In August 1855 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent ten days in Paris at the invitation of Napoléon III and the Empress Eugénie. The state visit was meant to celebrate the military alliance between Britain and France during the Crimean War, and followed a visit by the imperial couple to Windsor in April of that same year. On 25 August there was a ball at the Château de Versailles, the first to be held there since the French Revolution. There were twelve hundred guests, and Queen Victoria described the Galerie des Glaces as "full of people & one blaze of light from endless lustres, wreaths of flowers hanging down from the ceiling."
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| The Overture to the Ball in the Galerie des Glaces, Versailles, 25 August 1855. |
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| Standing at right is Princess Mathilde, cousin of the Emperor, with Prince Albert. Behind them is Princess Mathilde's brother, Prince Napoléon, "Plon-Plon"; both men wear the red sash of the Légion d'honneur. At far right is Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII. |
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| Queen Victoria stands with the Emperor - both wearing the blue riband of the Order of the Garter; he had been invested during the Imperial couple's visit to Great Britain four months previously - along with her daughter Victoria, Princess Royal. The Empress is seated behind them. After a previous miscarriage, the Empress was newly pregnant with what would be her first and only child, and special allowance was made for her - literally - delicate condition. |
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| The Promenade in the Galerie des Glaces, Versailles, 25 August, 1855. |
The second watercolor shows the procession through the Galerie, which continued into the State Apartments and through the north wing to the Opéra royal, where supper was served.
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| Queen Victoria and the Emperor are followed by the Empress and Prince Albert, then by other members of both families. |
The two watercolors by Victor Joseph Chavet (1822-1906) were a gift from the French Emperor and Empress to their British counterparts, Christmas, 1855.
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