Queen Victoria’s 1854 Green Court Dress

This famous photograph of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert from May 1854 is often described as showing the couple in their wedding costumes from fourteen years earlier. However, the history of this photograph and the dress itself have been well documented not only by a colourised version of the image from the same time period but throughout other temporary sources, which all show that she was in fact wearing court dress.

In her journal dated 11^th May 1854, Queen Victoria notes that she and Albert had taken their luncheon early so they could dress in preparation for a Drawing Room, which was to take place at St James’s Palace that afternoon. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the concept, a Drawing Room was a formal societal event, to which young ladies, usually aged around 17/18, would ‘come out’ in society by being presented to the Queen, signifying that they were now open to potential suitors. According to the Queen, the presentation on 11^th May involved ‘many presentations but otherwise [was] not very full … On coming back [to Buckingham Palace I] was photographed by in my Court Dress, by Mr [Roger] Fenton, alone, & with Albert’. As the Queen had hoped, the photographs had been successful and two versions of the photograph of Victoria and Albert were produced, one of which was later hand coloured to show an accurate representation of their costumes.

That same year a second depiction of the Drawing Room was created by artist, Jeremiah Barrett. To the left of his painting, an unidentified lady can be seen bowing down to the monarch, who wears a stunning dress of white and green. According to the Lady’s Newspaper and Pictorial Times dated 20^th May 1854, Queen Victoria’s dress was made up of two parts, a ‘petticoat … of white satin’ and the main dress, which included the bodice and train. As we can see in the colourised photograph by Fenton and Barrett’s painting, the dress was made out of a stunning ‘green and white brocaded silk,’ which, in correspondence with the petticoat, had been trimmed with tulle and blonde lace. Adding to the elegance of the outfit, bunches of pink and white May blossom, along with violets (Queen Victoria’s favourite flower) were added as decoration to her bodice and skirt, with a matching floral wreath also decorating her head, with a feather coming out at the back, an essential accessory for any lady attending a Drawing Room. In addition to this, Victoria also wore a diamond necklace, bracelets and rings, along with her Lesser George and sash of the Order of the Garter.

When comparing Fenton’s photograph to Barrett’s painting, we can notice some slight differences, such as the structure of the fabric and the layout of the flowers on the petticoat. However, this is mostly down to artistic licence as Barrett has also depicted Victoria as wearing a crown, most likely her Regal Circlet, which isn’t featured in the photograph. Nonetheless both of these depictions help provide us with a clearer understanding of the sort of colours and styles that Victoria would have worn in the years prior to Albert’s death in 1861.

 

© Queen.Victoria.Roses 2026

This article is the intellectual property of Queen.Victoria.Roses and should not be COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances unless permission is given by the author