"More of a funeral...." - the wedding of Princess Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse, 1862

The wedding of Princess Alice and Prince Louis, by George Housman Thomas, 1862-63.

On July 1, 1862, at Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, Princess Alice married Prince Louis, the future Grand Duke of Hesse. They had been engaged for over a year, but in the interim, Princess Alice's father, Prince Albert, had died. After six months the court was still in deepest mourning but, though Queen Victoria was still nearly mad with grief, she ordered that the wedding should go on as planned. In consideration of the circumstances, the wedding was a quiet, private affair; the dining room at Osborne House was converted into a temporary chapel.

The day was dreary, with winds blowing in off the Channel. Alice wore a dress and veil of Honiton lace trimmed in orange blossom but, both before and after the ceremony, she was compelled to wear her black mourning clothes. The Queen, surrounded by her sons, struggled to keep back her tears; her second son, Alfred, sobbed throughout the service. Even the self-absorbed Queen, writing later to her eldest daughter, had to admit that it all was "more of a funeral than a wedding".

Princess Alice in her wedding dress, by George Koberwein (1820-76), 1862; the face is copied from a painting by Winterhalter.
This painting is presently in the Dining Room at Osborne House.

Preparatory sketch of Prince Louis, by Thomas, 1862.

Preparatory sketch of the dining room at Osborne House, by Thomas, 1862.

The Duchess of Kent (mother of Queen Victoria), a copy by William Corden the Elder after Winterhalter's portrait of 1849. The original was put up over
the door in the dining room at Osborne House, but Queen Victoria decided it was too fine a painting for the location and had a copy made to replace it.
The copy - pictured in Thomas' painting - remains in situ at Osborne.

The celebrated family group of 1846, by Winterhalter, which also hung in Osborne House's dining room, and can be seen in the wedding picture.
A copy is now at Osborne, while the original is at Buckingham Palace.

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George Housman Thomas (17 December 1824, London – 21 July 1868, Boulogne-sur-Mer), English engraver, illustrator, and painter.  He painted several works under the patronage of Queen Victoria.

George Koberwein (1820-76), Viennese painter.  He did several portraits for Queen Victoria and her family, some of them copies or adaptations from Winterhalter.

William Corden the Elder (21 January 1795 – 18 June 1867), English portrait painter and miniaturist who painted numerous works for the Royal Family, almost all of them copies.