A watercolour showing the interior of a bedroom upholstered in blue at Windsor Castle looking towards the window; two beds are on the left with cross shaped wreathes of flowers on them, a fireplace on the right, and painted ceiling above.

The Blue Room at Windsor Castle, where Prince Albert spent his final days, was carefully preserved after his death. It was not kept, the Queen insisted, as ‘a Sterbe-Zimmer [death room] – but as a living beautiful monument’. She commissioned Ludwig Gruner to decorate the ceiling and she had a memorial bust of the Prince, carved by William Theed, placed between the beds.

Signed, lower right: W. Corden -

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010