Head and shoulders facing to the front in a black coat with a horseshoe pin in his cravat.

The only son of Napoleon III and the Empress Eug?nie, in 1873 the prince succeeded his father as head of the Imperial House of France. He came to England in 1870, entered Woolwich and was sent out as a junior staff officer in the Zulu War, where he was killed on a reconnaissance party. He had been described by Sir Henry Ponsonby in 1876 as 'a lively, good natured young fellow ? but painfully wanting in appearance.'

Painted for Queen Victoria, this is a copy by Robert M?ller of an original portrait by Von Angeli which had been painted for the Queen as a present to the Empress Eug?nie. M?ller was paid ?32 11s for the copy on 7 November 1879. Sir Henry Ponsonby wrote to his wife on 21 May 1877: 'Lady Ely tried to get the Pce Imperial to sit to Angeli ? for nothing ? as Angeli pines to paint him ? but the negociations through 'Uncle Sid' failed because the Prince is so utterly absorbed in French politics that he can think of nothing else.' The original was seen by the Queen when she visited the Empress on 23 June 1879. It was then brought up from Chislehurst on 12 October 1879 so that it could be copied at Balmoral for the Queen.