RoyaltyInBritain_AUTUMN2025

Royalty in Britain

BY

ROYAL APPOINTMENT

In collaboration with the Royal Warrant Holders Association

THE DUKE AT 90

ROYALTY IN BRITAIN – EDITOR’S LETTER

A warm welcome to the autumn issue of The Illustrated Royalty in Britain. Pomp, pageantry and pizzazz have been on full display during two prominent inward state visits: President Macron of France in July, and President Trump in September. Joe Little explains the history, purpose and planning behind these displays of diplomacy and friendship. The Prince and Princess of Wales play a key role at such events, and William, our cover star, is profiled by royal expert obert Hardman, who asks how the monarchy might change with an heir to throne who is keen to modernise. Hugo Vickers has an exclusive interview with The Duke of Kent marking his 90th birthday, and pays tribute to The Duke’s late wife, the much-loved Duchess of Kent.

If you crave some glamour to light up the dark evenings, then seek out our feature on Queen Alexandra, the original fashion influencer, and discover more about the collection of storied royal jewels now on display at the V&A.

Highlighting the rich history and culture of royal Britain is always on our agenda. e recommend some royal reads, offer a guide to the Royal Mews and the reimagined Medieval Palace at the Tower of London, while Adam Dant’s royal map provides

witty vignettes and fun facts for armchair travellers. We’re proud to collaborate with the Royal Warrant Holders Association, and we discover some of the recently appointed Royal Warrant Holders, and see how the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is ensuring a craft-filled future for Britain. There are also more in-depth features on Cole Son and Taylor’s, who are our Partners in this edition.

Finally, with the centenary of her birth next spring, we mark the life of Queen Elizabeth II with a bumper crop of treasures from TheIllustrated London News archive, and Valentine Low reveals her relationship with her 15 prime ministers.

Whether you’re hunkering down indoors or doing your own regal roam around Britain this autumn, we hope your copy of Illustrated Royalty in Britain provides edifying company.

Lucinda Gosling Editor

The Illustrated Royalty in Britain is published by Illustrated London News Limited, Soho Works, The Tea Building 4th Floor, 56 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6JJ, UK. hello@iln.co.uk. iln.co.uk, royaltybritain.com

Editor

Lucinda Gosling

Production Director

David Gyseman

Art Direction & Design

Dominic Bell

Jo Murray-Bell

Lorna Wilson (Colour Retouching)

Contributors

Simon Brooke, Nina Caplan

Adam Dant, Lucinda Gosling, Robert Hardman, Joe Little, Valentine Low, Fiona McCarthy, Clara Taylor, Hugo Vickers

Sub-Editor Simon Barker

Chief Executive Lisa Barnard

tel: +44 (0)7887 823116

email: lisa.barnard@iln.co.uk

Group Advertising Director Jane Washbourn

tel: +44 (0)7920 821577

email: jane.washbourn@iln.co.uk

Pictures

www.maryevans.com

tel: +44 (0)208 318 0034

All images are from

The Illustrated London News archive (and other sources) at Mary Evans Picture Library, Getty and Alamy unless otherwise stated.

The perfect mix: William and Catherine make a potato and apple cake at the Long Meadow Cider apple farm in Portadown, Co Armagh, in October

a

THE ILLUSTRATED MAP OF ROYAL BRITAIN

Artist Adam Dant lends his unique Hogarthian style to a specially commissioned map of royal Britain in autumn.

The heir to the throne has made it clear that “change is on his agenda”. Royal author and commentator Robert Hardman assesses what this could mean for the future of the monarchy.

State visits to Britain are a chance to cement bonds between nations – all with a healthy dose of pomp and pageantry, as Joe Little reveals.

Royal Warrant Holder, Taylor’s Port, has applied a lesson from Portugal’s past to create Sentinels, a Port that has turned a daunting set of natural circumstances to its advantage. By Nina Caplan. 40 THE DUKE OF KENT AT 90

In an interview shortly before The Duke’s milestone birthday, he talks to Hugo Vickers about a life of duty and his admiration for The late Queen.

46 A LIFE OF DEVOTION

in September.

48 ROYAL WARRANT HOLDERS ASSOCIATION

From luxury bookbinders to bespoke shoemakers, Simon Brooke meets Royal Warrant Holders who place craftsmanship, quality and tradition at the heart of their business.

54 BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Three Royal Warrant Holders share their passion and expertise, and reflect on the unique position they hold within their respective industries.

58 THE JUNGLE LOOK

A Royal Warrant Holder for nearly 70 years and one of the UK’s most prestigious wallpaper companies, Cole & Son’s latest collections conjures up an array of flora and fantastic beasts, as Fiona McCarthy discovers.

62 ROYALTY IN BRITAIN RECOMMENDS

Cultural highlights for the autumn, from exquisite enaissance art to Marie Antoinette’s enduring style.

64 A GOWN LIKE ALIX

Lucinda Gosling explores the sartorial choices of the original Edwardian influencer, Queen Alexandra.

The Duke of Kent and Katharine Worsley in 1960,

year before their marriage. We have an exclusive interview with The Duke and pay tribute to The Duchess

Hugo Vickers pays tribute to The Duchess of Kent, who died

Cover:

Chris Jackson/Getty Images Alamy

CONTENTS

We look back at 40 years of artists accompanying royal tours, above; and h w the al a il ake headlines when the hit the dance r, right

70 THE ELIZABETHAN AGE

Next April will see the 100th anniversary of the birth of The late Queen Elizabeth II. We look back at some of the memorable moments from Her Majesty’s unparalleled -year reign.

76 SHELF PORTRAITS

A round-up of the latest royal reads for your bookshelf, from the extraordinary life of a lady-in-waiting to an excoriating expos of the House of ork.

78 DANCING IN THE SPOTLIGHT

When anyone in the Royal Family takes to the dancefloor, it always makes headlines. Lucinda Gosling looks at the history of royalty cutting a rug.

84 CHANGING ROOMS

Lucinda Gosling visits the newly revamped Medieval Palace which uncovers the secrets of everyday life at the Tower of London during the Middle Ages.

90 MEWS OF INSPIRATION

The oyal Mews at Buckingham Palace is celebrating its th anniversary. It’s a village that has played a pivotal role in palace life and at great occasions of state.

94 TAKING THE PAST, MAKING A FUTURE

Thanks to the work and support of the Queen Elizabeth

Scholarship Trust (QEST) over the last years, the craft movement across the UK is proving that handmade still matters, as Clara Taylor discovers.

96 JOURNEYS WITH THE KING

For 4 years, The King has invited an artist to accompany him on each royal tour. ow, a new book gathers together some of the sights and spectacles they recorded over those four decades.

102 MONARCHY AND MINISTERS

Valentine Low explores the delicate relationship between sovereign and government – and how Queen Eli abeth II was not quite so politically neutral as many thought.

106 SCINTILLATING STYLE

oyal sparklers have always had an enduring appeal. Lucinda Gosling delves into the jewellery trends that have taken their inspiration from royalty.

112 THE ROYAL TOUCH

A lifetime of collecting by antiques expert Geoffrey Munn has resulted in an intriguing cache of royal jewels, now on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

114 A FESTIVE FIR-ST FROM THE ARCHIVE

as this the image that turned a mocked European fashion into a staple part of our festive celebrations?

Mary Evans

Picture Library

Alamy

Timeless quality, luxurious comfort

Timeless quality, luxurious comfort

Timeless quality, luxurious comfort

Timeless quality, luxurious comfort

Illustration by Adam Dant

OUT AND ABOUT

A

round-up of recent royal visits and travels, around Britain and beyond

Above: he rincess ales prepares t present annik inner with the entle en s ingles r ph at i bled n, als in ul

Main picture: The Prince of Wales celebrates with England’s Lauren James after the Lionesses’ penalty shoot-out victory in the Uefa Women’s Euro final against pain in asel, wit erland in ul

Right: rince illia n the p l field during a charit atch at uards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park in July, which raised £1.1million to be shared by 10 charities supported by The Prince and Princess of Wales

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Above: The Princess of Wales is quick to help shield some schoolchildren from a sudden downpour at London’s Natural History Museum in September

Left: The King and Queen arrive at the 2025 Braemar Gathering in the Scottish Highlands in September

Below: The Princess Royal attends Heroes, A Military Musical Spectacular in Horse Guards Parade, London in July

Main picture: During their tour of Japan in September, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh visit Okunoin Cemetery, in the temple settlement of Koyasan, which houses the mausoleum of Buddhist master Kobo Daishi

Left: The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, receives he rincess al at his ficial residence in ublin in ugust

Above: The Duke of Edinburgh attends celebrations in Shildon, County Durham, in September to mark the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway

picture: The King with a botanical painting, Royal Signature , by artist Gillian Barlow with calligraphy by Timothy Noad in July. The work was commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society, and signed by His Majesty, in celebration of him becoming the charity’s Royal Patron

Above: The Princess of Wales visiting Farnborough Road Infant and Junior School in Southport in September, where Elsie Dot Stancombe, one of the victims of the 2024 attack in the town, was a pupil

Right: The Queen squeezes into a telephone box with pupils from Dulwich Village Infants’ School during a visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery in south-east London to open a new

September

Main

Artplay Pavilion and Sculpture Garden in

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RINGING THE CHANGES

The Prince of Wales has made no secret of his desire to reshape the monarchy. But what could that mean for his role as heir to the throne and, when the time comes, as King? By Robert Hardman

It certainly didn’t follow the usual royal interview format when HRH Prince William spoke to Eugene Levy for the Canadian actor’s The Reluctant Traveller TV series. It was the first time we have seen a member of the oyal Family draw up at Windsor Castle’s State Entrance on an electric scooter. It was also the first time a member of the oyal Family has been interviewed in a pub over a drink not previously associated with monarchs and heirs: cider. Most striking of all, though, was the Prince’s professed interest in ‘change’.

The monarchy is an institution dedicated to ‘continuity’ and ‘stability’ (it says so at the top of its own website). et Prince William made much more than a passing reference to the idea of change. In their interview with the BBC on the day of their engagement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle certainly raised eyebrows in royal circles as they spoke of wanting to embrace ‘change’ three times. Having declared that “change is on my agenda”, Prince William said it six times in total. He wants change for good , he went on, adding I embrace that and I enjoy that change – I don’t fear it. That’s the bit that excites me the idea of being able to bring some change. ot overly radical change, but changes that I think need to happen.

This was an interesting intervention for several reasons. Like The late Queen, His Majesty King Charles III has often acknowledged the need to move with the times. But, on the

whole, the monarchy has always tended to leave the business of ‘change’ to the other Palace up the road at Westminster. Until now at least, this Prince of ales has also been a less combative heir to the throne. hen his father held the same position at the same age – 4 – he had already made headlines on numerous occasions for his stance on various key issues. They would frequently exasperate both government ministers and officials at Buckingham Palace. In 198 , prime minister Margaret Thatcher even rang the Palace to complain that the Prince had been voicing his fears for a divided nation . Prince Charles was at the time.

