CDV: portrait PRINCESS MARY of CAMBRIDGE by CAMILLE SILVY

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CDV: portrait PRINCESS MARY of CAMBRIDGE by CAMILLE SILVY:
$66.00

CDV: portrait PRINCESS MARY of CAMBRIDGE by CAMILLE SILVYCDV: portrait PRINCESS MARY of CAMBRIDGE by CAMILLE SILVY

A carte-de-visite portrait of Princess Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina (1833-1897), the daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of King George III.

Despite her influence among the Central European principalities, it still took Queen Victoria almost a decade to find a suitable match for her generously proportioned cousin, and she was nearly forced to concede to her Foreign Secretary, Lord Clarendon, that \'no German Prince will venture so vast an undertaking\'. In the end, at the age of thirty, Mary married the handsome but impecunious Prince of Teck, eldest son of Prince Alexander of Württemburg by a morganatic marriage.

Having finally entered the state of matrimony, the Princess lived well beyond her means, amassing huge debts in her newfound role as a hostess of London society. She was eventually forced to flee her creditors and in 1883, with her husband and four children, went to live in Florence, where she lived in a style almost as opulent as that which she had enjoyed in London.

She was known as the Princess of Cambridge until her marriage, after which she was known first as the Princess of Teck (1866-1871) and then as the Duchess of Teck (1871-1897). Enormously popular with the British public, she was also affectionately known as \'Fat Mary\'. One of her children became Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. Princess Mary, however, did not live to see her daughter crowned Queen. She died on 27 October 1897 at White Lodge, Richmond, and was buried in the royal vault at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Photographed on 8 October 1860 by the great French photographer, Camille Silvy, who operated a studio at 38, Porchester Terrace, London, between 1859 and 1868. Silvy was far and away the best carte-de-visite photographer working in England during the 1860s, and his clientele included many members of the British royal family, the Orléans family in exile, and a large proportion of the aristocracy of the British Isles. He also produced many extremely fine portraits of theatrical stars. Cecil Beaton later dubbed him ‘the Gainsborough of commercial photographers.’

Condition: please see scans. The print presents a couple of small, peripheral imperfections but is otherwise in excellent condition. The mount presents some yellowing in a number of places but is otherwise crisp and clean.

Dimensions: the dimensions of a standard carte-de-visite are approx. 4.1” by 2.5” (10.5 cm by 6.3 cm).

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Postage and packing: $3.00 (UK), $5.00 (Europe),
$6.00 (USA and the rest of the world).
Registered mail with insurance, $10.00 extra.
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Preferred method of payment is via PayPal. Only cheques drawn on banks in the UK are accepted. _gsrx_vers_526 (GS 6.6.6 (526))