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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Photographic Technologies

Learn more about the photographic techniques available in the mid-19th century

    AFTER WILLIAM CONSTABLE (1783-1861)

    Prince Albert (1819-61)

    1891 after an original of 1842

    Carbon print | RCIN 2931356.b

    This photograph is a carbon print copy of an 1842 daguerreotype of Prince Albert. The original daguerreotype remains in the Royal Collection and is the earliest surviving photographic portraits taken of a member of the British royal family.

    Prince Albert and Queen Victoria understood the propensity for early photographs to fade and therefore re-photographed many favoured works, including this daguerreotype.

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