Prince illiam, in contrast, has not been one for pushing the constitutional boundaries. He has his passions – especially combatting homelessness and the mental health problems of young people – but he has yet to receive any ministerial reprimands. Nor is he as intellectually restless as his father who, in princely days, would sit up into the night firing off letters or pondering the meaning of life and the major issues of the age. The King retains a passion for classical music, Shakespeare, spiritualism and The Book of Common Prayer. William, like most of his future subjects, has more mainstream tastes in music. He would prefer a box set of a popular thriller series, for example, than a book or a night in Stratford-upon-Avon. Whereas the last Prince of Wales made several trips to

The Prince of Wales at the Uefa Women’s Euro final in July. While he is unlikely to change what the monarchy does, he may well change how it does it

a monastic retreat and built a chapel in his own garden (Highgrove’s tiny Hobbit-style ‘Sanctuary’), Prince illiam is simply not very interested in religion. As one of his closest allies put it to me He is not instinctively comfortable in a faith environment. hile, in due course, he will dutifully perform all the official roles expected of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, will a future King illiam V suddenly become a regular and enthusiastic churchgoer That is one ‘change’ which is unlikely to happen. et while Prince Charles was happy to be outspoken, it was invariably because he was opposed to change – be it the impact of pollution or the replacement of old buildings with new ones. So what sort of reforms can we expect from Prince illiam, whether as Prince of ales or as King I am quite sure that he has no plans to change what the

monarchy does (which is largely governed by Parliament, law or long-standing convention) but, rather, how it does it. riting my book, Charles III: The Inside Story, for example, I learned that Prince illiam has already given some thought to his own coronation. He has made two decisions. First, he wants his to be considerably shorter than the two-and-a-quarter hours for the crowning of Charles III on May . Ideally an hour and 1 minutes, a senior Kensington Palace insider told me. Second, he wants to dispense with what he regards as the more arcane elements, like the Presentation of the Armills (golden bracelets) and the Coronation ing. Some people, of course, will argue that a coronation is inherently arcane and that the moment one starts to unpick it, the whole thing starts to fall apart. However, The Prince of ales believes that if it is not simplified, it will invite criticism. One sight that jarred with

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This page: The Illustrated London News marks Prince William’s second birthday Facing page: The King and The Prince of Wales at the Countdown to COP30 event in London, in October. William is likely to take a very different approach to ruling than his father

him was that of the monarch putting on the Coronation Glove (likened to a giant oven glove by some observers) with which to hold the sceptre. As one aide put it The glove was a moment he thought was a bit ‘Erm ’

The Prince has already shown a different approach to communications, often releasing video footage from an inhouse videographer rather than inviting the mainstream media to film an event. Despite being in line to inherit some of the most famous homes in the world, he has let it be known that he intends to reside at Forest Lodge, a handsome but certainly not palatial Georgian house on the indsor Estate. Official residences like indsor Castle and Buckingham Palace are likely to operate as a royal workplace, but not as a home. Some will argue – as inston Churchill did when a young Eli abeth II was reluctant to move from Clarence House to Buckingham Palace – that the monarch has an obligation to live at royal headquarters.

However, it would seem that this is an area of ‘change’ which Prince illiam has in mind. ill a future prime minister feel that it is appropriate for a politician to tell the head of state where they must lay their head at night I doubt it. e can already see this pattern of royal ‘downsi ing’ elsewhere. Prince Charles acquired a significant property portfolio as heir to the throne, including his farmhouses in ales and omania, and Dumfries House, the great 18thcentury Scottish mansion that he saved for the nation. Though he might stay in them for a few days each year, they were not

bought for personal use but to promote the culture and the countryside around them. Prince illiam has no appetite for extra property. Indeed, having now inherited his father’s elsh farmhouse (because it is a Duchy of Cornwall property and he is now the Duke of Cornwall), Prince illiam has curtailed the personal royal connection. The house has become an ordinary rental property once again.

However, when it comes to his personal space, the Prince of ales is a stickler for privacy. Prince Charles’s gardens at his Highgrove home have long welcomed thousands of visitors and charities each year on garden tours and he has built a separate annexe, the Orchard oom, for public events. Prince illiam has no plans for anything similar at Forest Lodge.

As for his royal team, it is simply a biological fact that the operational House of indsor workforce is going to diminish for a significant period of time. The youngest members of the ‘working family’ after the aleses are The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who are now in their sixties, while The Princess oyal is and The King and Queen are heading for 8 . If Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis all decide to take on full-time royal duties, it is going to be around 4 before that happens. In other words, for several years to come, it could be just The Prince and Princess of ales doing the bulk of royal duties. That inevitably means ‘change’ in the number and nature of royal engagements, along with public expectations of what the monarchy can deliver.

It also means that in the future reign of King illiam V,

Above: Prince William talks to Canadian actor Eugene Levy on his Apple TV show The Reluctant Traveller

Above: The Prince of Wales and Welsh rugby player Jac Morgan during a visit to the new mental health hub run by the Jac Lewis Foundation charity at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in September

Below: Prince William, as founder and President of the Earthshot Prize, at Bloomberg’s London headquarters in London Climate Action Week in June

Above: The Wales family look to the skies as they take part in the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour, 14 June 2025

Below: rince e rge ins his ather at i bled n t watch the en s singles tennis finals in ul It will be the 2040s before the Waleses’ children could take up full-time royal duties

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the role of the future Queen Catherine will be critical. Now making what her staff call a phased recovery following her treatment for cancer in 2024, The Princess of Wales is also a hands-on mother to three school-age children while, at the same time, returning to an increasingly active round of royal duties. Prince illiam is determined to ensure that all those pressures are managed carefully. As The Princess has said herself, her work – especially in the sphere of early years opportunities for children – has been central to her recovery. But it seems inevitable that her royal workload can only increase. The late Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Camilla have both shown the way in which consorts play a critical role in keeping the royal show on the road and boosting monarchs’ morale. The former Catherine Middleton is not just indispensable to the future of the monarchy, but also to all that ‘change’ which her husband has in mind for it.

Robert Hardman is the author of Charles III: The Inside Story and writes for the Daily Mail

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Above and left: The role of The Princess of Wales, currently making a phased return to public life after her cancer treatment, will be critical to the future success of the monarchy

THE ART OF LATER LIVING: WHERE AGE MEETS ELEGANCE

Auriens Chelsea offers a sanctuary of exquisite design, world-class amenities and bespoke service in the heart of London’s most exclusive quarter

Tucked away on Dovehouse Street, just moments from the vibrant King’s oad, Auriens Chelsea offers a truly exceptional way of living for those aged 65 and over. Close to some of London’s finest art galleries, boutiques and restaurants, and with Cadogan Hall and the legendary Royal Court Theatre just around the corner, it’s the perfect location for enjoying all the capital has to offer.

Auriens represents a new vision for later life, where independence is celebrated, community thrives and life continues to be rich in culture, connection and choice. The 56 apartments are available to buy or rent, with each one exquisitely interior-designed and offering complete privacy and freedom. And yet, step outside your door and the five-star amenities are unmatched – from the tranquil courtyard garden, 1 -metre pool and boutique gym, to the speakeasy bar, cinema, spa and restaurant.

What truly sets Auriens apart is its people. Every resident is part of an extended family and they speak most warmly about the staff. Those in housekeeping, the concierge team, the chefs and wellness specialists all pride themselves on an excellent level of care, discretion and attention to detail. The concierge, available 24/7, can arrange everything from valet parking and tech support to concert tickets, restaurant reservations and international travel.

Safety and security are naturally of the highest standard, allowing residents to travel freely between your other homes

or enjoy extended trips abroad with peace of mind. Life at Auriens is stimulating, varied and fun. A curated programme of cultural events includes talks from notable figures such as Sir Michael Palin and Dame andra hodes, film screenings, art classes, book launches and wellness clinics. The community is warm, inclusive and filled with interesting individuals – whether you prefer quiet privacy or lively discussion over a glass of wine.

Health and wellbeing are at the core of life here. A dedicated team of specialists provides personalised programmes combining diagnostics, nutrition and movement. The results speak for themselves, with measurable improvements in strength, energy and wellbeing. If needed, discreet care is available in the comfort of your own apartment via Draycott ursing Care, offering both reassurance and continuity.

Auriens presents an elegant and effortless lifestyle, tailored to you, whether you’re looking for a London base or are considering downsizing. However you choose to shape your future, Auriens offers a rare and reimagined approach to later living.

One and two-bedroom apartments are available to purchase from . million, with additional charges applicable. To arrange a private visit or to explore further, please contact David Simpson on 020 4538 1184. auriens.com

Left: The Speakeasy Bar Above: A leisurely stroll from the timeless luxury of Auriens Chelsea

State visits, both outward and incoming to the United Kingdom, have for centuries played an integral role in strengthening Britain’s relationship with other countries. Peter the Great of Russia at the end of the 17th century, for example, or Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany’s visit to his uncle, King Edward VII, in 1907, seven years before the outbreak of the First World War. They were infrequent until the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Few have been accorded the level of media attention that the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, received long before he arrived in Windsor on 17 September. Speculation began soon after he took office in January that an invitation would be extended and in February, during a visit to the White House, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, with a flourish handed over a personal letter from HM The King inviting the US leader to Britain. The letter, most likely intended for private consumption, was opened by the President and held aloft, giving the attendant press pack the opportunity to photograph and digest the contents. President Trump accepted the invitation there and then.

It was confirmed in une that the Manu egia – a formal invitation signed by The King – had been hand-delivered to the hite House by officials from the British Embassy in Washington.

Foreign monarchs and presidents are invited to visit The King on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office and there have now been six inward state visits since his reign began in 2022: South Africa, Korea, Japan, Qatar, France and the United States. Usually it’s a one-off during the guest’s reign or term of office, but very occasionally exceptions are made. Queen Margrethe of Denmark, a second cousin once removed of the late Duke of Edinburgh, paid her first state visit to Britain in 1974, two years after her accession, and 26 years later she was invited again. Likewise, King Olav V of orway, a first cousin once removed of Queen Eli abeth II, in 19 (staying at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh) and 1988 ( indsor Castle). Quite remarkably, since his first state visit was only six years ago, Donald Trump has just become the third member of that exclusive club.

UNITED STATES

Meticulous in the planning, state visits to Britain are a chance to cement relationships between nations – with a healthy dose of pomp and pageantry. Joe Little looks back at the history of this most royal welcome

The first inward state visit of Queen Eli abeth II’s -year reign was that of King Gustaf Adolf and Queen Louise of Sweden in June 1954. Despite the formality of the occasion it was also very much a family affair, given that for Prince Philip it was Aunt Louise – his mother’s younger sister – who had come to stay for a few days.

A state visit template covering four days –Tuesday to Friday – was established in the 19 s and it remained in place until the 1990s, with adjustments made when appropriate to the incoming visitors. Today the duration is shorter: two or three days is the new norm.

Heads of state would arrive at Gatwick Airport to be welcomed by a senior member of the Royal Family – the Duke of Edinburgh, perhaps – and then escorted on to the royal train for the journey

Left: The King and President Trump in the gardens of Windsor Castle during September’s state visit

Above: The Illustrated London News depicts the state banquet held in honour of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany at Windsor Castle, in November 1907

to London’s Victoria station, where Queen Elizabeth II and a sizeable House of Windsor contingent were waiting on a red-carpeted, flower-bedecked platform.

The handshakes and introductions complete, Her Majesty and her principal guest would walk outside where, weather permitting, the open-top 19 State Landau was waiting to take them – and mounted soldiers from the Household Cavalry – down characterless Victoria Street, through Parliament Square, up hitehall and along The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where national anthems were played by a military band as they swept into the quadrangle. Prince Philip and the head of state’s spouse, plus the households in attendance, followed in other carriages.

