The Royal Collection holds 33 photograph albums recording Queen Mary’s family life, travels and official visits, assembled and captioned by her between 1880 and 1952. Such albums frequently incorporate personal, press and official photographs alongside twentieth century postcards and consequently provide a richly layered social history.

The page shown on the right includes a signed portrait of King George V and Queen Mary taken in Bombay (now Mumbai) and postcards of the Elephanta Caves, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is from an album which documents in detail the events of the 1911 Delhi Durbar. Queen Mary also continued the tradition of commissioning photography to record all types of works of art in the Royal Collection.