Claudia Acott Williams
Position: Curator of Collections
About
Claudia is an historian and curator responsible for the collections, research and display of Kensington Palace, and working on aspects of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. She specialises in the material culture of royal image-making from the 18th century to the present day, with particular interest in art, architecture, dress, jewellery, and photography.
Claudia has led exhibition and research projects on Queen Victoria’s childhood, the crown jeweller in the 19th and 20th centuries, royal engagement with early photographic technologies, Cecil Beaton’s royal archive at The Victoria & Albert Museum, and the role of dress and jewellery as spectacle, power and belonging at the 18th-century court and on the 21st-century red carpet.
Current research interests include Mary II’s female courtiers and companions; Queen Caroline’s picture hangs at Kensington Palace; Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and the Kensington Palace community in the 19th century; and the influence of queer culture and creativity on the royal image in the mid-20th century. Recent exhibitions include Royal Style in the Making, Hillsborough Castle (2025), Crown to Couture (2023), Life Through a Royal Lens (2022), Inside Garrard’s Royal Archive (2021), and Victoria: A Royal Childhood (2019).
Select publications
Acott Williams, C., Cecil Beaton: The Royal Portraits (London: Thames & Hudson, 2023)
Acott Williams, C., The Crown in Focus: Two Centuries of Royal Photography (London: Merrell Publishers Ltd, 2020)
All articles by Claudia Acott Williams (3)
How Victoria and Albert Used Photography to Rebrand the Monarchy
01 May 2024
Photographs of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – now synonymous with the Victorian age – might appear restrained and unremarkable to modern eyes but behind their rigid poses lies a pioneering sentiment.
Queen Victoria's Petticoat: a rare survivor from her Early wardrobe
19 September 2017
This magnificent petticoat is a recent acquisition to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection and requires conservation for both storage and display purposes.
Young Queen Victoria's shoes in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection
11 November 2016
A recent trip to an auction house nestled in the heart of the Cotswolds yielded some very exciting results. We came back to London laden with 15 items of dress worn by Queen Victoria and her children.