Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of Great Britain (b.Kensington Palace, 24 May 1819; d.Osborne House, 22 January 1901)

married 10 February 1840, Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, to

Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria (b.Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, 26 August 1819; d.Windsor Castle, 14 December 1861)

This summer we celebrate the bicentenaries of the births of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (respectively 24 May and 26 August).  Victoria’s reign, and particularly the years of the couple’s married life, inspired an explosion of popular musical / lithographic souvenirs.  If primitive musically (for the most part) they have a certain documentary interest as illustration and deserve further study.  We show here an early example of chromolithography, published in time for Christmas 1840; the lithographer is John Brandard (1812-1869).  The composers include John Barnett, Henry Bishop, F. W. N. Crouch and E. J. Loder.