The impact this had on central London’s lunchtime traffic was considerable, so changes were made in the early 199 s. Since then the VIPs have been driven to Horse Guards Parade, where The Queen, and now The King, greets them at a specially constructed royal pavilion, a guard of honour is inspected and the carriage procession takes the much shorter – and less disruptive – route along The Mall to Buckingham Palace. Gun salutes are fired from The Green Park and at the Tower of London.

A private lunch, usually in the Bow oom, is followed by the viewing in the upstairs Picture Gallery of a display of items from the oyal Collection relating to the country in question. ext on the visitors’ agenda is estminster Abbey, to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown arrior, and thence on occasion to the nearby Palace of estminster to address parliamentarians in the oyal Gallery.

On the evening of their arrival, a state banquet is hosted

Top: King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria of Sweden enjoyed a banquet at Windsor hosted by King Edward VII in 1908

Above: Queen Elizabeth II welcomed King Gustaf VI Adolf and ueen uise weden r the first state visit her reign

Left: In an expert example of diplomatic dressing, The Princess of Wales wore an ensemble by French couture house Dior to welcome the Macrons

by the monarch in honour of his distinguished visitors. It is a white-tie occasion, with tiaras worn by the royal women, for about 1 guests invited on the basis of their cultural or economic links to the country being hosted. The horseshoeshaped table in the Palace ballroom – an impressive sight – will have taken several days to prepare, but an abiding memory for guests, particularly first-timers, is the pervading scent of the exquisite floral arrangements.

Queen Eli abeth II, accompanied by the Master of the Household, always inspected the table in the early evening before changing into her finery. The tradition continues with The King and Queen Camilla, who make a point of thanking those involved with the production.

Before dinner is served, The King makes a speech and proposes a toast to the visiting head of state. He or she replies and ends with a toast to His Majesty.

Politicians feature prominently in state visits, not only as attendees at the banquet but also in their own right.

o 1 Downing Street is often a destination on day two, as is a banquet given by the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation at Guildhall, to which leaders of commerce and industry are invited.

Until quite late in Queen Eli abeth II’s reign there were days three and four. This allowed for a trip outside London –Oxford or Cambridge perhaps – and a return banquet, a second

Above: The King and French President Emmanuel Macron wave to the crowds on their way to Windsor Castle in July

white-tie affair, hosted by the state visitor at Claridge’s, the Dorchester or their embassy to thank Her Majesty and family for their hospitality.

Inward state visits have a revised format these days. ot only are they shorter, but they are also hosted at indsor Castle because Buckingham Palace, now in the final phases of its 9million, 1 -year restoration project, is unlikely to be fully functioning again until late .

So when the President of the French epublic, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte arrived for a three-day visit in uly they flew into AF ortholt, in west London, where they were welcomed by The Prince and Princess of ales. They were formally welcomed by The King and Queen in indsor and a carriage procession took them through the town centre and up to the castle, where they viewed a military parade and had lunch in the State Dining oom. Afterwards in the Green Drawing oom they were shown Marie Antoinette’s snuff box, a depiction of 1 -year-old Louis XIV and an English glass believed to be the earliest champagne glass in existence –presented to George V and Queen Mary from the champagne makers of eims and pernay in 19 .

The Macrons spent the afternoon in London. Back at the castle that evening they attended a state banquet in St George’s Hall in their honour. It had taken almost a week to construct and lay the 1 ft table, which was candlelit and decorated with hand-picked and seasonal flowers from the gardens at Buckingham Palace and indsor Castle, along with flowers and lavender from the Savill Garden in indsor Great Park, arranged in silver-gilt centrepieces taken from the

4, -piece Grand Service commissioned by King George IV when Prince of ales.

French chef aymond Blanc collaborated with the oyal Household to create the menu, which as always, was approved by The King. Some 1 guests – Sir Mick agger and Sir Elton ohn among them – enjoyed a selection of tender summer vegetables from the gardens of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons with sage, tomato and extra virgin olive oil dressing; supreme of hug Estate chicken with orfolk asparagus; and cream of cassis iced blackcurrant parfait on a blackcurrant-soaked sponge with elderflower jelly.

oting in his speech that his guests would be served an English sparkling wine made by a French champagne house, Taittinger, The King said As we dine here in this ancient place, redolent with our shared history, allow me to propose a toast to France and our new entente.

The following morning, the President and Mrs Macron paid a private visit to Queen Eli abeth II’s final resting place in St George’s Chapel to lay flowers on her tomb. After a walk around the castle gardens and saying bonjour to Fabuleu de Maucour, a horse given to Her late Majesty by the President to mark her Platinum ubilee in , the Macrons took their leave of The King and Queen and returned to London for the remainder of their visit.

The format of President Trump’s second state visit was similar to President Macron’s in many ways but, unlike his 19 visit, there were no London engagements. He and First Lady Melania Trump, having landed in the private Home Park at indsor on the helicopter Marine One, were greeted by The

Above: The Queen and French First Lady, Brigitte Macron, during a carriage procession through Windsor in July

Right: For the Trump state visit, the Red Arrows performed a past at the end a eating etreat cere n

Facing page, below: A page from The Sphere picturing King Faisal ra s state visit t ritain in ul t was the first such visit to the UK made by an Iraqi monarch, and was one of 113 state visits hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during her long reign

Prince and Princess of Wales, who live nearby, and taken to meet The King and Queen. A carriage procession conveyed hosts and guests through the Windsor estate to the castle proper, with the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment providing a Sovereign’s Escort for the occasion and members of the Armed Forces lining the unusually bucolic route.

As with the Macrons, there was a guard of honour to inspect, lunch in the State Dining Room with members of the Royal Family, a display of items from the Royal Collection in the Green Drawing Room and a visit to St George’s Chapel, but there was also a Beating Retreat ceremony on the east lawn of the castle that, despite the low clouds, concluded with a flypast by the ed Arrows.

A state banquet in honour of the Trumps was held in St George’s Hall that evening where The King and Queen were joined by The Prince and Princess of Wales, The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester for what was a particularly lavish occasion.

Her Majesty wore an elegant royal blue silk marocain dress by Fiona Clare, which she teamed with the sapphire and diamond tiara made for Queen Elizabeth II in 1963. Catherine dazzled in a stunning hand-embroidered gold Chantilly lace evening coat over a silk cr pe gown by Phillipa Lepley, topped off by the Lover’s Knot Tiara, a firm favourite of the previous Princess of ales. The First Lady’s striking canary-yellow off-the-shoulder dress from Caroline Herrera was paired with a lavender belt and emerald earrings, a combination that divided opinion among the fashion press, but one which will not be forgotten.

The royal men wore indsor Uniform – a tailcoat of dark

blue cloth with scarlet collar and cuffs – the style of which has evolved since being introduced by George III in the 1 s.

Guests were served a menu which, as with the Macrons, exemplified the finest British produce; Hampshire watercress panna cotta with parmesan shortbread and quail egg salad, followed by organic orfolk chicken ballotine wrapped in courgettes, with a thyme and savoury infused jus.

The final course was a mouth-watering vanilla ice cream bombe with Kentish raspberry sorbet interior and lightly poached Victoria plums.

The next morning, The King bade farewell to the President and First Lady, as Mr Trump travelled to Chequers in Buckinghamshire, the Prime Minister’s country retreat, for a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer and a reception hosted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, achel eeves.

Melania Trump, meanwhile, remained at indsor Castle, where she and The Queen toured Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and inspected Americana and Old Master drawings in the oyal Library. Afterwards, the First Lady joined The Princess of ales outside Frogmore House to meet the Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields, and members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme as they took part in leaf-stamping and bug house-building to achieve their ‘Go ild’ badge.

Mrs Trump travelled to Chequers to meet her husband for the remainder of the day’s programme before the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Benyon, on behalf of The King, bade farewell to them at Stansted Airport that evening. State visits in the Trump era may have become flying visits, but much of the pomp, ceremony and spectacle remains.

PA/Alamy

Above: President Trump and the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, hold a joint press conference at Chequers. Below: The Queen and First Lady Melania Trump in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle Facing page, top: The King and President Trump lead guests to the state banquet at Windsor. Facing page, below: The Princess of Wales wore a hand-embroidered Chantilly lace evening coat over a silk crêpe gown by Phillipa Lepley, with the Lover’s Knot Tiara. Prince William was in ‘Windsor Uniform’

MARKER OF QUALITY

A lesson from history has enabled Taylor’s Port to create a new Vintage Port named after the stones that stood sentinel over 18th-century vineyards. It has taken a daunting set of circumstances and turned them to its advantage, as Nina Caplan hears

On 1 ovember 1 , Lisbon suffered a terrible earthquake thousands of buildings were destroyed, a tsunami was triggered and around , people died. So catastrophic was it, that the great French writer Voltaire viewed it as confirmation of his gloomy beliefs about the pointlessness of existence. But one man saw the upside. The Marquis de Pombal, de facto ruler of Portugal, took the earthquake and the crown’s consequent need for money to rebuild as an excuse to tap an important source of revenue that he had been watching, with growing displeasure, flow to Englishmen living in the Douro Valley the income from Port wine.

He founded a company that monopolised the trade with England and Bra il, two major markets. The Port-makers were furious, of course, but their descendants can see the advantages. The Marquis put an end to unsavoury practices such as colouring the liquid with elderberry; he also marked out the best vineyard area for growing grapes – one of the first such quality demarcations and a precursor of the international modern system of appellations d’origine contr l e (AOCs). The markers he used were granite pillars, which the locals called ‘marcos pombalinos’ after their instigator. The topquality wines that came from these vineyards were known

as vinhos de feitoria, and they were the only ones that were allowed to be exported.

Francis Bearsley was, presumably, one of those grumpy Port shippers, outmanoeuvred by the Marquis, but his company, founded by the Bearsley family in 1 9 , did not suffer – in fact, it thrived. Today, Taylor’s forms part of the Fladgate Partnership, one of the largest and most successful Port companies in the Douro Valley. In this historic place, the vineyards rise steeply above the river Douro, which was once so turbulent that shipping the barrels down to the city was a feat of courage.

owadays, the river is dammed and calm, and this is one of the most tranquil and beautiful wine regions in the world. But if the Douro iver is unrecognisable, many other aspects of the place are unchanged, including those prestigious vinhos de feitoria, which still produce some of the region’s best grapes. And, while most of those granite marcos pombalinos standing guard over the vineyards are long gone, a few remain. People have taken them out and put them in museums or in houses or incorporated them into walls, so there aren’t many left, says Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership. The Taylor’s Port vineyards only have two, but Bridge has come up with a clever plan to both honour them and, in a sense, multiply

Facing page: Taylor’s new port, Sentinels, honours the 18th-century granite marker stones, using grapes from four of the historic vineyards where they once stood

them a new Vintage Port, made with grapes from four of these historic vineyards, called Sentinels.

e were looking at what makes the Pinh o Valley special, and we thought about that ancient demarcation of the best region, says Bridge. All our vineyards here are inside it. It felt rather as if those stones that mark the edge were standing guard over this finer area. He felt that this offered a potential insight into the Taylor’s style Our Ports have such lovely tannins; they are elegant, structured but also restrained, which put him in mind of the guards at Buckingham Palace

They are so wonderfully turned out, with such poise but also elegance; and they are sentinels, protecting something important and historic.

