Both Queen Victoria (r.1837–1901) and Prince Albert (1819–61) were passionate about art and interested in new technologies, making them early and enthusiastic supporters of the new medium of photography. From the early 1840s they both sat to be photographed on numerous occasions.

Carte-de-visite photographic portraits, like this one by John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1813–1901), became popular in the late 1850s as the small format and the relatively low cost made them ideal to be distributed and exchanged amongst friends as well as collected and arranged in albums. Cartes-de-visite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, originally commissioned for private circulation within the royal circle, became available to the public in 1860 and the demand was immediately overwhelming.