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Prince Leopold Photograph Album

Prince Leopold (1853-1884), the youngest son of Queen Victoria, officially opened University College in Nottingham on 30 June 1881. By curious coincidence in 1981 a very large and very heavy album of late nineteenth-century photographs (MS 317) was donated to the University of Nottingham by Col. Abel Smith a direct descendant of Leopold.

This album contains 208 fine photographs of places in France, Italy and Switzerland. Leopold, a haemophiliac who was often ill and died young, had a complex relationship with the Queen who resisted his attempts to travel abroad. Others, including John Ruskin who taught him at Oxford and Ruskin’s friend Rawdon Brown who hosted Leopold in Venice, encouraged him. He eventually managed several Continental tours in 1876, 1878 and near the end of his life in 1884. The album almost certainly relates to the 1876 tour which was reported in the contemporary press. These reports confirm that the places he visited in 1876 are those in the album, presented in the same order.

Identifying the source of some of the scenes is easy, as they are very well-known (e.g. the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Grand Canal in Venice). Others are more difficult. Many of the images with catalogue numbers appear to have been purchased from well-established photographers such as Sommer, Naya and Noack who specialised in tourist souvenirs. Leopold was sharing in a common tourist practice of the period. Other views, such as the magnificent image of Venice reproduced here, appear to be unique: at least it has not been possible to trace this to a commercial photographer so far. Perhaps these were taken especially for him or even by him


There is no doubt that this rare survival of a royal album not in the Royal Collection provides a unique glimpse of travel in the late Victorian period by a member of the elite.