Queen Victoria, by Hughes & Mullins, 1897. An albumen cabinet card, it measures 5 3/8 in. x 3 7/8 in. (137 mm x 99 mm) image size, and was given to the gallery in 1981. It is in their Photographs Collection, NPG Ax13953. The words inscribed below the photograph are: "Her Majesty the Queen, in dress worn during the state Jubilee Procession, June 22, 1897. Hughes & Mullins, Ryde, I. W., Photographers by Appointment to H.M. the Queen."
There are many photographs of the Queen: the National Portrait Gallery alone has 581 in its collections. This one is special because of its association with the celebration described at length in her journals, which includes her own description of what she wore that morning to the service at St Paul's on 22 June 1897:
In the morning I wore a dress of black silk, trimmed with panels of grey satin veiled with black net & steel embroideries, & some black lace, my lovely diamond chain, given me by my younger children round my neck. My bonnet was trimmed with creamy white flowers & white aigrette & some black lace.
It would have been a great honour for Gustav Mullins to be summoned to photograph her for the occasion. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Related Material
Image downloaded under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Deed, by kind permission of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Bibliography
"Queen Victoria." National Portrait Gallery London. Web. 30 January 2026.
Queen Victoria's Journals - Princess Beatrice's Copies (Tuesday 22nd June 1897). Access provided by UK National Access Account. Web. 29 January 2026. https://www.proquest.com/qvj/
Created 30 January 2026