Queen Victoria Signed Photograph. by Queen Victoria - 1887

1887. Rare sepia tone photograph of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Signed by Queen Victoria in the bottom right corner, "Victoria, R.I., June 1887." Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 11 inches by 13.25 inches. Accompanied by an original handwritten letter by Major General Sir Henry Ponsonby on Privy Purse Letterhead, dated June 14th 1887, "Having laid before The Queen your letter of the 8th respective your grandmother, Mrs. Smith. I am commanded by Her Majesty to request that you will thank her for the kind congratulation and that you will give her the enclosed photograph of The Queen." Photographs signed by Queen Victoria are rare and with noted provenance. Queen Victoria's reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover. Her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.