A watercolour depicting the Queen, on the arm of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, entering St Georges Hall from the Grand reception room after investing him with the Order of the Garter. The Duchess of Kent follows with the Duc de Montpensier, Prince Albert and others.

When George IV died in June 1830, Wyatville's great project to modernise Windsor was only half complete. The new Private Apartments were ready and in occupation but work on the State Apartments, including St George's Hall, remained unfinished. In creating this enormous new space, Wyatville had demolished the finest part of Charles II's work at the castle, the old St George's Hall and Private Chapel. These two rooms, which lay end-to-end along the north side of the Quadrangle, had in their turn replaced the massive timber-roofed hall and chapel constructed by Edward III in the 1360s and 70s. The loss of these two spectacular Baroque interiors, painted by Verrio and adorned with some of Grinling Gibbons's finest carvings, has frequently been regretted and Wyatville himself was not in favour of throwing the two areas together, fearing that the overall length of the new room would not be in proportion to the height. However, the poor condition of the roof structure in particular convinced George IV that rebuilding was necessary; and he was in any case attracted by the idea of a new and enlarged hall to act as the secular centre of the Order of the Garter.

Wyatville's new hall, decorated in the baronial fashion with the shields of Garter Knights, stained glass and armour, became the regular setting for state banquets, as shown in Nash's view which was made during the State Visit of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, in October 1844. On such occasions, at both the east and the west ends of the hall temporary giltwood structures in the Gothic style were erected on which some of George IV's magnificent collection of gold plate was displayed. This was intended to complement the cavalcade of gold on the dining table, much of which is still in use today on similar occasions.

St George's Hall was very badly damaged in the 1992 fire. During the restoration, Wyatville's roof of oak-grained plaster was replaced by a more steeply pitched construction of green oak, designed by Giles Downes, and at the same time a modern Gothic oak screen was installed at the east end.

Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002

In October 1844, Louis-Philippe, King of the French, stayed at Windsor as the guest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, a reciprocal visit following the British royal couple's sojurn at the Château d'Eu (Louis-Philippe's residence in Normandy) the previous year (see, for example, RCIN 919998). This was the first time a reigning French King had visited England since the fourteenth century. A number of events took place during Louis-Philippe's stay, including a State Banquet (RCIN 919790) and the King's investiture as a member of the Order of the Garter (RCIN 919793). Victoria and Albert also went on a number of excursions with their guest (RCIN 920031), who lived in England for some years during his exile from France at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Having already made a number of watercolour sketches for Victoria and Albert of the visit of the Emperor of Russia earlier in the year, Nash was again commissioned to record events from the visit of Louis-Philippe. Scenes of the State Banquet, the royal party departing from Windsor for an excursion and Victoria and the Queen presenting her young daughter, the Princess Royal, to the French King (RCIN 919792), are in the Royal Collection along with this watercolour. Three of the four works, including this one, were mounted by Victoria and Albert in View Album II. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert compiled nine View Albums during their marriage. These albums contained watercolours and drawings documenting their life together and were arranged in chronological order. The albums were dismantled in the early twentieth century and rebound in new volumes both in a different arrangement and with additional items, but a written record of their original contents and arrangement still exists.

A version of this watercolour was reproduced as a lithograph by Nash in his publication Views of the Interior and Exterior of Windsor Castle (1848), which he dedicated to the Queen. The introduction states: "On the various occasions when the Continental Sovereigns were entertained by Her Majesty at Windsor Castle, Mr Nash had the honour of receiving Her Majesty's commands to make Drawings of the scenes illustrative of the state and ceremony which distinguish the Royal hospitality". As well as such narrative scenes, Nash's publication also included illustrations of rooms and spaces within the Castle (see, for example, RCIN 919781). A complete set of 26 watercolours, which are probably the final works on which the lithographs in the publication were based, is in the collection of Anglesey Abbey (National Trust).