A watercolour drawing of the lake at the Villeneuve l'Etang in the park at Saint-Cloud. With a boat on the lake and figures on the banks. Signed lower left: C.les Pensée.

In August 1855 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent ten days in Paris, on the invitation of Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie. The historic state visit was intended to celebrate the military alliance between Britain and France in the Crimean War, and followed a visit by the imperial couple to Windsor in April that year. The party stayed at the château of Saint-Cloud, to the west of Paris, which was later destroyed in the Franco-Prussian War. In the grounds of the château Napoelon III had renovated a small estate, the Villeneuve l'Etang. Queen Victoria described it in her journal as 'a little villa bought by the Emperor, with its surrounding ground, or Park, which he has tried to make as English, & as private as possible - longing to get away from the etiquette [sic], & restraint of the Court' (19 August 1855). The royal party visited the estate several times, including on Albert's birthday on 26 August.