Travels with a Camera: The Prince of Wales, Photography and the Mobile Court

The relationship between the British royal family and photography is a long and sometimes difficult one. It began shortly after the discovery of the medium in the late 1830s and continues to evolve today alongside rapidly changing technology and new methods for disseminating and storing photographic images. The importance of the photographic portrait was recognized at an early stage in this relationship, but attempts to control the messages within the images have not been an unalloyed success, leading to a mistrust of the medium that became all too apparent in the twentieth century.