The marriage of the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark took place in St George's Chapel, Windsor. The artist has depicted the moment when the Prince is about to place the ring on the Princess' finger. The two little boys dressed in tartan are Prince Leopold and Prince Arthur, Queen Victoria's youngest sons. At the top right of the painting the Queen herself looks down on the ceremony. In discussions with Frith before the event it had been stipulated that the Queen should be 'unmistakeably visible' in the painting. The artist attended the ceremony and sketched the scene, but also worked from official photographs of the occasion and of the key people in the painting, as well as sittings. Frith described working from photographs as 'that most unsatisfactory process'. He also had some difficulty borrowing the dresses, uniforms and jewels to copy. Some participants were very helpful and co-operative, while others were extremely evasive, not answering the artist's requests for photographs or sittings and even claiming that dresses they had worn had been cut up and were unavailable. The Queen had some concerns about the painting initially but in 1864 Lady Augusta Stanley (nee Bruce), her Lady of the Bedchamber, wrote to Frith: 'The Queen thinks the picture very much improved & recognised every body almost'. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865.