Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India. As a girl, Victoria lived with her mother the Duchess of Kent, in Kensington Palace and was often to be seen walking in Kensington Gardens. It was observed how her remarkably transparent complexion, with 'a tinge of the sweet blush rose upon her cheeks' lent 'a perculiar brilliancy to her clear blue eyes. Whenever she met any strangers in her usual paths she always seemed by the quickness of her glance to enquire who and why they were'. In 1823, at the age of four, she was not inevitably destined to be Queen and was frequently pitied as a fatherless child. Such sympathy may be expressed in this painting, doubtless painted from memory as a result of a chance encounter.
