A Painting Fit for a Queen

North East Lincolnshire Council’s impressive art collection is enjoying national and international recognition as one of its key paintings goes on display at Kensington Palace. The painting is called

The departure of Princess Victoria, Beaumaris, Anglesey, by Joseph Butler. It depicts a young Victoria on her first visit to Wales in 1832. The painting is part of the Doughty Collection, bequeathed to the people of Grimsby by Wilfred Vere Doughty in 1941.

The artwork is loaned to Kensington Palace for their new exhibition Victoria: A Royal Childhood.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Victoria’s birth, this new exhibition explores how an indulged young princess blossomed into the independent and iconic monarch we remember. The displays are set within in the very rooms where she was born and raised at Kensington Palace.

During her Royal Progress, Victoria stayed in Wales for over a month and regularly sailed the pioneering steam-powered yacht ‘The Menai’.  Victoria’s personal diaries, also on display in the exhibition, recall the trip in great detail.

‘Mr and Mrs Ashton Smith came to see Mamma to propose to us to go on board their beautiful steam vessel… the machinery is quite wonderful’.

Victoria’s journal, August 1832.

Louise Bowen, Collections Officer for North East Lincolnshire Council’s Museum Service said

“We are delighted to loan this beautiful piece to Kensington Palace. Our art collection is very special and we are excited to share this painting with visitors to Kensington Palace.”

Victoria: A Royal Childhood, is open now at Kensington Palace. For more information on the exhibition visit www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace.

For more information on the museum collection visit www.artuk.org or  www.fishingheritage.com  Alternatively you can contact Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre on 01472 323345.