A watercolour and ink drawing showing Queen Victoria's two eldest sons dressed as characters from August von Kotzebue's Der Hahnenschlag. They are shown full-length, standing and facing each other. Prince Alfred is shown to the left, holding a walking stick and looking up at his older brother. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales is shown with his arms outstretched in front of him.
Inscribed lower left: Alfred as Peter.
Inscribed lower right: Bertie as Fritz. Jan : 6 -
Inscribed above pasted in sheet: In the play of the Hahnenschlag.

In January 1852 the six eldest royal children appeared in a performance of August von Kotzebue's 1803 comedy, Der Hahnenschlag (The Cockshy). Queen Victoria wrote of the performance: ‘The stage was very prettily arranged & the dresses very nice. There was not a hitch of any kind & I thought the children acted very well’ (Journal, 12 January, 1852). The original programme is preserved in the Royal Archives. Such plays, which typically included musical interludes, were a regular feature of royal family life, involving dedicated rehearsal with the children’s tutors to achieve the appropriate level of professionalism.

The story is set in a small German village on a special festival day.The characters are all dressed in traditional Bavarian Tracht costume, the girls in full skirts trimmed with ribbon and the boys in Lederhosen and Hosenträger (braces). Queen Victoria took a particular interest in ethnography and national costumes – when travelling she regularly sketched peasants in traditional dress, and she also insisted on Highland costumes for her staff at Balmoral.

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