Royal Pets: An Embroidered Portrait of King Edward VII as a Child, 1860

Embroidered Picture
Britain, 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Based on a work by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, this embroidered portrait of the young Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) dates to 1860 and is the work of an unknown British lady.

The entire piece has been embroidered in wool tent-stitch and Berlin Woolwork on canvas. The young Prince is dressed in traditional Scottish attire. It was around this time that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert began to realize that their eldest son was no intellectual, and that he much preferred just about anything else to education.

Also seen here is one of Prince Albert’s dogs, who, by all accounts, the Queen probably preferred to the company of her adult son.