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.

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Portraiture

Prince Albert was an early adopter of portrait photography

    BRITISH SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY

    Princess Beatrice (1857-1944)

    c. 1857

    Watercolour over photograph on card | 3.7 cm (Diameter) (support, diameter) | RCIN 420315

    Princess Beatrice is depicted as an infant, swathed in a pink shawl, in this hand-coloured photograph. The original by Leonida Caldesi shows the Princess in the arms of her nurse, Mrs Hughes, on 26 June 1857 (RCIN 2900104).

    • Creator(s)

      British School, 19th century (artist)

      After Leonida Caldesi (1823-91) (photographer)

      H J Hatfield & Sons (framemaker)

      Subject(s)

      Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg (1857-1944)

    • 3.7 cm (Diameter) (support, diameter)

      4.8 cm (frame diameter)

      3.5 cm (sight diameter)

    • Princess Beatrice (1857-1944), later Princess Henry of Battenburg

    • First recorded in the Royal Collection during the reign of King Edward VII

    • Subject(s)
      • People
        • Children
      • Natural Sciences & Mathematics
        • Biological sciences
          • Zoology
            • Animals
              • Mammals
                • Humans
                  • Babies (human)
      Object type(s)
        • visual works
          • miniatures (paintings)
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