| What A Performance! The Royals & The Movies |
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| Written by Joanne Leyland | |
| Tuesday, 14 November 2006 | |
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Page 2 of 5 
The very first (unofficial) 'Royal Film Performance' took place on 21st July 1896, on the eve of the wedding of Princess Maud (daughter of the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) to her cousin, Prince Carl. He would ultimately reign as King Hakkon VII of Norway.In what was still the very early days of film, an audience of forty royals gathered together inside Marlborough House on The Mall. Here the blue bloods marvelled at a movie showing the then Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) as they undertook a visit to the Cardiff Exhibition in Wales. The film performance was precipitated by Edward's desire to be the first to see the film, shot by pioneer cinematographer Birt Acres, before it was publicly exhibited. As would be the case with our own monarch today, it's likely the horse-mad Prince was far more interested in the cine-film showing footage from the Derby day races of 1895 and 1896, rather than the images from the Henley Regatta. 
Perhaps egged on by her family, in November 1897 Queen Victoria herself enjoyed — or perhaps more likely endured — her first introduction to the world of cinema when she was presented with a selection of films showing the celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee of 1896. |
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