On 26 March 1840 Queen Victoria wrote in her diary: ‘At ¼ to 6 we dined, before going to Covent Garden, to see “Romeo & Juliet”, which I had never seen before. It is a beautiful Play & C. Kemble acted the part of Mercutio extremely well.’ Later that year Albert made an etching of the duel between Romeo and Tybalt, which was painted over, probably by Sir George Hayter, the court painter.