Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal
(1840-1901)
3 July 1861

Volume 4, page 160, sitting number 4709.

The eldest child of Queen Victoria was already married to Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia at the time that this portrait was made. Her husband, known as 'Fritz' within the family, was Queen Victoria's favourite son-in-law. When he finally succeeded to the throne as Emperor Friedrich III in 1888, he was already dying of the throat cancer that would kill him a few months later.

Although she felt excluded and homesick at the Prussian court, Vicky and her husband were devoted to one another. Her extensive correspondence with her mother, first published in the 1920s, gives fascinating insights into the private life of both royal families.