Ancient artefacts collected by a future king are being reunited 150 years later as the first photography of a royal tour goes on display.
Greek and Roman antiquities collected by King Edward VII in 1862, when he was Prince of Wales, forms part of an exhibition tracking the journey he made through the Middle East.
The four-month expedition was documented through images taken by Francis Bedford - the first royal tour to be photographed - who was commissioned by Queen Victoria to record her son's journey.
The exhibition Cairo To Constantinople: Early photographs of the Middle East is on show in the Queen's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. It is the first time the images have been on public display for 150 years.
Bedford took around 200 photographs as they travelled by royal yacht, on horseback and by train through Egypt, Palestine and the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. The Prince met rulers and politicians, keeping a journal which is being digitised for display at the exhibition.
The expedition was designed to increase the heir to the throne's understanding of the area at a time when the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating and Britain wanted to secure a route to India.
On their homeward journey, the royals stopped in the Greek island of Rhodes for a day where the prince acquired objects including Greek pottery dating from 595-570 BC, which Bedford put together for a photograph.
The items, along with jewellery and other artefacts collected, were transported back to Britain. Some were given away and others were displayed at Sandringham House, Norfolk where they have remained until now. Curators have located items from the Royal Collection and brought them together as Bedford saw them for the first time.
Sophie Gordon, senior curator, said: "Bedford's photographs were a revelation to the Victorian public who really only knew the Middle East through prints, books and the Bible. The photographs were believed to present a truthful, objective view of the region. A selection of 172 photographs were displayed in London after the tour and, with the additional interest from the royal connection, the exhibition was a huge success."
