2-716-319 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Emily Duchess of Beaufort in costume for Queen Victoria's Bal Costumé, May 12 1842, (1843). Emily Frances (née Smith), Duchess of Beaufort (1800-1889) in Elizabethan-inspired dress. Members of the Royal Household were expected to wear dress of the Plantagenet period (c1154-1485), although other guests could wear costumes of their own choosing. The costumes were designed under the supervision of James Robinson Planché and were specifically intended to give work to the declining Spitalfields silk industry. The ball of 1842, held at Buckingham Palace in London, was the first of three costume balls held by Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort. The second, on 6 June 1845, was in early Georgian dress, while the third, on 13 June 1851, was in the style of the Restoration. From "Souvenir of the Bal Costumé, given by H.M. Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, May 12, 1842 / drawings from the original dresses by Coke Smyth; letterpress by J.R. Planche", 1843. [Paul & Dominic Colnaghi & Co, London, 1843]