Those original sentinels are granite, as are certain vineyards and also the lagares, the shallow troughs in which vineyard workers still tread the Douro grapes. So important is Porto granite that it now has its own Unesco orld Heritage designation, separate to the one awarded to the lovely city.

Taylor’s vineyards are on schist, a sedimentary rock that was once the bed of a lake, millions of years ago. Over that time, the schist has moved from hori ontal layers to vertical, which allows our vines to push their roots down through the natural cracks in the rock to get to water, which obviously in a hot year is absolutely crucial.

There are no cool years in the Douro, and while too much rain can fall, which dilutes the flavour of the grapes, very dry years are problematic in other ways. In a year with excessive

heat, you might find that the flavours are too overly ripe to really age, explains Bridge. For Vintage Port you’ve got to have harmony. ithout that balance of great fruit, silky tannins and acidity to ensure freshness, the Port will not age gracefully. And graceful ageing is precisely the mark of a Vintage Port.

So part of the aim of introducing Sentinels is to make a Port that is both delectable and, as much as possible, future-proof. Most of our vineyards are around the Pinh o iver Valley, and we have continued to expand our vineyard ownership in that area, explains Bridge. The Pinh o Valley is the heart of the region, just behind the Mar o Mountains. Go to the western end of the valley and you tend to get relatively high rainfall, and the hardy Douro vines produce well. Go to the other end, farther inland, and the rainfall is much lower. This is where Quinta de Vargellas, one of the region’s most prestigious vineyards, owned by Taylor’s since 189 , is situated. There, you’ll typically get very high quality but not much volume. The Pinh o iver Valley is between these two extremes, the ideal place to find the right balance of quality and quantity.

And, since balance is the priority, blending different varieties from a range of vineyards makes sense. The grapes are what’s known as a field blend different varieties, planted together. The properties – unco, Casa ova, Eira Velha and Terra Feita – are all highly regarded, with Terra Feita a particularly prestigious estate on the western slopes of the Pinh o iver Valley that has been supplying the company with luscious, highly perfumed grapes for over a hundred years.

On the winemaking side, the ability to choose from vineyards which have different altitudes, varying from around 1 metres above sea level all the way up to 4 metres, is really valuable, says Bridge; in a historically hot region, adaptability is vital to manage climate change. The aspects of the slopes are different, and the age of the vines varies, too All that ensures that we have the flexibility to be able to put a blend together that represents the Taylor’s house style.

The first vintage of the new label was , which was a very hot year indeed, with a series of heatwaves and record temperatures of 4 . C in Pinh o in uly. So, an ideal year to test whether this blend of top vineyards could achieve Bridge’s aim a superb Vintage Port in a year that was far from ideal for making Vintage Ports.

Happily, this was also the first vintage in which Covid restrictions were completely lifted so that the grapes could once again be crushed by foot in the lagares. The Port-makers believe that this traditional method, grapes pressed between skin and stone, produces the best juice. It is hard work for the treaders, but also a lot of fun, stomping and singing with arms across each other’s shoulders. It would be impossible to combine with social distancing.

Perhaps it was this new-fledged freedom, in the vineyards and in the winery, that has made this Port so delightful. It is softer than many Vintage Ports, pretty and floral, with a velvety texture and notes of black cherry and a little spice. It is extremely drinkable now, but there is also the structure, freshness and elegance so essential for a Port to lay down. Since this release, Taylor’s have produced the , and Bridge hopes to be able to make this Port every year, or close.

A daunting set of natural circumstances have been turned to advantage, to produce great Port. Bridge, clearly more aligned with the marquis than with Voltaire, is applying the lessons of history, to delicious effect.

entinels Port , taylor.pt en port ine sentinels

This page: Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership Facing page: Terra Feita, on the western slopes of the Pinhão River Valley, has been supplying Taylor’s with highly perfumed grapes for more than a century

THE DUKE OF KENT AT 90

In an interview shortly before the Duke’s milestone birthday, Hugo Vickers talked to the veteran member of the Royal Family about duty, a positive approach to life and his admiration for his cousin, The late Queen

The Duke of Kent turned 90 on 9 October. With age comes remarkable statistics. He is the 12th oldest member of the Royal Family ever, rising to seventh if you include only those born into the family. He has been a Duke longer than anyone in history, more than 83 years, longer than The late Duke of Edinburgh ( years), HM The King as Duke of Cornwall ( years) and Queen Victoria’s son Prince Arthur as The Duke of Connaught ( years). He was the first prince to be born into the House of indsor (created by George V in 191 ) and the first grandson of George V and Queen Mary in the male line. He has lived in four reigns, just managing to be born before George V died in anuary 19 .

The Duke will celebrate his birthday later this month at Windsor Castle. Inevitably it is overshadowed by the death of the Duchess of Kent. She died peacefully at ren House, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, on 4 September, aged 9 . They had been married for 4 years.

When I worked with The Duke on his book, A Royal Life, it became clear that he saw his prime role as to help his cousin, The Queen, in whatever way he could. He had been called on to undertake daunting royal duties from an early age, walking in

the funeral processions of King George VI and Queen Mary, and giving homage to The Queen at her Coronation in 19 , when he was only 1 , which meant reading his words before the congregation in Westminster Abbey, not to mention millions of television viewers. In , he said I’m really looking forward to this Coronation because I don’t have to do anything.

In advance of his 90th birthday, I went to see The Duke at ren House. He never felt restricted by his royal life. I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had a great variety of wonderful things. I had the most wonderful opportunity to travel all over the world. I had some very good people working for me to encourage me – to say ‘such and such was well worth doing’ – or ‘don’t bother with that’. I was asked to do a great many things from quite an early age. I was still in the Army. I would suddenly be asked to go off and give independence to some country. I was the first member of the family to go to China –in the s. Serving in Hong Kong was the happiest time in our lives, but that was years ago.

I asked him if he had any regrets. My great regret is that I never kept a journal. He was also withdrawn from orthern Ireland in 19 1. I’m glad I can say now that I went there, but

His Royal Highness, Duke of Kent , by Jamie Coreth, 2025

Mary Evans Picture Library

it was only for three weeks until Peter Carrington, who was the Defence Secretary, discovered I was there and was apparently very upset and got me out rather quickly. They weren’t worried that they were going to shoot me. The explanation was that the real worry was that I’d be kidnapped and they’d make use of it. In a way I was lucky in that I was never called to go to war. If you’re a serving soldier and action is required, you can’t say no. But the principal role of the Army is to keep the peace.”

The Duke is glad to have lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. His cousin looked out for him, aware that he had lost his father when he was young. He gets on with the job, but his daughter Helen remembers that at his 80th birthday party in 1 , his childhood friend, Vincent Poklewski-Ko iell, praised him for his life of service and the Queen, sitting next to him, said: “Hear, hear.” Lady Helen said: “He doesn’t expect any praise or thanks, so when he gets it, it builds him up and it’s just lovely to see.” The Duke was pleased to be invited to join the Queen on the balcony at her last Trooping the Colour in 2022. She asked him if he was going to salute. When he said he would, she said ell, don’t knock my hat off.

He played a role in the London and Windsor parts of her funeral that September: “Ten days unlike any other in history that I have known. The Queen was so much a pillar in all our lives that it is hard to imagine a world without her in it.

I will always associate her with kindness and warmth, good humour and wise guidance. Her physical presence was always tremendous and inspiring and we invariably felt better when she came into a room.”

The Duke’s father, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary and his mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. Prince George was the most artistic of the four brothers. He was killed in a flying accident in August 194 , when The Duke was six years old, so his memories of his father are slight, principally sitting next to him as he drove his Bentley. The Duke’s sister, Princess Alexandra, was born a year after him and the younger brother, Prince Michael, just a few weeks before his father’s death. The family lived at Coppins, in Iver, Buckinghamshire and here Princess Marina brought them up as a young widow. They all loved Coppins and throughout their lives the three siblings have been exceptionally close. When I was helping The Duke with his book, one of the most memorable mornings was seeing him interacting with Princess Alexandra. She calls him ‘Freddie’ and he calls her ‘Georgie’ – nicknames set to confuse the biographers of the future.

Coppins had everything a child could want: lovely gardens to run around, games to be played and ponies to be ridden. The atmosphere was more cosmopolitan than other British

Above: The Duke of Kent at the age of two

Above right: The young Prince Edward and his sister, Princess Alexandra, with their father at a Canadian overseas hospital in Cliveden, in August 1940

Facing page: The Duke’s marriage to Katharine Worsley at York Minster in June 1961 is celebrated on a front cover of The Sphere that month, photographed by Cecil Beaton

Above: The Duke talks to Williams team principal Frank Williams as he prepares to test one of their Formula One cars in 1983

Below: With author Hugo Vickers

royal homes as Princess Marina’s sisters and cousins frequently visited from Europe. The house also received stimulating figures such as Noël Coward, Cecil Beaton, Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Malcolm Sargent. The Duke and his sister went to the local school. He then went to Ludgrove prep school in Berkshire, where he can remember wartime planes flying to ormandy before D-Day, to Eton and to Le osey in Swit erland. Princess Marina took him with her on a memorable six-week tour of the Far East in 1952. He passed through Sandhurst and joined the Royal Scots Greys in 1955. He served in the Army until 1976. Entering civilian life, he took the unpaid job as Vice-Chairman of the Overseas Trade Board, working with them until 2001. With immense courtesy and willingness, he has responded to every call to duty, and he has a positive approach to life, throwing himself into every new endeavour with enthusiasm. He has visited numerous Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries throughout the world. He has attended the burials of soldiers whose bodies have been identified years later, and who died in the First World War. He knows how much this means to the families of these men, and he wants to see as many cemeteries as possible. So too with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution that he took over as president when his mother died in 1968. He still has a few on his list yet to be visited. He has a

©The Duke of Kent

wide range of interests, above all his love of cars and of music, both classical and jazz.

Would his family undertake royal duties? The Duke pointed out that George V restricted the Royal Family to the sons and daughters of the Sovereign, and to the sons and daughters of sons of the Sovereign. George the Earl of St Andrews is certainly asked to do things. He sits on one or two charitable boards and he is Chancellor of the University of Bolton.” Nowadays there are not so many members of the Royal Family to do things. “They are a bit short,” said The Duke. “The ones who are working are working very hard. Look at Anne. She never stops. And the Duke of Gloucester. He is 81.”

And how does The Duke spend his time if he has a free day? “I am here at Wren House and I have our Labrador to take for walks occasionally. I do a lot of reading. I like books principally with a historical theme. There’s a good book by quite a young writer called Tim Bouverie – Allies at War. Well worth reading, fascinating. About the most interesting book about the war that I’ve read. He’s the same age as my grandchildren and has no experience of war whatever, but he writes it beautifully and it becomes quite an exciting story. I go to the Wigmore Hall about once a month depending on who’s doing what. And Glyndebourne. That’s more of an effort. For the first time ever

they’ve done Parsifal. It was a fairly modern conception. Of course the music is wonderful.”

He admits to mobility problems, but he is still robust. He loves the handsome walking stick the Scots Guards presented to him. I was very busy up until about four or five years ago and then it tailed off. I am still fairly busy. I don’t want to sit around doing nothing. I’ve still got umpteen patronages, medical, scientific or maybe military in some way. Some ask me to do things and some don’t. I have to remind them sometimes.

