
Travelling the kingdom
Victoria and Albert travelled widely throughout Britain and Ireland during their marriage, both for duty and pleasure. The couple incorporated many views of the places and sights they saw into their watercolour albums. Private visits were made to the country estates of the nobility, and they travelled to cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham to open new civic buildings and witness industrial progress first-hand. The Queen and Prince were interested in visiting different parts of the country, and it was important that the people had the opportunity to see them.
The royal family’s travels were widely reported in the press, and some newspapers employed artists to create illustrations to accompany the stories. Victoria and Albert read the news coverage and came to appreciate the work of some of these graphic artists, commissioning them to paint watercolours for their own albums.
Caleb Robert Stanley (1795-1868)
Brocket Hall
Richard Principal Leitch (1826-82)
Aston Hall, Birmingham
Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-77)
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visiting the Irish Industrial Exhibition, Dublin
Joseph Nash Jnr (d.1922)
The Town Hall, Leeds
Frank Dillon (1823-1909)
The Britannia tubular bridge over the Menai Straits
Paul Jacob Naftel (1817-91)
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert landing at St Pierre, Guernsey
Richard Principal Leitch (1826-82)
Gorey Castle, Jersey
Mary Herbert (1817-93)
Killarney Middle Lake from Copper Mine Bay
Thomas Miles Richardson Junior (1813-90)