Photograph showing a full length portrait of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-61), photographed at Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria stands in right side profile and wears court dress. Prince Albert stands in left side profile, holding a feathered hat in his left hand and wears a uniform. There is a pedestal between them, with flowers upon it.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are wearing court dress, having just attended a Drawing Room, a formal ceremony at St James’s Palace in which people were presented to the Queen. This image, one of a set of at least six, is the first photograph of the Queen as a reigning monarch rather than as wife or mother.

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010