Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (1850-1942), was the seventh of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s nine children. In 1879 he married Princess Louise of Prussia in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. In the painting the bride is approaching the altar, escorted by her father, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, and Crown Prince Frederick William. The bridegroom awaits her, accompanied by his two older brothers and Queen Victoria. Hall made slow progress with the painting and was unable to finish it by the end of June 1881, as he had promised. A contemporary noted: ‘This is too bad of him HM says she is much displeased’. When the Queen saw the painting a year later her criticisms were ‘that the Duke of Connaught’s figure should be brought out more & those of the two other Princes subdued as well as the heads of the clergy behind the Duke’. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882. Signed and dated: Sydney P Hall / 1881.