This is a copy, probably by William Corden, of Winterhalter’s portrait of Princess Alice (RCIN 400807) painted in 1859. Princess Alice (1843-78) is wearing the dress in which she appeared at her first Drawing-Room (a formal reception where ladies were presented at court) on 7 May 1859. She was the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Known for her sweet nature, she often took on the role of peacekeeper in the royal household. The marriage of her older sister, Princess Victoria, in 1858 left Alice as the eldest daughter at home, and the Queen and Prince Albert both turned to her for company. In a popular edition of Alice's letters to the Queen, published in 1885, Princess Helena, her sister, described her as ‘loving Daughter and Sister, the devoted Wife and Mother, and a perfect, true Woman’. In 1862 she married Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.