“There’s a wonderful thing called the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street and they do a lot of research. I hadn’t been there for years. It doesn’t have to be in the public domain. I can do a lot behind the scenes. I go to Trooping the Colour, though no longer in uniform, and to the Garter ceremony. This year I went to Surrey University. I’m not terribly mobile, I walk very slowly. But I did get a short holiday in Norfolk this summer.”

This autumn will be memorable with various celebrations being planned to mark the Duke’s milestone birthday. The Duke has been saddened by the Duchess’s death but touched by the affection in which she is remembered.

‘A Royal Life’ by HRH The Duke of Kent & Hugo Vickers is published by Hodder & Stoughton and available at all good bookshops

Above: The Duke joins The late Queen on the balcony of uckingha alace r her final r ping the l ur in his salute pr pted a hu ur us warning r the narch

THE

DUCHESS OF KENT, 1933-2025

A LIFE OF DEVOTION

As an ever-popular member of the Royal Family, through her long association with Wimbledon and, in her later years, teaching music to underprivileged children, the Duchess of Kent always radiated poise and elegance. Hugo Vickers pays tribute

Alamy; Mary Evans Picture Library

Above left: The young Katharine Worsley in a 1957 edition of The Tatler playing the piano at her Yorkshire home, Hovingham Hall

Above: The Duchess of Kent on her wedding day in 1961

Facing page, top: The Duke of Kent and Katharine Worsley pictured in 1960, a year before their marriage

Facing page, below: A 1961 portrait of the Duchess shortly before her marriage by the society osteopath and artist Stephen Ward, later notorious for his role in the Profumo affair

The death of the Duchess of Kent on 4 September focused the memories of many onto one of the most glamorous and sympathetic members of the Royal Family. I was lucky to go to the State Opening of Parliament in April 1966. In those days there was a procession of members of the Royal Family. I remember how elegant and glamorous they all were – The Queen herself, but also Princess Margaret, Princess Alice (Duchess of Gloucester), Princess Marina and the young Duchess of Kent (then years old). They were beautifully dressed, with tiaras, jewels and the ribands of Orders. It was a memorable sight. Now that is a lost era which today’s generation will never see.

Katharine Worsley had married the Duke of Kent in 19 1. She was from orkshire, the daughter of the LordLieutenant, her father a keen cricketer. She had taught at Lady Eden’s School in London. She and the Duke were a popular and hard-working couple. They carried out a great number of engagements, not only in Britain, but in Iran, Uganda, the Gambia, Barbados, Tonga and Japan. What

the Duchess especially relished is what she learnt from the people she met on these travels. She will primarily be remembered for giving the prizes at Wimbledon each year.

Later in life, the Duchess asked The Queen if she could relinquish her royal duties, such as Chancellor of Leeds University, and service appointments. Permission was given. She went to Hull to give singing lessons to children at Wansbeck Primary School. She found her métier late in life. And again she learnt a lot from the children she taught. She found that there was a lack of musical facilities in Hull, and so, with Nick Robinson, she set up Future Talent, a highly successful charity where there are masterclasses, ensemble days and workshops, and musical instruments are bought for underprivileged children. About 100 children are supported, some in the north, some in the south.

She was seen less often in recent years. The Duke looked after her beautifully at their home, Wren House at Kensington Palace, and until not long ago, could be spotted taking her on her weekly visit to the hairdressers, touching devotion in a marriage of 64 years.

ROYAL STANDARD

Being granted a Royal Warrant is a red-letter day for any business – and a recognition of the excellence it has achieved. From keeping traditional crafts alive to working with the natural world, many of the Warrant Holders’ talents also dovetail with the interests and passions of The King. By Simon Brooke

Kev Foster

These pages: The adventure playground built by CAP.CO in ancient woodlands near Windsor Castle, masterminded by the company’s Simon Egan

For a business practising a craft that is centuries old, Charfleet Book Bindery gives a surprisingly modern impression. Here, at its bright, new-build offices in an Essex business park with a workshop featuring state-ofthe-art equipment, the company is now in its th year of producing luxury diaries, calendars and notebooks. Owner Simon Burstein is one of the latest Grantees of a oyal arrant – although he’s very keen to stress that the accolade belongs to the whole company.

e’d applied some time ago but then my colleague suddenly said to me one morning, ‘ ou’ll never believe this, but we’ve got it’, recalls Burstein, who bought Charfleet in 1 following the sale of his family’s fashion retail stores, Browns. Later that day I called everyone into the boardroom and made the announcement. e were all absolutely thrilled. The business, whose other royal clients include The Duchess of Edinburgh, provides an interesting example of how oyal arrants both celebrate traditional skills and promote new enterprises. Many of our staff have been here for or years and we have a set of skilled workers who do things that almost no one else can do these days, explains

Burstein. The product range features contemporary designs and even in the digital world, diaries and notebooks have their place. ou see people carrying a notebook alongside their smartphone, he adds. e know that we’re more likely to remember things if we write them down – there’s that connection between brain and hand. Besides, a beautifully crafted leather notebook or diary creates a great impression in a meeting.

Charfleet’s blend of new enterprise and age-old craftsmanship and its position as an essentially British brand with an international reach tells you much about the extensive and varied range of oyal arrant Holders.

A play area might be a comparatively modern concept but oyal arrant Holder Simon Egan’s challenge from HM The King was to build one in ancient woodlands just a short distance from indsor Castle, in the shadow of its history and grandeur. Creating Adventurous Places (CAP.CO), which designs and builds bespoke adventure playgrounds, started working for The King with a project in the Savill Garden at indsor Great Park. e were faced with quite a challenge when it came to the design and quality, says founder and

‘project development fella’ Simon Egan. “The brief was to create something ‘uniquely Windsor’ and a playground like no other.”

Opened last year, the play area consists of the Woodland play area for older children and adults, and the Courtyard which caters for toddlers and younger children. Set amid trees and shrubs, a trail of playhouses and walkways of different heights enables visitors to immerse themselves in the natural world, combining play, learning and a deep connection to nature.

His Majesty’s longstanding interest in design and sustainability presented both a high bar and an opportunity. “We ensured, for instance, that 70 to 80 per cent of the timber used was sourced and milled from hardwood trees fallen in Great Park,” says Egan, who trained as an artist. “We also wanted to create something unique that felt as if it had always been there.”

Shoemaking is another area that marries modern design with traditional skills, many of which have enjoyed a renaissance over the last few years as, increasingly, thoughtful consumers seek to buy less but buy better. It’s a growing consumer trend where niche brands are often preferred over well-known names or global brands.

For Tony Gaziano of shoemakers Gaziano & Girling, a Royal arrant offers an opportunity to celebrate British shoemaking. “The King is an amazing ambassador for our craft. It’s important that people realise that this is something that Britain does better than any other country,” he says.

His Majesty visited the company in 2019 when he was Prince of Wales as part of a tour that included the oldest and youngest shoemaker in Northampton, according to Gaziano who, with

Top: he bright, new-build sse fices har eet k inder , which has been pr ducing lu ur diaries, calendars and n teb ks r ears

Above: he uchess dinburgh pening har eet s new anve sland pre ises in ul

Above: The King (when he was Prince of Wales) visits bespoke shoemakers Gaziano & Girling’s factory in Kettering in 2019

Left: A pair of the company’s opera pumps with bows

his business partner Dean Girling has been making high-end shoes for more than 25 years. “As the youngest shoemakers we were particularly honoured, he says. It was such a boost for the company. I think we were all impressed by the fact that he wasn’t just interested in the process of shoemaking, but he really wanted to hear from our staff. ou can see how interested he is in people.

After The King’s visit, the shoemakers at Ga iano Girling produced a pair of made-to-order shoes for him, based on what was rumoured to be his si e. Later we were invited to meet him at Clarence House, and we realised that we must have got the si e wrong, recalls Ga iano. But later we received a bespoke commission from him and so we got an opportunity to make a pair that would fit him perfectly.

His Majesty’s interest in sustainability is demonstrated by his granting of a arrant to Cole Fabrics. The ottinghambased company is continually improving the sustainability of its products. Its UK-manufactured ribbons are made from 1 per cent post-consumer recycled polyester and it makes bespoke products with recycled materials that comply with international sustainability standards. Last year it recycled more waste than ever before and obtained more accurate data for its carbon footprint calculation.

The exciting news about becoming a oyal arrant

Holder arrived a few months ago while I was in the office, recalls the company’s Sales and Technical Director, ohn Kingsley. I was informed by our operations director that we’d been successful but at this stage it was top secret. e celebrated quietly until we knew we could make the announcement to our entire business some weeks later.

One of the benefits has been sharing the award with the company’s team, he explains. It’s a real and tangible recognition for their efforts. e’ve not made a lot of noise about this achievement thus far as we want it to permeate slowly. However, we’re confident that our current and prospective overseas clients will recognise the oyal arrant and that it will further enhance our ability to sell our products around the world.

This sense of a reward for staff who have honed their skills and are dedicated to their craft is one shared by The Traditional Company which produces a range of traditional estate fencing and legacy steel edging, as well as bespoke ironwork built by an experienced in-house fabrication team. e haven’t stopped smiling, say directors Martin Kilgour and David House. The Traditional Company was launched because of its founders’ love of heritage techniques and products. But we produce and install our fencing, edging, railings and gates using modern methods. This has helped the aesthetics of traditional metalwork to flourish in the 1st century without comprising its heritage.

Established in 184 , rights of Lymm is the UK’s oldest manufacturer and supplier of gold leaf. Here too a respect for tradition is married with a forward-thinking approach. At the heart of our company lies a deep respect for traditional

craftsmanship and the skills honed over many generations, rich in heritage and meaning, explains a company spokesperson. e believe these time-honoured practices are not simply to be preserved, but to be adapted and shared. They add In today’s fast-changing world, remaining relevant means more than keeping pace, it means standing for something enduring by integrating age-old techniques with modern design, sustainable practices and new technologies. e create products that are both rooted in the past and ready for the future. The oyal arrant is more than an honour –it’s a reminder that tradition and progress are not opposites. They’re partners, and we’re proud to be building a business that respects where it came from, while always looking ahead.

ew oyal arrant Holder, The London Honey Company, has long been committed to sustainable beekeeping practices. Our ‘slow beekeeping’ methods mean that we look for beautiful, unspoilt farmland that hasn’t been aggressively farmed or drilled, in addition to working with farmers who refuse the use of pesticides and insecticides, says its founder, Steve Benbow. e partner with organic dairies and sustainable farmers to ensure our slow beekeeping practices not only produce the highest quality honey but the welfare of the bees and the crops on which they forage are carefully protected as well.

ith the announcement that T H The Prince and Princess of ales have become Grantors, we look forward to learning which companies will be chosen by this new generation. It will be interesting to note how illiam and Kate will take into account that unique blend of tradition and enterprise that has been such a hallmark of HM The King’s Grantees.

Wrights of Lymm

Sustainable

being

Above and right: The London Honey Company prides itself on its commitment to sustainable ‘slow’ beekeeping practices

Facing page: Gilding from Wrights of Lymm on the staircase at Fishmongers’ Hall in London

The Royal Warrant Holders Association details all 600 companies that hold Royal Warrants. Visit royalwarrant.org

Top:

ribbons

made at Cole Fabrics in Nottingham

BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT

Royal Warrants of Appointment are a mark of recognition for the high standards of goods and services supplied to the Royal Household, as part of an ongoing trading relationship. Becoming a Royal Warrant Holder is the crowning achievement for any company and a great honour. The Royal Warrant Holders Association represents those companies, and over the following pages we ‘Spotlight’ a selection of Members of the Association who share the stories of their heritage and the secrets of their success.

WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO

The Bendicks story began in 1930, when Mr Oscar Benson and Colonel Dickson started a small confectionery business on unassuming Church Street in Kensington, producing chocolates in a tiny basement beneath the shop. A few years later, Bendicks was developing an enviable reputation for quality and a Bendicks store opened in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair.

The rich and fashionable frequently visited the shop to enjoy the intense taste of a strong mint fondant, accompanied by 9 per cent dark chocolate made from the finest cocoa beans. Known as the Bittermint, it was a phenomenon from the start and was to make Bendicks famous around the world.

The unrivalled reputation of Bendicks continued to grow and over 60 years ago in 1962, Bendicks was awarded a Royal Warrant, By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen, a prestigious stamp of quality that has adorned every one of the beautifully distinctive chocolate boxes ever since.

Bendicks continues to build on its reputation and rich heritage, still paying the same attention to every detail at its factory as it did when the chocolates were made in the basement beneath the shop in Kensington. Today, Bendicks is the premium after-dinner mint, delivering the perfect finishing touch to any meal or entertainment occasion.

Crafted with only the finest ingredients, the iconic Bittermint is still made using the same original recipe today, a testament to their commitment to the company’s traditional methods and artistry, passed down through the years. Bendicks has earned the loyalty of chocolate lovers and royalty alike and was awarded a Royal Warrant By Appointment to His Majesty King Charles III in 2024. Quality and tradition are fundamental to the longevity of the company’s success and Bendicks looks forward to many more years of producing its famous chocolate mints and continuing to delight the most discerning customers. bendicks.co.uk

AN EYE FOR QUALITY

oger Pope Opticians first opened on ew Cavendish Street in 198 . The Managing Director, Priti Kotecha, joined the team after gaining extensive experience in luxury eyewear. oger Pope Opticians has grown from strength to strength and now has one of the most experienced clinical teams, including dispensing opticians and optometrists.

A proud milestone for the team was the recent awarding of new oyal arrants of Appointment to His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty Queen Camilla. This prestigious honour dates back to , when oger Pope Opticians received its first oyal arrant, granted by Her Majesty Queen Eli abeth II, followed by the oyal arrant of Appointment to His oyal Highness The Prince of ales in 14. Priti attributes the success of the practice to her excellent staff, who deliver the best bespoke solutions, for which it is renowned.

As an independent optician in a market increasingly dominated by larger chains, oger Pope Opticians stands apart. The practice is committed to creating a welcoming environment within traditional but luxury surroundings. The

focus is on personal service, ensuring every client receives correctly fitted frames and accurately prescribed lenses.

Advanced eye examinations are conducted using the latest diagnostic technology, including a D Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) camera. This allows our optometrist to take a D cross-sectional scan of the inside of the eye, allowing for more precise information regarding early signs of retinal disease and macular degeneration. There is also an optical laboratory on site with a fully equipped gla ing facility, so the team can ensure that spectacles are crafted to the highest standards.

For clients seeking something extra special, oger Pope Opticians offers a unique collection of luxury eyewear (for example, Cartier, Lotos, Chanel, Bulgari and Hoffmann). These are crafted from the finest materials, including 18K white and yellow gold, platinum, diamonds, natural horn and titanium. oger Pope Opticians serves clients from around the world who appreciate the relaxed and discreet atmosphere. The team looks forward to welcoming new clients to the practice. rogerpope.co.uk

LONDON’S LITERARY HAVEN

Nestled in the heart of Piccadilly since 1797, Hatchards is more than just a bookshop. It is a treasured British institution with a rich literary heritage. Founded by ohn Hatchard, a prominent publisher and anti-slavery campaigner, Hatchards has proudly held the title of official bookseller to the oyal Household for generations and is London’s oldest bookshop.

Hatchards’ booksellers is renowned for its knowledge, expertise and reading recommendations. It remains a literary haven for authors and a sanctuary for book-lovers. The flagship store is spread across five elegant storeys offering author events, signed editions, rare and first editions and a subscription service. It is a place where history and literature meet, and where the joy of discovering books is celebrated every day.

In a continued tribute to its founder’s publishing roots, Hatchards presents The Hatchards Library, which publishes a few titles each year, all limited, numbered and reissued with a bespoke dust jacket. In 2025, this includes

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day, Tom Sharpe’s Riotous Assembly and a new title from the Hatchards exclusive Paddington Bear collection. This summer has seen the exciting launch of the Hatchards Children’s Library, a curated collection of beloved children’s books. The inaugural title, Judith Kerr’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, remains a timeless classic for both young readers and adults alike. Hatchards’ legacy extends beyond Piccadilly. In 2014, a second shop was opened at St Pancras International, perfectly situated next to Fortnum & Mason, further deepening a partnership dating back over two centuries. Then, in 2022, Hatchards opened its third location in the literary heartland of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, home to the world’s longest-running literature festival. Eight generations of booksellers and readers have passed through the doors of 187 Piccadilly, but the essence of Hatchards remains unchanged: a commitment to excellence in bookselling and a love of literature that spans centuries.

THE JUNGLE LOOK

A feeling of sanctuary with a dash of escapism is the ethos behind Cole & Son’s latest joyful wallpaper collection, full of lush foliage and fantastic beasts, a vision where design meets art. By Fiona McCarthy

We are more than pattern designers, we are artists, now and for the future,” enthuses Marie Karlsson, Creative and Managing Director of the 1 -year-old British wallpaper company Cole Son. Everything we do starts with a hand-drawn and painted design. e constantly reference our incredible centuries-old archive of printing blocks for inspiration. e live history and we live art, adds the dynamic Karlsson, who has led the brand for close to a decade. Combining the two has been Cole Son’s winning concept since block printing specialist ohn Perry founded the company in 18 . e take inspiration from the past but then make it relevant for today’s and tomorrow’s audience. e have such an extensive timeless portfolio because we can go into the archive to pick out something nobody has seen before, which we can then recolour and make cool and relevant for today.

Steeped in this prestigious heritage – Cole Son’s wallpapers can be found in Britain’s most important stately buildings from Chatsworth House and Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament – while remaining a driving force in innovation, sustainability and craftsmanship has long been the secret to the company’s success. Cole Son’s papers are

Facing page: ‘Injisuthi’, one of the nine hand-painted designs bursting with rican wildli e and ra in the Cole & Son x Ardmore collection ‘Baobab’

sought after around the world by leading interior designers such as Martin Brudni ki (best known for Annabel’s, The Ivy, La Fantaisie in Paris and The Fifth Avenue Hotel in ew ork) and Kit Kemp, a big fan of the brand’s collaboration with Fornasetti, deploying colourful pufferfish and whimsical monochromatic clouds on the walls of her hotels’ bedrooms and restaurant bathrooms in London and ew ork.

From an elegant townhouse to a rambling country pile, Cole Son’s designs fit perfectly into any interior. They bring a feeling of comfort and sophistication but also a sense of escapism, says Karlsson. This is particularly true of its latest collection, its third designed in collaboration with South African ceramics studio Ardmore, founded by F e Halsted on her farm in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains 4 years ago. ‘Baobab’ is full of vivid, soulful magic, from exotic birds to slinky big cats, set within the rich, lush flora and foliage native to the landscape surrounding Ardmore’s home within the Kwa ulu- atal.

ine immersive, intricate and abundantly joyful wallpaper designs burst with regal cheetahs prowling through the long grasses of the Savannah; a tower of long-eyelashed giraffes enjoying a moment of pause among tall acacia trees, nibbling

on their feathery leaves and fluffy pink pom-pom flowers; and leopards romping through a tropical playground of waterfalls and pools dotted with fiery red-hot pokers, water lilies and the occasional hot-pink flamingo. ‘Tree of Life’, the hero of the collection, is a generous repeat mural riffing on the folkloric mysticism of one of Africa’s most important symbols, the ancient baobab, iconic for its ‘upside-down’ bulbous base and outstretched canopy of leafy limbs.

A cacophony of crowned cranes, kingfishers, flamingos, wading jacanas, African hoopoes, striking storks, parakeets, parrots and lovebirds in jewel hues fill its winding, overlapping boughs hanging with fruit, seedpods and powderpuff flowers. It took Cole Son’s creative team, on the upper floors of the brand’s flagship gallery on ubilee Place in Chelsea, close to 1, hours to hand-paint the design; much like the time it takes Ardmore’s artisans, including throwers, sculptors and painters, to hand-craft teapots and vases, bowls and jugs, whose A-list fans include Dame Helen Mirren and Eric Clapton.

It is the kindness of expression imbued on each animal or bird’s face – whether it’s the gentle eyes of a wise old owl or the cheeky grin of a chimp – that makes Cole Son’s Ardmore wallpapers so appealing. It’s not literally a leopard, it’s a fantasy leopard, says Karlsson of how the design team bring these patterns to life. e want to make everything elegant, not aggressive, but not lose the raw charm and character of Ardmore’s ceramics.

It is a process she describes as design meets art . Our artists love to paint, and they have the freedom to explore ideas without having to be too prescriptive, Karlsson adds. This includes drawing on the melting pot of cultures that filter through to the UK from all over the world. The English style has always encompassed everything from Asian chinoiseries, Indian chint es and Middle Eastern ikats, as well as Belgian linens, Italian jacquards and French cut velvets and silk, so we too take all those influences and make them our own.

This ethos threads its way through the recently launched Classics Collection Volume II, a flower-packed rendition of archival artwork across seven designs reworked by Cole Son’s artists by hand. From a striking climbing trail of Chinese magnolias, brought to life in soothing shades such as charcoal, rose pink, powdery white, sky blue and lemonade, to bold, explosive vintage poppies with ru ed petals and leaves lending a regal touch in bold pinks, buttercup yellows, emerald and sapphire, there are also elegant patterns featuring a rainfall of lantern-like fuchsias and a large-scale ‘Moss Trellis’ design dating from the 19 s which has been given a modern abstract appeal in earthy hues.

Cole Son’s skill also lies in understanding how an overall design will impact a space. The way we draw a leopard walking through the jungle can form the pattern of an urban stripe or a small harlequin effect, says Karlsson. Or it can be about capturing an ancient art such as the watercolour nature of brush painting in the new ‘Chinese Branch’ pattern or the perfectly imperfect overlapping of leafy, detailed linework in ‘Iris’, which then creates a full, lush wallcovering in gentle shades of lavender, duck-egg blue, dusky coral and chalk.

Sometimes we want to hide the visual format, so it is not as obvious, and sometimes we want to elevate it, explains Karlsson. But either way, the secret is not to irritate the eye. It has to feel comfortable. And the greatest irony, she adds, is that it can actually be more harmonious to have pattern rather than all white across walls because it relaxes your eyes and you don’t have to think. Home needs to feel like a sanctuary. cole and son.com

Above: Creative and Managing Director Marie Karlsson

Below: A Cole & Son artist working on the ‘Tree of Life’ Facing page: ‘Paradise Tree’ in Tangerine and Hibiscus from the company’s Classics Collection Volume II

ROYALTY IN BRITAIN RECOMMENDS

A regal round-up of where to go and what to see

DRAWING THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE – IN SCOTLAND

Head to The King’s Gallery at Holyroodhouse this autumn where works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Titian are among 45 Italian enaissance drawings on display for the first time in Scotland in more than half a century. Drawing the Italian Renaissance showcases the Royal Collection’s unrivalled treasury of drawings which, due to their sensitivity to light, cannot be on permanent display, making this a rare chance to enjoy works such as Raphael’s Christ’s Charge to Peter, one of his designs for a Sistine Chapel tapestry, and Michelangelo’s The Virgin and Child with the Young Baptist. A remarkable survivor is a cartoon (above) by Bernardino Campi for a virgin and child altarpiece which has undergone 120 hours of conservation. Two artists-in-residence will be drawing in the Gallery on selected days.

