Afterlives: Queen Victoria, photography and mourning

Abstract

After Prince Albert’s death in 1861, Queen Victoria began an extended period of mourning which remains indelibly linked to perceptions of her identity and her visual representation. For eleven years after 1861, Queen Victoria privately worked with her ministers to conduct affairs of state, while withdrawing from public life. This essay will explore how Queen Victoria used photography privately and publicly during this lengthy period of personal and political crisis. Amid rapid technological change in the creation, production and dissemination of photography, Queen Victoria was able to navigate complex societal and political boundaries and fortify her matriarchal image.