Interiors

After Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria instructed that his private rooms at Windsor, Balmoral and Osborne should remain as he had left them. In keeping with her desire that these rooms should exist as a living monument, objects such as clothes, hot water and clean towels were placed in his dressing room daily. The Blue Room at Windsor Castle, or ‘Albert Room’ as it was also known, was carefully preserved. The Queen commissioned Ludwig Grüner to decorate the ceiling and she had a memorial bust of the Prince, carved by William Theed, placed between the beds. In the following decades, this room was frequently the subject of watercolours and photographs that remain in the Royal Collection. Queen Victoria also commissioned photographers, particularly Hills & Saunders and William Bambridge, to photograph other rooms occupied by Prince Albert in his lifetime. The selected works below illustrate this tradition of recording interiors for posterity, including documenting artworks that were displayed in Prince Albert's private rooms.