Royal Pictures
Sir: To commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday, a set of stamps was issued in Australia depicting Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Prince George and Prince William. So we have the male heir apparent, the reigning Queen and two male heirs, four generations of the British Royal family together.
In the historic schoolroom of the Redland Museum in Cleveland, Queensland, Australia, hangs a framed photo, taken in 1894, of four generations of the same British Royal family. What is especially interesting is that the configuration (the female reigning Queen and her three male heirs) is exactly the same as the current portrait. Queen Victoria is seated, holding her great grandson, the infant Prince David, who in 1936 reigned briefly as King Edward VIII. On the left stands the baby’s father, Prince George, who reigned as King George V from 1910 to 1936. On the right stands his father, Prince Edward, King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910.
There is a big contrast between the style of the two photos. The 2016 group is, like the 1894 one, dressed formally, but the pose is by no means as rigid. The one of Queen Victoria and her heirs is sufficiently imposing to inspire both reverence and fear in the children in the classroom! This may have been no bad thing. —
SANDRA DAVIS, WELLINGTON POINT, AUSTRALIA.