Marquis Gallery

Royal Wedding 1871 - wedding cake

A magnificent royal wedding cake for the wedding of Princess Louise to the Marquis of Lorne in 1871, made by Queen Victoria's chief confectioner at Windsor Castle. It was 5 ft 4 inches high with a diameter of 2ft 6 inches. The base was decorated with white satin, bearing coats of arms, the initials L.L. entwined with blue, wreaths of orange blossom, and small vases containing small flowers. Within an alcove above the base was fountain with doves drinking and around the miniature temple were four statues representing Agriculture, Fine Arts, Commerce, and Science. The upper part was crowned by a figure of a vestal virgin. All the figures and ornaments were, staggeringly, made of sugar. Date: 1871

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mar

New York State - Fort Ticonderoga

New York State - Fort Ticonderoga. The fort (formerly Fort Carillon) is a large 18th-century fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York. Constructed by Michel Chartier de Lotbiniere, Marquis de Lotbiniere in the mid 18th century during the Seven Years' War. Became strategically important during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France, and also during the American Revolutionary War. Date: circa 1905

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough with her two sons

Portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877 - 1964), American heiress and first wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. She married the duke in 1895 after being coerced into the marriage by her mother. After her divorce in 1920, she devoted much of her time to social welfare and was married again, to Colonel Jacques Balsan. Pictured here with her two sons, the Marquis of Blandford and Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill, The little boy in the right of the picture became the 10th Duke of Marlborough. Date: 1903

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans