This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Photographs 1842-61

Albums compiled by Prince Albert, reflecting his beliefs surrounding photography

    DR ERNST BECKER (1826-88)

    The Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred with their companions

    Jun 1854

    Albumen print | 9.6 x 12.4 cm (image) | RCIN 2800675

    Photograph showing Prince Albert Edward and Prince Alfred of Wales sitting on a bench (with wheels on one of the short sides and handles on the other) with eight male friends. One of the friends, Lord Arthur Clinton, sits on the bench between them. The others stand next to and behind the bench. Prince Alfred and at least one of the other children are wearing kilts. Children from respectable families were sometimes invited to the royal residences as companions for the young Princes and Princesses. On 22 June 1854, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, wrote in his diary that 'in the afternoon the 2 Farquarsons, the 2 Dawsons, Charlie Phipps, St Maur, Arthur Clinton came to play with us.'
    • Creator(s)

      Dr Ernst Becker (1826-88) (photographer)

      Subject(s)

      Arthur Clinton (1840-70)
      King Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1841-1910)
      Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (1844-1900)
      Captain Charles Edmund Phipps (b. 1844)
      Vesey John Dawson
      Frederick St Maur
      Maitland Dawson
      Stanley Dawson
      John Atholl Farquharson (1837-88)
      Henry Farquharson (1842-81)
      Charlie Phipps
    • 9.6 x 12.4 cm (image)

    • From an album collected and arranged by Prince Albert

    • Subject(s)
      • Places
        • Europe
          • Great Britain
            • England
              • Greater London [England]
                • London [Greater London]
                  • City of Westminster [London]
                    • Buckingham Palace
                      • Buckingham Palace Gardens
      • People
        • Children
        • Boys
      Object type(s)
        • visual works
          • photographs