The Royal Photograph Collection at Windsor Castle is comprised of the personal images of the British royal family. It is largely uncatalogued, full of photographs presented to and collected by British sovereigns and their family members. Given the many royal tours, wars, princely relationships and darbars in the subcontinent, the collection is full of images not to be found elsewhere.

In addition to the standard roster of images by Samuel Bourne, there are gems like an album of Poone in the 1850s and 1860s, or the famous Imperial Assemblage album commemorating the 1877 event where India's princely rulers pledged allegiance to British rule. Another prize possession is the Second Afghan War album presented by Viceroy Lord Lytton to Queen Victoria in 1880. There are detailed, carefully arranged albums of Queen Mary from her India visits in the early 1900s.

The Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection is Sophie Gordon, co-author of From Reverie to Reality and a leading scholar of Raj photography. Her many years earlier with the Alkazi Collection of Photography is bringing a great deal of understanding to the India material as The Royal Photograph Collection is cataloged in detail and digitized.

For researchers, the increasing accessibility of these images is likely to lead to many new discoveries and insights into early photography in the region.

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