The piece became a popular favourite; from late 1847 it was widely staged throughout the United Kingdom, and it was frequently performed to raise funds for causes including a new drama college and the proposed Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. In January 1849, a command performance of "Box and Cox" was given at Windsor Castle to Queen Victoria and her family and court. Harley and Buckstone repeated their original roles, and "the Royal party laughed heartily". The Queen and Prince Albert saw the play again in 1850, at a revival at the Haymarket Theatre, starring Buckstone, together with "Hamlet" and Buckstone's "The Rough Diamond". Buckstone's revivals, co-starring Henry Compton as Cox, were so popular that W. S. Gilbert later wrote, "Mr Morton's dialogue can only be properly given by Messrs. Buckstone and Compton, and in the mouths of any other actors it is, to those who have seen Messrs. Buckstone and Compton in the parts (and who has not?) a bore." In 1856 a performance was given by army personnel in the Crimea, with an officer of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers playing Mrs Bouncer "en travesti". "The New York Times" called the play "the best farce of the nineteenth century".