Julia Abercromby, Baroness Abercromby, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Julia Abercromby, Baroness Abercromby; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Julia Abercromby, Baroness Abercromby was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria and a noted artist. Ladies of the Bedchamber were always wives of peers. Only one Lady of the Bedchamber was in waiting at a time. She was always ready to attend to the Queen. The Lady-in-Waiting attended all State occasions and presided over the Household table when the Mistress of the Robes was not in residence. A Lady of the Bedchamber had two to three waits a year from twelve to thirty days at a time.

Born The Honorable Julia Janet Georgiana Haldane-Duncan on January 24, 1840, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, she was the eldest child of Adam Haldane-Duncan, Viscount Duncan (later 2nd Earl of Camperdown) and Juliana Cavendish Philips. Julia had two younger brothers:

At Camperdown House in Dundee, Scotland, Julia married George Abercromby, 4th Baron Abercromby on October 6, 1858. He was the son of George Abercromby, 3rd Baron Abercromby and Louisa Forbes. The couple had no children.

Queen Victoria, painted by Lady Julia Abercromby, after Heinrich von Angeli. Watercolour, 1883, based on a work of 1875. source: National Portrait Gallery NPG 708

In April 1874, Julia was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria and served until March 1885. She was an accomplished painter and had taken lessons from Mrs. Clarendon Smith of the Institute of Watercolours. During her service, Julia was asked to paint the first official portrait of Queen Victoria for the National Portrait Gallery, fulfilling a request made by the gallery in 1867. She painted a watercolor portrait, based on an original painting by von Angeli. It was reported to be one of Queen Victoria’s favorite portraits of herself. In later years, Julia exhibited some of her work at the Royal Academy in 1898. Today, her paintings are included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Balliol College, Oxford, and the Britannia Royal Naval College.  Lady Abercromby died at Camperdown House on December 8, 1915.

Camperdown House, photo: by Ydam – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=845325

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Recommended Book – Serving Queen Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard