WATERCOLOURS once owned by Queen Victoria are to go on display in the region next spring.

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle is one of just four venues in the UK – and the only one in the North of England – to stage Queen Victoria in Paris.

The exhibition will feature watercolours from the Royal Collection that were commissioned by the monarch as a souvenir of her momentous ten-day state visit to Paris in August 1855. The visit by the royal party, which included Prince Albert and the couple’s two eldest children, Victoria and Albert Edward, later King Edward VII, marked a turning point in Anglo-French relations, strained since the defeat of Napoleon I at Waterloo 40 years earlier.

This period in history coincides with the time when John and Joséphine Bowes were living in Paris and forming the collection that would become The Bowes Museum. It is likely the couple would have attended some of the festivities surrounding the Queen’s visit.

As a passionate collector of watercolours since the early 1850s, those featured in the exhibition were either commissioned by the Queen or presented as gifts by the artists as a souvenir of her visit. Victoria was herself a keen watercolourist, and three of her works made during the Paris tour are included in the exhibition, which opens on March 24 and runs until June 24.

Adrian Jenkins, director of The Bowes Museum, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to share with our visitors these beautifully preserved watercolours, generously loaned by Her Majesty The Queen.”