Charles Kean (1811-68) was a popular actor in the Victorian period, and the manager of the Princess's Theatre on Oxford Street. The Princess's was demolished in the early twentieth century, but under Kean's management it was renowned for spectacular scenery and stage effects as well as scrupulous historical research informing the set and costume designs.

Kean often performed alongside his wife, Ellen (née Tree). He rose to fame very quickly because he was the son of the celebrity actor Edmund Kean, who had taken London audiences by storm in 1814. While Edmund was renowned for explosive performances and a chaotic, heavy-drinking lifestyle offstage, his son worked hard to become a bastion of Victorian respectability.

When Charles was appointed as director of Queen Victoria's private theatricals in 1848, he was delighted at the opportunity to cultivate royal connections. However, a minor scandal ended his association with the royal theatricals in 1857 and, to his great disappointment, he was never offered a knighthood.

Nonetheless, the queen remembered him fondly. After his death, she wrote to Ellen in solidarity as a fellow widow, saying 'I recall most vividly to my mind the many hours of great intellectual enjoyment which your lamented and talented husband (who did so much for his profession) and you afforded to my dear husband and myself in bygone happy days!'