Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein

A hand-coloured carte-de-visite portrait of Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein (1867-1900), the eldest son of Princess Helena and therefore one of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren.

Prince Christian was born at Windsor Castle. His father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and his mother was Princess Helena, the fifth child and third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His parents resided at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

Known as ‘Christle’ within the family, he was educated at Wellington, then Magdalen College, Oxford and finally the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 1888 he jointed the 60th King's Royal Rifles in 1888, later serving in the 4th King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought under Lord Kitchener in 1898 when the British troops defeated the Dervishes at Omdurman near Khartoum and recovered the Sudan. He also participated in the Ashanti Expedition to Ghana. In 1900 he served in the Boer War under Lord Roberts.

In October 1900 he came down with malaria while serving in Pretoria and died of enteric fever on 29 October, aged 33.

Photographed by Hills and Saunders of Eton, Harrow and Oxford.

The hand-colouring is of especially fine quality. Unusually, the artist – a Miss Bond of Southsea – is identified by a printed, paper label pasted to the reverse of the mount.