The royal couple with guests at the Grand Handel Festival, Crystal Palace

Glass plate negative of an overhead view of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-61) attending the Grand Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. The royal couple is seated in the royal box with an entourage including the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, later Maximilian I of Mexico (1832-1867) and Prince Frederick of Prussia, later Frederick III of Germany (1831-1888). Some of the royal children are also visible. The group is looking at the Grand Orchestra performing George Frideric Handel's oratorio 'Judas Maccabaeus'. 

Queen Victoria states in her journal for the 17 June 1857 that 'At 12 we set out with our guests, our 4 eldest children, & our numerous suite, for the Crystal Palace, to be present at the performance of Handel's Oratorio of "Judas Maccabeus". We sat in a tribune upstairs.'

The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints from this negative do not seem to exist in the Collection, however a variant is represented by RCIN 2917850.