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'H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Denmark' — Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair

Leslie Ward · Published Vanity Fair, December 1895

'H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Denmark' — Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Vanity Fair
Spy renders Crown Prince Christian Frederick Charles of Denmark — later Frederik VIII — as an Edwardian man-about-town rather than a royal: black frock coat, pale striped trousers, top hat, and a thin walking cane held loosely at his side. A small decoration glints at his lapel, the sole concession to rank. The caption below reads simply *H.R.H. The Crown Prince of Denmark*, Vanity Fair's customary deadpan identification. The caricature exaggerates the Prince's ruddy complexion and upswept mustache while otherwise flattening him into the type of the well-dressed English gentleman — a pointed editorial choice suggesting that this Danish royal was thoroughly at home in London society, his foreignness politely erased.

Leslie Ward CC0