Victorian images captured by photographer George Washington Wilson showcase an age of royal innocence, finds Sandra Dick

Captured in grainy sepia shades, Balmoral Castle gradually takes shape – pale grey granite crafted into Baronial turrets, clumps of quarried stones cluttered around its base.

As well as the construction of the royal residence, George Washington Wilson’s fascinating 19th-century images captured Queen Victoria and her family relaxing, and the “ordinary” people who lived and worked on her Balmoral estate.

The Aberdeen-based pioneering photographer was given remarkable access to the royal family, following them into their private quarters to record them enjoying the Highland air, hunting and shooting, and mingling with aristocratic guests.

While the royal family’s relationship with photographers today may be a little strained – and in the case of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, almost entirely severed – Wilson became a favourite of the 19th-century royals. And, perhaps no different to the modern fascination with the royal family, the Victorian public devoured his photographs, eagerly snapping up copies for their collections, trading them between each other and, in the case of one famous image in particular, gossiping, speculating and coming to a very wrong conclusion.

Soon a collection of Wilson’s photographs from Her Majesty the Queen’s Royal Collection will go on show at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, giving modern photography and royal fans a glimpse of a black-and-white world when royal relations with photographers were far from frosty.

At its heart is Wilson’s famous image picture of Queen Victoria and her loyal ghillie, John Brown, one that would be so misconstrued that it would spell the beginning of the end of a royal age of innocence.

Born in a croft near Banff, Wilson, the son of an army sergeant, would become one of the most celebrated photographers of his age, going on to accumulate wealth and fame as “Photographer to Her Majesty in Scotland”.

According to Royal Collection curator Paul Stonell, Wilson used extraordinary foresight, technical skill and understanding of how to keep both his clients and the public happy to forge a name for himself that would go down in photographic history.

And although he is perhaps best-known for his image of Queen Victoria and John Brown, his other photographs offer a unique peek into royal and Highland life in 19th-century Scotland.

“He started as a miniature portrait painter but, by 1852, the collodion process of taking photographs – using glass plates – was taking off,” he said.

“And he gets it. He has an eye on the future, he knows that art is well and good, but photography is what people are going to want.”

By 1854, Wilson received a commission unlike any other. “He has a partner, John Hay Junior, whose father runs a printing business in Aberdeen,” adds Stonell. “It’s a match made in heaven.

“They are given the commission by Prince Albert to photograph Balmoral – an amazing, massive job to record the progress of building this beautiful castle, and they also take photographs of the royal household, stags that have been shot by Albert when he was hunting, and ‘ordinary’ people living on the estate.”

The pictures so delighted Prince Albert and Queen Victoria that the following year they summoned Wilson back to their Highland residence to photograph the royal family, heralding a long-running relationship between royals and photographer. Among the most intriguing of Wilson’s images is one taken in 1855 during a visit to Balmoral of the 24-year-old Prince Frederick of Prussia, to seal his engagement to the then 14-year-old Princess Victoria, the Queen’s first-born child.

“Wilson trades on his royal links and calls himself 'Photographer to the Queen' – he has to be quite confident to do that,” adds Stonell. “It bolsters his profile, he is in demand, and the Aberdeen crème de la crème flock to him.”

His most famous portrait, however, is the one that shows a glum-faced Queen Victoria sitting on her pony, Fyvie, with John Brown, her ghillie, at her side.

The aim was to capture the second anniversary of Queen Victoria’s trek in the Highlands with Prince Albert in 1861, soon before his death. However, the image was cropped to make it more appropriate for postcard size – and a third character, John Grant, her head forester, was cropped from the photograph.

“It was completely misconstrued when it was released for retail,” adds Stonell. “The rumour mill goes into overdrive because there’s no third person, just this intimate picture of John Brown and Queen Victoria.

“The publishers that cropped it did it were responding to ‘cartomania’ among the British public. People collected postcards in their thousands, many were pictures of celebrities and members of the royal family, and they swapped the photographs among them – a bit like social media today.

“People haven’t changed. They still want pictures of famous people and of the royal family.”

Around 13,000 copies of the photograph were sold, prompting Queen Victoria to later step in to take more control of photographs of the royal family.

Wilson remained a royal photographer but eventually found himself in tough competition from rising stars of the art. Having amassed great wealth from his royal links, he instead turned his attention to the new craze for stereoscopic images – 3D-style photographs which took the country by storm.

According to Stonell, Wilson’s images provide a unique view of Queen Victoria and her family which is at odds with the stern, dour image of a grieving widow.

“Wilson took another picture of Queen Victoria bouncing her granddaughter on her lap, which is very cheerful. But it is one of the last informal photographs," he says. “He was an innovator, he knew what people wanted and he became extremely wealthy as a result.”

The exhibition will be held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse at a date to be confirmed.