Queen Victoria was distraught at Prince Albert’s death of typhoid fever, at the age of 42 in December 1861. While she continued to have an interest in the arts, much of her subsequent patronage was devoted to perpetuating her husband’s memory, both publicly and privately. She focused her energies on the design and decoration of the mausoleum in which Albert was interred, and the erection of statues and monuments to the prince, including in Edinburgh where this exhibition is on display.

During her widowhood, the queen surrounded herself with objects and mementos of her marriage, including the royal couple’s watercolour albums – though with her husband’s death their compilation ended, in Victoria’s emphatic words, ʻfor everʼ.