The Coronation of the King and Queen of Prussia took place in the chapel of the Schloss at Königsberg, the first coronation in Prussia for 160 years. The Times newspaper described the occasion, noting how canopies had been placed on two columns facing the altar above the platforms on which the King and Queen stood. After the ceremony of the crowning they received homage. The Crown Prince approached his mother and the Crown Princess, Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter who had married the Crown Prince in 1858, knelt before the King – the moment depicted in this painting. The British Ambassador reported to Queen Victoria ‘the exquisite grace and the intense emotion with which Her Royal Highness gave effect to her feelings on the occasion’. The Crown Princess wrote to her mother describing the ceremony: ‘the Chapel is in itself lovely – with a gt deal of gold about it and all hung with red velvet and gold – the carpet, altar, thrones and canopies the same – the Knights of the black eagle with red velvet cloaks – the Queen’s 4 young ladies all alike in white & gold’. The artist experienced the usual difficulties of getting sittings for the portraits of those present at the Coronation and getting access to the royal robes and regalia, but before the ceremony he had made a finished drawing of the Chapel from a ‘nice little platform which had been erected for him’ according to his wife, who accompanied him to Germany. 2.5cm at the bottom edge is unpainted and inscribed with numbers, as if for a key to some of the figures. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1863.