Baby shoes

These shoes are believed to have been worn by Princess Beatrice (1857-1944), the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, when she was about 18 months old. They are identified with an inscription, handwritten in ink on the leather underneath of one of the shoes, which says 'HRH Princess Beatrice'.

They are a typical example of children's shoes of the time and are made of a soft and delicate silk satin. They were not designed for wearing indoors and were secured with ribbons looped through the tiny holes on the straps at the back of the shoe, and tied around the ankle. Portraits of Queen Victoria and her children, such as 'The Royal Family in 1846' by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) in the Royal Collection, show similar shoes being worn, suggesting they were intended to be part of smart or formal outfits.