Painting of the Day: A Portrait of Victoria, The Princess Royal, at her Christening, 1841

The Princess Royal at her Christening
Charles Robert Lesie, 1841
The Victoria & Albert Museum
A similar portrait of Queen Victoria in the same
christening gown resides in the Royal Collection.

The first child of young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was baptized Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, the Princess Royal on February 10, 1841 at Buckingham Palace. In attendance was painter Charles Robert Leslie who had previously painted the Queen.
Leslie made several sketches of the event, taking special care to represent the Royal personages who stood around the radiant child. The painter took great pains with his sketches of the infant whom he described as, “then three months old, and a finer child of that age I never saw.”

This small portrait of the Princess Royal was the result of those sketches and one of Queen Victoria’s most prized possessions. The Princess Royal would later become German Empress and remained a confidant to her mother until her death.