European Armour in the Royal Collection
An introduction to European armour in the Royal Collection.
Bertie
dated dec 27 1846RCIN 980024.bm
This playful pen and ink drawing by Queen Victoria (1819–1901) shows her eldest son, Albert Edward (the future King Edward VII), dressed as a knight. He is wearing a plumed helmet and breastplate and is carrying a sword. The prince was just five years old when this sketch was made, but it anticipates his lifelong interest in arms and armour. As an adult, he acquired numerous pieces during his tour of India in 1875–6, and in 1901 he was presented with the sixteenth-century armour of Sir Christopher Hatton (RCIN 72835), one of the most important Greenwich armours in the Collection. The following year the king appointed Guy Laking as Keeper of the King's Armoury, and in this role Laking published the first catalogue of the Collection, The Armoury of Windsor Castle (1904).