Film of the royal visit to the 1896 Cardiff Exhibition

How it feels

This is a lost documentary film showing the arrival of the future King Edward VII, his wife and two daughters at a large exhibition in Cardiff in 1896. It captures a formal royal visit in black and white with no sound. The recording is known as the first film ever made of the British royal family.

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What happens

The piece of film of the royal visit to the 1896 Cardiff Exhibition (known fully as H.R.H. The Prince of Wales accompanied by T.R.H. The Princess of Wales, Princess Victoria, and Princess Maud, arriving at the Cardiff Exhibition, June 27th, 1896) is a British lost black-and-white documentary film produced and directed by Birt Acres on 27 June 1896 when Edward VII, his wife Alexandra, and his daughters Maud and Victoria, visited the Cardiff Industrial and Fine Art Exhibition in Cathays Park. It is considered the first film recording of the British Royal Family, one of the first British news films and the first recording set in Cardiff. The footage was recorded on 70mm negatives. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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