A watercolour showing Queen Victoria seated at a table with (from left to right) the Prince de Joinville, Princess Clementine, Madame Adelaide, the Duchess d'Orleans, the Duke de Montpensier to her left, and the Queen of the French, Duke de Aumale, Queen Louise of the Belgians and the Princess de Joinville to her right. Prince Albert is seated on a sofa to the left with Louis-Philippe, King of the French. Signed and dated at bottom left: Eugene Lami / 1843.

In September 1843 Queen Victoria travelled abroad for the first time, visiting Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at the Château d’Eu in Normandy. This was a visit of great historical significance, being the first time a British sovereign had visited France since the meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I in 1520 (known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold).

This watercolour shows one of the evenings the royal party spent at the château; on 3 and 4 September Queen Victoria recorded in her journal that after dinner they all sat and looked at albums. When Louis-Philippe made a reciprocal visit to Windsor the following year he brought with him a sumptuous album of watercolours as a gift for Victoria, of which this was one. Painted by leading French artists, the watercolours illustrated events that took place during the visit and the rooms Victoria and Albert occupied at Eu.