Visit of H.R.H. Princess Louise to Blackburn (1905)

A majestic Blackpool monument to Queen Victoria is unveiled by Princess Louise.

An artist and sculptor herself, and the first member of the royal family to exhibit at the Royal Academy, Princess Louise made an apt choice to unveil a statue to her late mother, Queen Victoria, on Blackburn's Boulevard. Mitchell & Kenyon's cameras captured the large formal procession, plus close-up shots of the Princess (known for her dislike of royal protocol) chatting happily to her hosts.

Unusually, the filmmakers apparently had at least two, and perhaps several cameras in action on the day. In the first scenes of the unveiling, the statue is out of shot and we barely notice the Princess's hand tugging the cord, only the audience's reaction to it. In the following scene we see the same moment captured in long-shot, with the camera filming the previous scene visible to the left of the statue.