Russia: Royalty and the Romanovs


Sumptuous exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery looking at the relationship between the English and Russian royal families.

The show started with Peter the Great’s visit to London in 1698, the first Russian ruler to visit Britain and ranged through to portraits of the Queen and Queen Mother commissioned from a Russian artists in late 1940s. I found the narrative of the show a bit muddled with lots of names of British and Russian minor royals I’d not heard of before. It livened up as it hit the Victorian era and looked at Victoria’s marital ambitions for her family.

I liked the fact that the show included objects and documents as well as paintings and of course it’s always fun to see the Queen’s Faberge. Some of the large malachite and ceramic vases did make me wonder what the English reaction was to the Russian’s arriving for a visit with these vast gifts of bling!

The slight elephant in the room was why, given the close links shown in the show, our royal family didn’t help out the Romanovs during and after the revolution.

I chose this picture for this entry as the Russian dress worn by Princess Charlotte in this picture was also in the show! It was magical to be able to see both at once.

Closes on 28 April 2019

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