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

EMPRESS FRIEDRICH, GERMAN EMPRESS AND QUEEN OF PRUSSIA (1840-1901)

'Victoria, Princess Royal, Princess Frederick William of Prussia and her infant son'

Mar 1859

Albumen print hand-coloured in watercolour | 3.9 x 3.9 cm (image) | RCIN 2914282

Hand-coloured photograph of Princess Victoria, Princess Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, later German Empress Frederick III (1840-1901) with her first son, Prince Wilhelm, later Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (1859-1941). The infant is wrapped in a red shawl. Princess Victoria wears a checked dress and red ribbons in hair. Photograph from a daguerreotype. Photograph coloured by Princess Victoria.

  • Creator(s)

    Empress Friedrich, German Empress and Queen of Prussia (1840-1901) (colourist)

    After Thomas Richard Williams (1825-71) (photographer)

    Subject(s)

    Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany & King of Prussia (1859-1941)
    Empress Friedrich, German Empress and Queen of Prussia (1840-1901)

  • 3.9 x 3.9 cm (image)

  • Given to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
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