This Life-Size Sculpture of Prince Albert’s Right Hand Was Made in December 1861, Just After the Prince’s Death

This life-size sculpture of Prince Albert’s right hand was made from a cast taken on the December 14, 1861 just after the Prince’s death.

After Prince Albert’s sudden death in 1861, Queen Victoria was plunged into lifelong mourning—but few know just how deeply her grief ran. High on the list of her secret burial instructions was one unusual request: to be buried with a plaster cast of Albert’s hand.

Made shortly after his death, the cast became her most treasured possession. She slept with it beside her every night for 40 years. But that wasn’t all. In the years following Albert’s death, Victoria kept his rooms in full use—his clothes laid out daily, his shaving water prepared each morning, as if he were still alive. Her devotion was so profound that it reshaped mourning customs across the Western world. Even in death, Victoria wanted to keep Albert’s presence near her, forever.

Portrait of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, 1854.

The specific life-size sculpted right hand in white marble, belonging to Prince Albert, with his wedding ring on the small finger was sculpted by William Theed in 1861.

William Theed had been previously commissioned by the Royal couple to sculpt not only realistic busts of Victoria, Albert and the Royal court but he was also commissioned to sculpt a cast of Princess Alice’s hand in 1857. Alongside Theed, both Abraham Kent and Mary Thornycroft also produced sculptures of the Royal Children's limbs, perhaps in a bid to capture their infancy permanently.