For this week’s Sketchbook Saturday let’s take a look at this intimate sketch by Queen Victoria, which shows her fifth child, Princess Helena, in April 1857. Over the previous few days Queen Victoria had been ‘plagued with a bad throat & hoariness’ (1). While her cough was ‘still very troublesome’ and she felt ‘very weary & wretched’ (2) Victoria was finally well enough to attend the morning church service on 12th April. That same day, Victoria also writes in her journal that she saw her gynaecologist Dr Locock (she was near the end of her final pregnancy at the time) before drawing Princess Helena in the afternoon. While I can’t be certain, it’s likely that this is the sketch that she is referring to as she gave birth to Princess Beatrice just two days later.
Citation:
(1) RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 5 April 1857 (PRINCESS BEATRICE’S COPIES) retrieved 21 August 2025. Royal Collection Trust / © King Charles III
(2) RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 12 April 1857 (PRINCESS BEATRICE’S COPIES) retrieved 16 August 2025. Royal Collection Trust / © King Charles III
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