Antique Image of the Day: A Group of Grooms with Webster, the Pony, 1848

Group of Grooms with Webster, the Pony,
The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace
Daguerreotype, 1848
The Royal Collection

Given Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s keen interest in photography, it’s not surprising that they commissioned daguerreotypes of everyday life at the Royal residences. Victoria and Albert enjoyed watching the photographic process and usually attended the sittings.


In 1848, Queen Victoria visited the Royal mews at Buckingham Palace when a now unknown photographer took five images of the grooms and animals therein. Of the five, only two survive. This is one of them. We can see that Her Majesty employed an army of grooms to care of the Royal horses, and, of course, Webster, the Royal Pony, who is seen here in his only known photograph.