
A rare collection of personal etchings by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert which were leaked to a reporter in 1844 causing a massive legal furore and leading to the first super injunction are to go up for auction for £50,000.

In one of the first cases of its kind, the furious monarch applied to the courts to stop publication of the drawings in 1844. Now, more than 150 years later, the public have the rare chance to see them as 80 go under the hammer.

Under the guidance of the Royal portrait painter Sir George Hayter, the Royals drew a wide range of subjects from medieval battles to their dogs and children. The Royal couple took up etching in 1840 and there are only a small number of their pieces available to view by the public.

But in 1844 royal reporter Jasper Tomsett Judge caused a scandal when he managed to acquire 60 unauthorised prints for £5 from an employee of a local printer.

Under the guidance of the Royal portrait painter Sir George Hayter, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert drew a wide range of subjects from medieval battles to their dogs and children (Pictured: A print from etchings signed by Queen Victoria from the extremely rare set)

A print from an etching signed by Prince Albert from an extremely rare set of 80 etchings made by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

A sketch of Prince Albert by Queen Victoria (left) and (right) Henry VIII drawn by Albert for the book of etchings by the royal couple

Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Royal Victoria, is seen as a baby crawling along with a ball of wool in another intimate drawing

Judge had hoped to sell the prints at an exhibition and produced a catalogue, but Queen Victoria was infuriated when news of the sale emerged.

A wave of lawsuits and injunctions were launched and the proposed exhibition and sale never took place. Very few etchings by either Royal exist outside of the private collections at Windsor and the British Museum as a result of the uproar.

But now auction house Dominic Winter has unearthed a collection of 80 etchings - one of only three known sets.

Her injunction was one of the earliest examples of high-profile figures turning to the courts to prevent reporting on their private lives – a facility now popular with philandering celebrities.

The presentation album, which Queen Victoria gave to close friend Sir Theodore Martin, will go under the hammer on May 11 in Cirencester with a guide price of £30,000 to £50,000. They remain in the possession of the Martin family.

Other etchings in the set include sketches of her children taking a bath, playing with their pets and being tended by their nurse.

One shows her eldest daughter, Victoria, the Princess Royal as a baby crawling along the floor clutching a toy. Each portrait is accompanied with a caption written by the Queen.

She wrote ‘Before going to Bed’ underneath a sketch of her three children enjoying bath time.

The pictures were never meant to be seen by the public - but in 1844 royal reporter Jasper Tomsett Judge caused a scandal when he managed to acquire 60 unauthorised prints for £5 from an employee of a local printer

Judge hoped to sell the prints at exhibition and produced a catalogue, but Queen Victoria was infuriated when news of the sale emerged

A wave of lawsuits and injunctions were launched after the leak and the proposed exhibition and sale of the sketches never took place

Very few etchings by either Royal exist outside of the private collections at Windsor and the British Museum as a result of the uproar

Auction house Dominic Winter has unearthed a collection of 80 etchings by the royal couple - it is one of only three known sets

The queen's her injunction was one of the earliest examples of high-profile figures turning to the courts to prevent reporting on their private lives – a facility now popular with philandering celebrities

Chris Albury, auctioneer at Dominic Winter, said: 'Being one of just three sets, it is incredibly rare and certainly the only one in the public domain to come up for sale.

'One can see the Queen grappling with her etchings. It shows the full progress from a novice into quite a fine artist.

'Over the course of a number of years, Victoria and Albert had become interested in etching. The album is a collection of 80 of the 87 which they created.

'It was given to Sir Theodore Martin, who was a close friend of the Queen. She gave him the job of writing a biography of Prince Albert following his death. Martin's wife Helena Faucit was an actress who the Queen had seen perform.

'They were very close and when the Queen toured Wales she actually visited them. The etchings are all bound into album. When Sir Theodore Martin died, it stayed in his estate. Some of the etchings are very poignant.

'It is good to know the skills our monarchs had and Queen Victoria was a very talented artist.

'The album crosses into the art world. It isn't just royal memorabilia and we expect a lot of interest.'

The presentation album, which Queen Victoria gave to close friend Sir Theodore Martin, will go under the hammer on May 11 in Cirencester

The sketches by the royal couple will go under the hammer next month with a guide price of £30,000 to £50,000

Each portrait is accompanied with a caption written by the Queen - both of these fairytale-esque images were drawn by the queen

Other etchings in the set include sketches of the couple's children taking a bath, their pets and royals from previous generations