Photograph of Act 5, Scene 3 from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with Juliet, played by Princess Maud of Wales (1869-1938), appearing to be dead within the settings of a tomb. Romeo, played by Sir Fleetwood Edwards (1842-1910), kneels before Juliet with a dagger held aloft in his right hand. Friar Lawrence, played by Mr Müther, is reaching forward to stop Romeo from killing himself.

The final scene of Romeo and Juliet provides the point at which the eponymous lovers are finally united for eternity in death. The tableau depicts Romeo in the Capulet's family tomb about to kill himself in his grief for the apparently dead Juliet. In Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo does so by drinking poison. Juliet later awakens from her induced deathlike state to discover the dead Romeo. In her grief she kills herself with Romeo's dagger.

Tableaux vivants represent a playful pastime which became particularly popular during the Victorian era. Members of the royal family engaged in such activity, often from an early age, and they were sometimes joined by friends and members of the royal household. Sir Fleetwood Edwards was Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, eventually becoming Keeper of the Privy Purse in 1895. Moritz Müther (d. 1912) was Queen Victoria's German Secretary. The tableau was performed on the evening of 6 October 1888 at Balmoral Castle and Queen Victoria, in her Journal entry for that day, writes: 'then went to the Ball Room, for the performance of the last 7 Tableaux: […] Romeo, Maud as Juliet, Sir F. Edwards, Romeo, & Mr Muther, Friar Tuck. […] Romeo was very successful. Maud looked so pretty lying there, & Sir F. Edwards looked painfully real lying on the ground, supposed to be dead'.