The secret collection of Queen Victoria's personal etchings which caused a privacy scandal over Royal baby pictures
They were the deeply personal etchings which caused a legal scandal, requiring Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to legally block pictures of their baby daughter and home life going on show without their permission.
Now, a secret volume of those very images, presented to Prince Albert’s loyal private secretary in thanks for his evidence in court, is to be put on display for the first time, after being given back to the Royal family as a wedding present.
A rare volume of 74 etchings, personally annotated by Victoria and given to George Anson, is to be displayed at Harewood House, and includes images by Victoria and Albert of their children, pets and one another.
It was given to former occupants of the house, the 6th Earl of Harewood and Princess Mary, upon their wedding day, with a note from Anson’s family asking them to keep it secret from the public and omit it from the official list of wedding presents.
The pictures, those innocent by today’s standards, caused uproar in 1849. Then, despite being intended for Victoria and Albert’s personal records, they were seized by Jasper Judge, a journalist, who got hold of copies of the etchings via a printmaker in Windsor and approached publisher William Strange to plan an exhibition and catalogue.
Learning of the approach, the Royals immediately sought legal advice, and launched a law suit attempting to ban the display and protect their family's privacy.
An affidavit by Anson, which helped them win their case, states “distinctly the belief of the Plaintiff, that the catalogue and the descriptive and other remarks therein contained, could not have been compiled or made, except by means of the possession of the several impressions of the said etchings surreptitiously and improperly obtained”.
Barrister Sir J Knight Bruce, prosecuting, noted that the printer’s actions had been “an intrusion not alone in breach of conventional rules, but offensive to that inbred sense of propriety natural to every man – if, intrusion indeed fitly describes a sordid spying into the privacy of domestic life – into the home (a word hitherto sacred among us)”.
Victoria and Albert won their case, which is said to remain a defining judgement in the development of the law of copyright.
Professor Ann Sumner, historic collections advisor at Harewood House, told the Telegraph the Royal couple went on to present Anson and his wife, Hon Georgina Mary Anson, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, with a bound volume of the etching, annotated by the Queen herself. “After all the controversy it showed their faith in the couple, to be discreet and loyal,” she said.
Anson, however, died just eight months later at the age of 37. The book then passed to his daughter Mary, god-daughter of Victoria and Albert, and remained in her possession until her death in 1889.
Her widower, Rev Digby Ram, chose to offer it as a gift to Princess Mary, King George V’s daughter, on the day of her wedding to the 6th Earl of Harewood in February 1922.
In an accompanying letter still kept at Harewood House, Rev Ram wrote: “It is in perfect order and shape well worthy of the Princess Mary’s acceptance and I feel certain my wife would wish that it should be so disposed of if Her Royal Highness would graciously accept it?”
Of the 1,777 gifts received for the wedding, the etchings are omitted from the official register on the request of Rev Ram but instead quietly travelled with the Princess Royal and her new husband to Harewood House in 1930.
It has remained in the library ever since, and will now go on display for the first time as part of an exhibition exploring the Victorian era. Similar etchings are held by the British Museum and the Royal Collection, with this version one of a tiny handful of personalised copies left in Britain.
Professor Sumner said: “This volume is incredibly rare. “It is a beautiful and personal collection of etchings by the royal couple known for their love of their children, who are so charmingly depicted here, along with their beloved pets.
“This story reflects their commitment to protecting their privacy. It illustrates a delightful insight not only into the private lives of Victoria and Albert and their family, but also demonstrates their genuine artistic talent and unique collaboration.”
The exhibition runs until October 29.
