Queen Victoria’s undergarments

Carefully tucked away in our fashion store is a box containing an object of Royal significance – a pair of drawers that once belonged to Queen Victoria. Quite how the museum came to obtain some of the queen’s underwear is a mystery, which makes this garment all the more intriguing. 

The drawers are referred to as a ‘pair’, as they are formed of two separate legs, joined at the waist by a drawstring tie. They look very different from the types of underwear we wear today. 

The pair of drawers have an embroidered monogram with Queen Victoria’s crown, beneath which sits the initials V R, and the number 36. The number meant the pair of drawers could be identified when they were being washed.

The royal household produced so much laundry that a building was purpose built by Prince Albert in the 1840s to wash everything. 

It is thought that 1.5 tons of washing a day, and 700,000 items a year came to the site to be washed. Inside the Royal Wardrobe, a book by Kate Strasdin, describes how the items were delivered to the laundry by train and came from all the royal households around the country, except Balmoral. 

With such a large amount of laundry originating from various different households, it is not surprising that garments needed to be marked, as otherwise it would be extremely difficult to keep track of them.