The Prince Consort's Dressing Room, Windsor Castle

This photograph shows the Prince Consort's Dressing Room in Windsor Castle. There is a black marble fireplace with a set of fire irons; and overmantel mirror and mantel with four candlesticks, vases and a clock. To left of the fireplace is a large wardrobe by Morel and Seddon. To the right is a portrait of Queen Victoria by Francis Winterhalter. Winterhalter was a particularly favoured artist of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 till his death in 1873.

The painting shows Victoria depicted dressed in her wedding wreath of orange blossom flowers and her wedding veil, with the small collar of the Garter. She also wears the brooch Albert gave her on their wedding day and the ear-rings and necklace made from the Turkish diamonds given to her by the Sultan Mahmúd II in 1838. She noted in her Journal that the painting was ‘a surprise for my beloved Albert, for 10th of Feb’. Photographic copies of this much loved painting often appear in Prince Albert's photography albums.