Photograph taken outside at Buckingham Palace, showing, from left to right: Prince Leopold, Princess Louise, Prince Alfred wearing Naval uniform, Princess Alice and Princess Helena.

This photograph was taken the day after Prince Alfred returned home from training for a career in the Royal Navy. He had just passed 'a brilliant examination' and was now a midshipman. Colonel de Ros, at that time Equerry to the Prince Consort, was a keen photographer. Over 40 of his prints, showing the royal children and the Court circle, are preserved in albums of the late 1850s and early 1860s.