"Say Cheese!" Part 5

Hello there, ich habe returned (see, my German's even worse than my French) along with some photos of the very last years of the Victorian Era. So, without further ado, let's jet off to the 1890s and this photo.



Well here we have George V's children (some of them) in about 1897 with their Great-Grandmother. From left to right: Bertie (future George VI), David (future Edward VIII), Mary (the Princess Royal) and Queen Victoria. I quite like this photo (I know I say that a lot, but it's true) especially as it's sort of an "action shot". Oh yes, and does anyone else think that the queen's wearing glasses? I know that her eyesight was very bad by this point and there are a few photos hanging around where she's wearing them, but it's a bit hard to tell in this one. I know it looks like Bertie's wearing a skirt and that's simply because he is. Boys wore skirts in those days for reasons best kept to themselves and I knew this fact at the very young age of six. I know this because I recently found an old school exercise book of mine with the title: "The Victorians" and all I had written, in very large letters, was: "THE BOYS WORE DRESSES!!" so there we are. Now, on with the show and the next photo.



Now here we are, a little more grown up and you'll be glad to know that Bertie's come out of the cross-dressing stage and into the Sailor Suit Era. From left to right: Bertie, Mary, David, Henry, the Queen. This was taken in 1900 (according to a book I can't remember the name of and assorted date calculations.) An interesting thing about this photo, which I read in another book I can't remember the name of, was that there's someone else in this picture, but we can't see them. Apparently, Queen Victoria was so frail (she was getting on a bit after all) that she daren't hold her great grandson in case she dropped him, so a lady in waiting (I can't remember which one) hid behind her chair and held her elbow so she didn't drop Henry. That's probably why he looks somewhat confused. I know that Bertie looks bigger than David, but they're definitely labeled right, as David's wearing long trousers, which Bertie wouldn't be old enough to (another odd Victorian boy-dressing thing.) Now, I think I should put a warning about the next two photos: MORBID WARNING, ACHTUNG, MORBIDITY, which is surprisingly a word. Let's go to 1901 now.








Now it's pretty safe to say that this is the last ever photograph taken of Queen Victoria. She died on 22nd January 1901 surrounded by her children and grandchildren (as the famous bulletin reads.) It's quite sad, but in a way it's rather nice, as she'd wished for her death in the early 1860s so she could be with Albert and now she is. Note the two pictures of Albert: the one on the wall behind the bed is of him on his deathbed and I don't recognise the other one, but it could be by Winterhalter. She was dressed in her wedding veil and surrounded by momentos, not to mention flowers.

The new king, Edward VII only outlived her by nine years and died on the 6th May 1910. There's a deathbed picture of him too and it's only really from this angle that you can see how much he and his mother looked like each other (in the nose especially) which is why I have these pictures on my computer.





And so our little voyage through the photographic history of Queen Victoria comes to an end. There will be one more post with extra photos that I've found recently, but couldn't put in before now from assorted eras and also some of dresses I found on Getty Images. So until then, have a nice day and I hope you've learnt something from this little lot - I've become quite attached to them, so much so, in fact, that occasionally I forget they're dead...that can be awkward.

: )