'VA', and 'AE' (Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; Albert Edward, Prince of Wales). In the main part of the box is a hinged shelf with a circular aperture in which is set a daguerreotype after a painting of Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: the shelf lifts up, and an oval daguerreotype after a miniature of Queen Victoria by Sir William Ross is set into the back. In the floor of the box is set a daguerreotype after a painting of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, by F.X. Winterhalter.
  • Creator(s)

    After Sir William Ross (1794-1860) (artist)

    After Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) (artist)

    Subject(s)

    Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901)
    Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1784-1844)
    Prince Albert, Prince Consort (1819-61)
    King Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1841-1910)
  • 3.9 x 7.5 x 11.7 cm (whole object)

  • First recorded in the Royal Collection during the reign of Queen Victoria