This "Japanese Scene" shows the Queen's third son, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, with his family (wife Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, and eldest child Arthur, with daughters Margaret and Patricia sitting) in one of seven tableaux vivants performed for the Queen at Osborne on 8 January 1891. Carbon print, 16 x 22.8 cm (whole object), RCIN 2810107 © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026 | Royal Collection Trust, by kind permission.
The Prince and his wife had visited Japan in the previous year, and it seems to have made a great impression on him — Japanese art and culture, generally, was certainly a fashionable interest at this time. In particular, perhaps it was no coincidence that Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado had premiered in London in 1885, and that Pierre Loti's extremely popular novella, Madame Chrysanthème, which can be seen as the indirect inspiration for Puccini's Madame Butterfly, was published in book form in 1888, and translated into English in 1889. "In our home, everything looks like a Japanese picture," says the narrator (qtd. in Lavery 142).
Here, every aspect of the culture sems to have been remembered, from kimonos to the Duchess's parasol, flower arrangement (in the hearth) to chrysanthemums in ceramic pots, tea ceremony and musical instruments (the koto). The Queen herself had noted at the end of December how much preparation was needed for these displays: they must have made a splendid show. Although it was not one of her favourites in the day's programme, she was very taken with the children's costumes, writing in her journal, "The Children were quite charming in their Japanese dresses; Patsy, with an enormous bow on her back & a fan, was too delightful" (in the tableau, however, it is her brother who holds the fan).
The tableaux would not have been photographed at the time of the perfomance. That would have been intrusive. The Royal Collection site explains that "Hughes & Mullins" came on the following day. Since Hughes had now passed away, this would have been Gustav Mullins. The Queen herself looked in on the proceedings, mentioning in her journal on 9 January, "On my way out, looked in for a moment at photographs being taken of the Tableaux."
Related Material
Bibliography
Queen Victoria's Journals - Princess Beatrice's Copies (Wednesday 30th December 1890, and Thursday 8th and Friday 9th January 1891). Access provided by UK National Access Account. Web. 29 January 2026. https://www.proquest.com/qvj/
A Japanese Scene. Royal Collection. Web. 30 January 2026. https://www.rct.uk/collection/exhibitions/japan-courts-and-culture/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace/japanese-scene
Lavery, Grace. Quaint, Exquisite: Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2019. [Review.]
Created 30 January 2026