![Queen Victoria can be seen smiling](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2019/05/28/TELEMMGLPICT000198909899_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The last ever film footage of Queen Victoria discovered as 1900 image of smiling monarch found
![Queen Victoria can be seen smiling](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2019/05/28/TELEMMGLPICT000198909899_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8.jpeg?imwidth=680)
She is known for not being amused, but a rare video of Queen Victoria smiling, thought to be the last ever footage of the monarch, has been discovered by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The incredibly crisp and clear film shows a close-up of the Queen wearing sunglasses as she visited Ireland in 1900, just before she died in 1901.
The grinning monarch seemed to be sheltering from the sun, sporting sunglasses and carrying a parasol.
She can be seen smiling as she is given flowers from two curtsying girls as the crowds flocked to see her ride past in her carriage.
Bryony Dixon, curator of the British Film Institute, said it was a fitting last clip of Queen Victoria, who had been at the forefront of technical changes during her rule.
She added: "I nearly fell off my chair because I'd never seen Victoria in close-up before.
"It is completely unique because you can see the Queen's face for the first time properly since 1900, since this was shown.. ...you can see her expressions, you can see her in movement, rather than just as a stiff portrait or a still photograph.
"It's very rare to see her smiling. She doesn't in any of her portraits, so it humanises her, I think, for the first time."
In 1939, the New York museum acquired a treasure of thirty-six reels of 68mm nitrate prints and negatives made in cinema’s first years. This included the rare footage of Queen Victoria.
Ms Dixon added: "Queen Victoria was always very up to date with technology and she was interested in art.
"She was interested in photography in particular so here, instead of a posed photo or painting, we see her in movement."
The 200th birthday of Queen Victoria is currently being celebrated by institutions across the globe.
This week, passionate birthday presents exchanged between the monarch and Prince Albert have gone on display at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, which the couple used as a private home away from court life.
The gifts include a white marble statue depicting a nude female figure seated on a rock, and a painting of women in various states of undress.