‘Drawing the Italian Renaissance’ will be at The King’s allery, Palace of olyrood ouse, ctober Marc 2026. rct.uk/whatson

MARIE ANTOINETTE STYLE

Marie Antoinette Style at the V&A uth ensingt n is the s first exhibition devoted to the French queen ( right ) and explores the origins and revivals of the style shaped by the most fashionable monarch in history. The dress and interiors modelled and adopted by the ill-fated queen in the final decades the th centur have had a lasting in uence n re than ears design, ashi n, fil and decorative arts. Among the 250 items on display will be exceptionally rare personal items owned and worn by Marie Antoinette, a style icon in her own time, including richly embellished fragments of court dress, the queen’s own silk slippers, and jewels from her private collection.

Until 22 March 2026; vam.ac.uk

©Royal Collection Trust; Château de Versailles

Two new publications from the oyal Collection Trust share the remarkable natural history drawings and watercolours from the oyal Library and Print oom at indsor Castle. Animalia from t e oyal ollection and otanicals from t e oyal ollection are bursting with beautiful illustrations of flora and fauna, making them perfect gifts for plant and animal lovers. The works depicted date from the late 1 th century to the late 19th century, a period when Europeans were learning about different species through extensive exploration of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The natural world has been of interest to royalty for centuries; the 8 illustrations in each book encourage us to look at it with the same delight and fascination. royalcollections op.co.uk

500 WORDS

Sharpen those pencils and dust off that keyboard, the brilliant ords story-writing competition for children is back for , supported by Her Majesty The Queen. The deadline for submissions is Friday ovember at 9pm. Divided into two age categories – to and 8 to 11-year-old – entrants are encouraged to write a story in words or less, with the emphasis on creativity, imagination and originality rather than spelling, punctuation and grammar. The advice to entrants is simple rite a story you would love to read. Fifty finalists will be invited to a star-studded grand final in February , with a panel of celebrity judges on hand to crown the winners. Teachers, teaching assistants, librarians or SE D staff who love to read and mark work are invited to sign up to be one of thousands of volunteer judges, with the chance to attend the final. The Queen, who has been supporting the competition since 1 , attributes her own love of reading to her father, Bruce Shand, and at last year’s ceremony at Buckingham Palace (above) praised the winners for being able to, conjure magic with your pens . Visit bbc.co.uk teac ords

BREAKFAST LIKE A KING (OR QUEEN)

Bring a regal flourish to the breakfast table with the oyal Collection’s new range of chinaware based on original items in royal residences. The Property of the oyal Kitchen range takes inspiration from the Great Kitchen in indsor Castle, the oldest working kitchen in the country. The nostalgic, everyday service is made of fine creamware, and includes a butter dish (belo ), cereal bowl, toast plate and utensil pot. Also part of the range are mugs featuring the tongue-in-cheek inscriptions, ‘Property of His Majesty’s Kitchen’ and ‘Property of Her Majesty’s Kitchen’ – an ideal gift for anyone with monarchical aspirations

From downstairs domestication to upstairs sophistication, the oyal Collection’s new East ing range is based on the flora and fauna seen on the hand-painted wallpaper and silk panels in the East ing of Buckingham Palace. The range includes a patterned velvet cushion and a lacquer tray decorated with birds and flowers against gold leaf, but we have our eye on the crystal coupe glass, based on the ornate lotus flower chandelier which hangs in the Centre oom. ust the thing for a gin and Dubonnet – or ‘drinky-poo’ as the late Queen Mother preferred to call her favourite tipple. Available from royalcollections op.co.uk or oyal Collection Trust shops.

A GOWN LIKE ALIX

r ch ker necklaces t utfit twinning, ueen le andra was a ashi n trailbla er ne hundred ears n r this st lish r al s death, ucinda sling c nsiders the sart rial ch ices the riginal dwardian in uencer

t’s been a vintage year for royal fashion headlines, from Zara Tindall in a trouser suit at Royal Ascot to The Princess of Wales donning Dior for July’s state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. But one outfit has arguably outshone any modern-day rivals, despite the fact it was last worn 123 years ago. When The Edwardians exhibition opened at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace this spring, the surprise pi ce de r sistance (for the oyal Collection had cannily omitted any mention of it in pre-show press releases) was the exquisite, glittering gown worn by Queen Alexandra for the 19 Coronation. A breathtaking, coruscating confection with a ‘faerie queene’ wired collar and spangled netting, over metallic silk, it still has the power to da le and beguile. e can only begin to imagine the impact it made when Queen Alexandra stepped out from the shadow of estminster Abbey’s darkened entrance, to gleam under its newly installed electric lights. Before Kate, before Diana, before Margaret, before all the royal fashionistas we know and love, there was Alexandra, the Danish princess who was the style-setter of her day. Alexandra brought glamour and panache into the oyal Family, and in the process charmed a nation. This ovember will mark 1 years since Queen Alexandra died at Sandringham House in orfolk, a timely moment then to look back at her life, and her style. A Queen-in-waiting for almost 40 years, Alexandra’s story is often reduced to a few familiar themes her dignified tolerance of her husband Edward VII’s philandering ways, her smothering relationship with her

children, the debilitating deafness which saw her retreat from court life, her love of dogs and other animals and, above all, her elegant and apparently ageless appearance.

In the 1st century, we don’t need to look far to find some reminder of her. Most of us will have passed by or lived near an Alexandra oad. There are several hospitals named for her, a legacy of her genuine and heartfelt interest in nursing; and Alexandra Palace in north London was originally going to be the Palace of the People until it was felt a name-change was an appropriate tribute to the much-loved Princess of ales. Charities, an army regiment, a butterfly and the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Ascot all bear her name.

It was regularly commented, often by Queen Victoria herself, that Alexandra was no intellectual. But she was kind, gracious, beautiful and oh-so stylish. Alexandra’s clothes, or rather, her ability to strike just the right sartorial note, were her secret weapon; her superpower if you like. An early biography from 19 , written by Sarah Tooley, described her knack for being impeccably put together Tall and graceful and invariably dressed in what appears to be just the right thing for the occasion, devoid of exaggerations of style, The Queen has that easy and reposeful demeanour, which perfect dressing gives. The press took an intense interest in what she wore, devoting column inches to describing the cut, fabric and embellishments of every ensemble, and the British public, starved of a royal pin-up until her arrival, lapped it up. She embraced fashions in a way her mother-in-law Queen Victoria, draped in widow’s

Queen Alexandra’s

Coronation gown from 1902, with its ‘faerie queene’ collar, was a surpise addition to the Edwardians exhibtiion

Mary Evans Picture Library

weeds, refused to. She followed fashion but was never a slave to it, choosing what suited her – and the occasion. She set trends. Her penchant for the tailor-made, a smart, matching jacket and skirt with its roots in sporting, yachting and riding dress, popularised the look among the wider public and led to the success of tailors such as Henry Poole Son and Redfern. John Redfern, originally a modest draper based at Cowes (close to Osborne House on the Isle of ight), found that business boomed when The Prince and Princess of ales led fashionable society in making Cowes the destination for yachting. The patronage of The Princess (and a oyal arrant, granted in 18 ) was to be the icing on the cake. Further branches in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Paris and ew

Left: An illustration from Pen and Pencil of Alexandra out riding; and an advertisement for Redfern’s tailors – trumpeting its royal links – from 1887 Facing page: A page of photographs from a 1910 edition of The Sketch highlighting Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII’s status as fashion icons

York followed, establishing Redfern as the premier destination for ladies’ tailoring.

Alexandra famously favoured choker or dog-collar necklaces, allegedly to hide a scar on her swan-like neck; the style would define the Edwardian ‘look’. hen the Parisian Diamond Company placed adverts in the press in 19 , it offered, ropes of pearls to encircle the neck three or four times and then fall to the waist after the splendid fashion that Queen Alexandra patronises”. She was painted by Sir Luke Fildes in 1894, with her apanese Chin, Punch, in her arms; inevitably the little dogs soon became the height of fashion. And she could turn around the fortunes of an entire industry simply by what she chose to wear; in 1881, her promise to wear only Britishproduced wool helped reverse the industry’s slump in sales. In short, if Alexandra was alive today, her Instagram would be so hot it would glow.

Princess Alexandra of Denmark arrived in Britain on 7 March 1863, landing at Gravesend just three days before her marriage to Albert Edward, Prince of ales on the 1 th. Her dress, of grey poplin, manufactured appropriately within the British Isles, by illiam Fry Co of Dublin, was generally thought to be an unostentatious and thoroughly correct choice for the 18-year-old whose youth and beauty alone charmed the crowds gathered to welcome the Princess to Britain. The colour, silver grey, was known to be a favourite of Queen Victoria. Even as a teenage bride, Alexandra chose her clothes with diplomacy and care. Here was a thoughtful choice which could hardly fail to meet with the approval of her domineering mother-in-law.

Alexandra also found herself having to yield to Queen Victoria’s wishes on the matter of her wedding gown. Originally, she had been given a glamorous dress of Brussels lace by King Leopold of Belgium, but The Queen made it very clear that the dress for a British royal wedding must be seen to showcase the very best of British craftsmanship. ithout fuss, the dress of Belgian lace was substituted for a gown of silver silk tissue designed by the dressmaker Mrs James of Hanover Square, overlaid with four tiers of Honiton lace flounces made by the East Devon firm of Tucker and Son. ith Princess Alexandra remaining in Denmark until just days before her marriage, the practical arrangements regarding her trousseau were entrusted to Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (younger cousin of Queen Victoria and the mother of Queen Mary, the future daughter-in-law of Alexandra). Princess Mary Adelaide oversaw the finer details, from the orange blossom that would stud the dress to the lace design incorporating the national symbols of rose, shamrock and thistle. Everything, bar the Princess’s lingerie (made in Copenhagen), was to be British. ithin days of the wedding, Alexandra’s gown had already been altered so that it would be more wearable for the many evening functions she would be obliged to attend as the newly minted Princess of ales. This hasty recycling particularly frustrated the artist illiam Powell Frith, who had been commissioned to paint the wedding ceremony in St George’s Chapel at indsor, and had not reckoned with the bride’s dress disappearing before he had finished his canvas. Alexandra’s wedding dress exists today, in its much altered state, but intriguingly, in more recent years a band of Belgian

lace has been discovered, stitched into the lining, a secret, but significant indicator perhaps of the young Princess’s independent streak, or at least a tiny concession to her own desires, allowing King Leopold’s gift to remain an invisible part of her wedding trousseau. From the contemporary photographs we can see of the dress, taken by E Mayall, it is clear that fashion-forward Alexandra has already begun to move away from the wide crinoline cage style to a skirt with more bulk at the back, a taster of the silhouettes typifying the 18 s. In the early years of her marriage, Alexandra often wore white or cream in public, a shade that eloquently expressed the modesty and simplicity becoming of a young bride.

