Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh

This highly finished silhouette profile depicts Prince Alfred, the future Duke of Edinburgh, as a young man in a frock coat and peaked cap holding a staff.

The profile is cut out and set on a detailed sepia watercolour background, the costume details heightened in gilt. Dating to around 1859, it is housed in what appears to be the original narrow ebonised frame with an inner gilt slip and a small brass plaque engraved ‘Duke of Edinburgh’.

Born at Windsor Castle in 1844, Alfred was the fourth child and second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He joined the Royal Navy as a young man and was appointed Duke of Edinburgh in 1866. In 1874 he married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia but it was not a happy alliance.

The Royal Victoria Gallery was run by brothers Frederick and Henry Frith together with their father. Advertising as ‘PAPRYOTOMISTS to His Late as well as to her present Most Gracious Majesty’, they toured extensively and produced highly finished work. When the introduction of photography threatened their livelihood, the brothers embraced the new technology and opened a Photography Studio before emigrating to Australia.