Queen Victoria's sketchbook returned to collection

A sketchbook of drawings by Queen Victoria will join more than 4,000 pieces of her art

A sketchbook containing drawings by Queen Victoria is to be reunited with many of her other artworks.

The book had been expected to sell for £5,000 to £10,000 at Charterhouse Auctioneers in Sherborne, Dorset, later.

However, the family that owned the sketches came to an arrangement with the Royal Collection Trust.

The book will now join more than 4,000 pieces of the monarch's art at the trust, at St James' Palace, London.

The sketchbook was found by a royal archivist's family in a house in Dorset, with art dating from 1885

Leta Smith was a royal archivist at Windsor Castle from 1924 to 1957 and her family discovered the sketchbook in a property in Dorset.

The book contained pencil and watercolour drawings by Queen Victoria dating from 1885, such as dogs, train and continental journeys, mountains and lakes, and even a view at Frogmore Cottage, the UK home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, dated July 1886.

The monarch's monogram under a crown can be found on the cover and inside it there is an inscription.

It reads: "On board the steamer Le Petit Parisien on the Lac de Bourget [April] 11 1885."

An inscription inside the book's cover reads: "On board the steamer Le Petit Parisien on the Lac de Bourget [April] 11 1885"

Richard Bromell, from Charterhouse, said: "It never ceases to amaze the wonderful items which we are instructed to auction."

He added: "The Royal Collection expressed an interest in the book and we facilitated its return with the owners."

He said Miss Smith's family was "very happy" for the book to be returned to the collection and they would be remunerated.

The book includes a watercolour of a view at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, dated July 1886

The Royal Collection Trust, based at St James Palace in London, cares for and conserves the Royal Family's art collection, including more than 4,000 watercolours, etchings and lithographs produced over 60 years of Queen Victoria's reign.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "Appropriate acquisitions are made to enhance the Royal Collection and displays of exhibits for the public, in line with Royal Collection Trust's charitable aims."

The organisation said the monarch was taught the art of painting under multiple teachers, including William Leighton Leitch whose demonstration sheets are included in the collection.

Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of the Royal Family, provided a "continual stimulus" for Queen Victoria from the 1840s onwards, as the royal family spent more time there, the trust noted.

The Royal Collection is housed in 15 royal residences and former residences across the UK.

These include Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London, Osborne House and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, where works of art can be seen by the public in the historic settings for which they were originally commissioned or acquired.