Royal interest in polar exploration began with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who followed the fortunes of the early adventurers. The royal couple acquired photographs and written accounts of voyages from the 1840s and 1850s, many associated with search expeditions for Sir John Franklin and his crew, who failed to return from an 1845 expedition to navigate a trade route between Europe and Asia via Canada. Queen Victoria\u2019s interest in polar exploration continued throughout her reign. For example, she was presented with a painting by the American artist and explorer William Bradford of his voyage to the Arctic in 1869 and a set of photographs of the expedition. Queen Victoria also received photographs from the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-6, which she had followed keenly.<\/p>\n
The early twentieth century saw the \u2018heroic age\u2019 of Antarctic exploration when new discoveries were made in the name of the king and on behalf of the nation. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra followed the progress of Captain Robert Falcon Scott\u2019s first expedition south on board Discovery (1901-4). On his return, Scott was invited to Balmoral to lecture about his experiences. He showed slides taken by the expedition\u2019s chief engineer and principal photographer, Reginald Skelton, to a group that included the King and Queen and the Prince of Wales (later King George V). Scott later wrote to his mother that the King had asked so many questions that they had talked for three quarters of an hour longer than had been scheduled. Edward Shackleton\u2019s expedition aboard Nimrod three years later also received royal support and he left England in 1907 carrying a Union Jack flag presented by Queen Alexandra. Scott\u2019s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole was a source of national pride. When news broke of the explorer\u2019s death in 1913, official messages of sympathy were sent to King George V. The expedition\u2019s photographer, Herbert Ponting, delivered a lecture to King George and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace on 12 May, 1914, and the set of photographs now in the Royal Photograph Collection was probably presented at this time. King George V also took an interest in Shackleton\u2019s career, meeting him on several occasions and receiving an album of images from the Endurance expedition of 1914-17.<\/p>\n
In July 1921, Shackleton visited the King at Buckingham Palace ahead of his final expedition on board The Quest. Shackleton suffered a heart attack and died in South Georgia on 5 January 1922. An album of photographs documenting the Quest expedition, including Shackleton\u2019s burial, is also in the Royal Photograph Collection. The Duke of Edinburgh continues the tradition of royal support of polar exploration today and HRH is one of the few members of the Royal Family to have crossed the Antarctic Circle. On 12 January, 1957, Prince Philip visited South Georgia, accompanied by Sir Raymond Priestley, a veteran of both the Nimrod and Terra Nova expeditions. HRH\u2008also paid tribute to Edward Shackleton at a memorial cross. More recently, Prince Philip has been patron of a number of expeditions undertaken by the explorer David Hempleman-Adams, the first man to reach all four Geographic and Magnetic Poles, as well as climb the highest mountains on all seven continents. David Hempleman-Adams has expressed his gratitude for royal support: \u201cWhen The Duke of Edinburgh agrees to be a patron he takes it very seriously. HRH always wants to know the objectives of the expedition and what makes my trip different to all the others. Following a successful trip he is the first to write and extend his congratulations. With this support I feel as if I am undertaking the expedition for my country and Queen. It is a wonderful feeling.\u201d Continuing the royal connection David Hempleman-Adams has written the introduction and commentary for \u2018The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography\u2019 – a new title from The Royal Collection which presents the ill-fated expeditions of Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton through the eyes of their official photographers, Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley. Ponting\u2019s images capture Scott\u2019s Terra Nova expedition of 1913,while Hurley\u2019s work is from the Endurance expedition led by Shackleton in 1914-17. The unique sets of photographs were presented to King George V and are today part of the Royal Photograph Collection. Ponting\u2019s images from Terra Nova were reproduced as a special edition of carbon prints for King George V and are among the most striking examples of his work. Hurley\u2019s prints were given to the King in a \u2018deluxe\u2019 album and include astonishing views of Endurance trapped in the Antarctic ice. Alongside the commentary by David Hempleman-Adams, \u2018The Heart of the Great Alone\u2019 has essays on the two camera artists and the expeditions they documented, biographies of the crews and expedition chronologies. The illustrations include Antarctic material from the Royal Collection and newly commissioned maps. (Extract from Royalty Magazine Vol. 21\/07)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Royal interest in polar exploration began with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who followed the fortunes of the early adventurers. The royal couple acquired photographs and written accounts of voyages from the 1840s and 1850s, many associated with search expeditions for Sir John Franklin and his crew, who failed to return from an 1845 expedition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[165,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books-film","8":"tag-books-film","9":"tag-shackleton"},"yoast_head":"\n