Portrait Photographs in the Royal Collection
The Royal Family have collected, created and commissioned many portrait photographs
The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII)
1869RCIN 2107142
During a visit to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1869, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1841-1910) commissioned the studio Abdullah Frères to photograph himself and his wife, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra (1844-1925). The resulting cartes-de-visite commemorates the young couple's time abroad. Abdullah Frères were three Armenian brothers who established a photographic studio in the Ottoman Empire.
Introduced to England in 1857, the carte-de-visite consists of a portrait photograph mounted on heavy card. Cartes-de-visite were given and sent to friends and family, and photographs of notable society figures were sold and traded among the general public. The popularity and craze for cartes-de-visite, known as 'carteomania' or 'cardomania' lasted until the mid-1870s when the medium was replaced by the similar but larger cabinet card.