A RARE ENGLISH ROYAL CASED 32-BORE PERCUSSION SHOTGUN BY WESTLEY RICHARDS, 170 NEW BOND ST., LONDON, MADE FOR H.R.H THE PRINCE ALFRED, THE FOURTH CHILD OF H.M. QUEEN VICTORIA AND H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT, NO. 7183, CIRCA 1850
with 20in. sighted browned twist barrel signed in full on the beech flat, case-hardened breech engraved with the head of a game dog, platinum lines and plug, engraved breech tang, signed engraved lock, highly figured walnut half-stock with chequered grip, blued iron mounts including the butt-plate and trigger-guard each finely engraved with scrollwork en suite with both the breech tang and the lock, the trigger-guard with pineapple finial, with ivory fore-end cap, original ramrod, silver escutcheon engraved with a coronet of the Blood Royal, and retaining some original finish throughout, Birmingham proof marks: in its original brass-bound fitted oak case, lined in crimson velvet, the lid with Westley Richards trade label including the royal appointment "Gun Manufacturer To His Royal Highness Prince Albert", and with flush-fitting handle encircling a brass escutcheon also engraved with a coronet of the Blood Royal
84.5 cm; 33¼ in overall length

The royal coronet engraved on the escutcheons of both the stock and the case lid is specifically that of a Son of the Sovereign. As second in line to the throne H.R.H. The Prince Alfred was created The Duke of Edinburgh in 1866. He succeeded to the title Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha upon the death of his paternal uncle, Ernst II, in August 1893.

The final entry in Westley Richards' Auxiliary Muzzle Loading (serial) No. System records No. 6920 for 1849 (see Brown 2005, p.130); assuming a continuation of the production rate established in the years immediately preceding this, No. 7183 should date from 1850. Prince Alfred was born on 6th August 1844, the proportions of this gun accord with those of a young child. This gun was quite likely the gift of his father, Prince Albert.

Provenance The gun descended from H.R.H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844-1900), to his third daughter, H.R.H. Princess Alexandra (1878-1942),Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and wife of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

The gun was perhaps subsequently intended by Prince Alfred as a gift for his grandson, the young Prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1897-1960), the only son of Princess Alexandra. The gun has remained at Schloss Langenburg until now.