In 18 , Alexandra gave birth to the couple’s third child – a daughter named Louise. Her confinement coincided with an agonising bout of rheumatic fever, which was to leave her with damaged hearing and a permanently stiff knee. After several months of recuperation, Alexandra was determined not to let her disability affect her and worked on improving her mobility, but her new gait led to one of the most bi arre cases of copycat trends. In a clumsy show of solidarity with the Princess, fashionable ladies began to imitate the ‘Alexandra limp’ and adopt jewelled walking canes for their daily perambulations. Shoemakers even offered pairs of shoes with heels of differing heights to attain the impression of regal lameness. The cra e was nationwide; in December 18 9, the Dundee

Courier newspaper noted with disapproval those adopting it in Edinburgh, arguing it was, as painful as it is idiotic and ludicrous no true lady could possibly adopt a fancy which had its origins in the pain and suffering as one so dearly beloved as our future Queen .

By the 18 s, Alexandra was often seen in richer jewel colours as well as sumptuous velvet. She maintained a simple, statuesque silhouette, aided by her slenderness, and favoured well-cut skirts rather than tight lacing, together with neat hats (each named the Princess robe and Princess hat in her honour). And while she eschewed overly fussy styles, she could be playful with fashion, enjoying the trend for sprays of flowers and other vegetation on her gowns. For a state visit to Ireland in 188 , it was reported in the newspapers that Alexandra wore a dress of green velvet draped with Irish lace, fastened with a bouquet of shamrock and lily of the valley, a marriage of style and diplomacy in dress form, guaranteed to please her Irish hosts. Her sister, Dagmar, wife of the future Tsar Alexander III, paid a visit to Britain in 18 with her husband. The sisters planned what they would wear in advance, ordering outfits from orth in Paris, that matched or complemented each other. One day, they wore identical dresses with Dagmar in pink and Alexandra in pale blue, while one photograph from this visit shows the sisters together in matching polka-dot dresses. It was not uncommon for siblings to dress alike during this period, but

Mary Evans Picture Library

the adoption of the ‘twinning’ trend by The Princess of Wales and the future Empress of Russia, and its dissemination via thousands of cartes de visite, caused quite the sensation.

An unexpected tragedy marked Alexandra’s middle age when her eldest son, Prince Albert Victor (‘Eddy’), Duke of Clarence, died of pneumonia in January 1892, aged just 28. Afterwards, the colour palette she chose for her clothes took on a softer, more sombre tone, with purple, pale mauve, silver and cream alongside the traditional black mourning. When she became Queen in 19 1, her wardrobe began to reflect her elevated status with dense embroidery, spangles, beadwork and metallic thread all adding to her appearance of majesty. Her coronation gown was a prime example of Alexandra at the peak of her fashionable powers. With nobody to answer to except herself, she chose a French house, Morin-Blossier, to design her dress, convinced of the superiority of French dressmakers when it came to evening wear, and took elements from costumes she had worn for fancy-dress balls, confident that a note of theatricality was what was needed for the occasion. The gold fabric she had woven in India at the Delhi firm Manick Chand, under the watchful eye of Mary, Lady Cur on, the stylish young Vicereine, who was sworn to secrecy over the details. Back in 1869, Alexandra had been bitterly disappointed when she was forbidden by Queen Victoria from accompanying her husband on a visit to India and as a consequence retained a romantic

hankering for the country. The fabric of her coronation gown at least connected her to India a tangible way. Not only that, with the gold cloth being woven thousands of miles away, the gown could remain under wraps until the big reveal. Alexandra had expressly wished that none of the ‘London ladies’ would get wind of her design and attempt to copy it. She intended to look the part and celebrate her queenly otherness.

In the 15 years following the death of her husband, old age began to erode her famous beauty, although the press and public alike continued to subscribe to the belief that The widowed Queen was eternally youthful. Photographs were doctored to erase lines and sagging, and when out in public, Alexandra often wore a veil. It was smoke and mirrors – she was only human – but everyone seemed to want to believe that age could not wither her. In the lengthy tributes to her following her death on 20 November 1925, just 11 days before her 81st birthday, one notable feature was a spread of photographs in The Illustrated London News documenting her position as a “leader of fashion” over the years. The article commented that when Alexandra became a grandmother in the 1890s, Queen Victoria would have preferred her to adopt a more matronly style of dress, but Alexandra “saw no reason to clothe her still erect and graceful figure in an elderly way . If you’ve got it, flaunt it, and Alexandra certainly did, as long as she could, and all in the best possible taste.

Above: Pincess Alexandra with her sister, Dagmar, who was the wife of Tsar Alexander III of Russia, pictured in matching polka-dot dresses in 1873; and Alexandra on her wedding day in 1863, pictured in Lady’s Pictorial Facing page: A colour engraving of Alexandra reclining on a couch in the 1870s by the artist William Heydemann

THE ELIZABETHAN AGE

Next April will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. With a long tradition of royal reporting, The Illustrated London News and its sister publications recorded every milestone, from infancy and childhood, marriage and motherhood to becoming monarch, and one of the most famous faces on the planet. In honour of this centenary, we are diving into the archive t find i ages that highlight s e the pers nal and public moments in The late Queen’s long and eventful life

Above: Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York is born at 17 Bruton Street on 21 April 1926 and christened at the Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace on 29 May in a ceremony performed by the Archbishop of York. Her parents, The Duchess and Duchess of York, hold a small family tea party afterwards at which the christening cake, surmounted with a little silver cradle containing a doll, is cut. The Princess’s christening gown of Brussels lace is a family heirloom, worn by generations of royals going back to the children of Queen Victoria

Facing page, top: The young Queen makes her Christmas broadcast from vern ent use in uckland, ew ealand in t was the first time a reigning monarch had visited the Commonwealth country

Facing page, left: During a visit to India in November 1983, The Queen meets Mother Teresa in New Delhi and presents her with an honorary Order of Merit in recognition of her outstanding humanitarian work

Facing page, right: The Queen makes a royal tour of Ghana in November hana had been the first sub- aharan nwealth c untr t win independence under President Kwame Nkrumah in 1957. The trip causes concern at home that it might be seen as an acceptance of Nkrumah’s dictatorial rule, and there are fears for The Queen’s safety. But Her Majesty insists on making the trip, which passes without incident. In the same year, during a tour of India, The Queen gives a speech in the Ramlila Grounds outside Old Delhi, to an audience estimated to number 250,000

Above: Princess Margaret, was born on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle, home of her maternal grandparents. Although markedly different personalities, the two Princesses are inseparable, and remain close throughout their lives. The Duke refers to his family as, ‘we four’ and the Yorks, with their two children, are hugely popular with the public. The Princesses share a love of riding and dogs, and often appear in public dressed in identical utfits, uch t the delight the cr wds

Left: In the spring of 1945, Princess Elizabeth is permitted by her father to ‘do her bit’ and joins the ATS, where she takes a driving and vehicle maintenance course at Camberley, Surrey. On VE Day on 8 May, she appears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and afterwards is allowed to go out to mix, unrecognised, with the jubilant crowds around London’s West End

Facing page, top left: The Illustrated London News is granted a special sitting with The King and Queen and their daughters, to mark the centenary of the publication with the colour photographs published in the magazine’s 16 May 1942 issue. In several pictures, Princess Elizabeth is shown patriotically knitting for the troops, although the children’s governess, Marion Crawford, later revealed in her book, The Little Princesses , that the rincess did n t find knitting eas

Facing page, top right: The Illustrated London News Royal Wedding Number, with a cover by Terence Cuneo, celebrating the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten on 20 November 1947

Facing page, right: At 9.14pm on 14 November 1948, Princess Elizabeth gives birth to a son, the future King Charles III, at Buckingham Palace. The fountains in Trafalgar Square are lit blue in celebration, a 41-gun salute is fired and est inster bbe s bells ring ut t celebrate the bab s arrival He is given the names Charles Philip Arthur George. In August 1950, he is joined by a sister, Princess Anne

left: The nation celebrates The Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the ILN l ks back at a packed ear events with the agnificent spectacle Trooping the Colour on its December cover. The Queen is riding her black mare, Burmese, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1969

Top right: With the football World Cup held in the UK, The Queen declared the tournament open on 11 July 1966. Three weeks later, on 30 July, she presents the Jules Rimet trophy to England captain Bobby Moore

after the home team thrillingly defeat West Germany 4-2 in extra time in the final at e ble tadiu h t grapher err ranha is cl se by to capture the moment for The Illustrated London News

Above left: The Queen and Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother in jovial mood at Hurst Park after The Queen Mother’s horse, Devon Loch, won the New Century Steeplechase. Sharing the joke is the horse’s jockey, Brian Marshall, and behind him, trainer Peter Cazalet. Horses were a passion for

Top

he ueen he was given her first p n , a hetland called egg at the age ur, and she c ntinued t ride r pleasure int her nineties er racing successes included all the ritish lassic aces e cept the ps erb , and in and she was na ed ritish at racing cha pi n wner

Facing page, bottom right: ueen li abeth is cr wned at est inster bbe n nd une , and leading artist erence une is nce again c issi ned b the llustrated nd n ews t pr vide a pict rial rec rd a ilest ne event he result is this vibrant p rtrait published in the aga ine s r nati n u ber

This page, top: n une , re than a illi n pe ple line the streets nd n t watch the al a il n their wa t a hanksgiving ervice at t aul s athedral r he ueen s ilver ubilee ter a lunch at uildhall, he ueen, a visi n in pink in her ard ies dress and rederick hat, g es n a r al walkab ut during which ti e she is handed cards and wers b th se wh had waited h urs t see her

This page, left: ark the ccasi n ueen li abeth bec ing ritain s l ngest-reigning narch, llustrated nd n ews c issi ns artist and ch lar lastair ar rd t paint a p rtrait er a est in the bes the arter as she attends the rder the arter ervice at inds r ar rd s p rtrait, which received critical acclai , appears n the c ver s c e rative editi n, The Record Reign he riginal painting in ils n w pr udl hangs in the b ardr the al arrant lders ss ciati n in uckingha ate

To purchase The Record Reign book set or the limited edition print signed by the artist, please contact hello@iln.co.uk

SHELF PORTRAITS

Recommendations for the discerning and regally inclined reader

From a fresh biography of James I to this year’s most sensational exposé, we’ve assembled a selection of new and recent riveting royal reads for your bookcase

VICTORIA’S SECRET – The Private Passion of a Queen by Fern Riddell (Ebury Press) £22

Queen Victoria’s relationship with her loyal Highland ghillie, John Brown, has been raked over many times, most popularly in the tender film Mrs Brown, starring Judi Dench and Billy Connolly. But was the relationship between the widowed monarch and her Scottish servant more than platonic? Rumours have swirled around this for years, as historians have attempted to bring the truth to light. Now Fern Riddell takes up the challenge in her provocatively titled book, in which she delves into records and archives to explore the possibility that Victoria and Brown were more than just good friends. Riddell reframes Queen Victoria as not just a grieving widow, but a woman in her ‘passionate midlife’. The evidence she has uncovered, while far from providing concrete proof, offers a persuasive argument that a secret marriage, and even a concealed pregnancy and child may have been the result of their romance. For sceptics who remain unconvinced, Riddell nevertheless offers a compelling portrait of Queen Victoria, of Brown and his family, and of the court politics that attempted to erase the true nature of their bond.

PAMELA by India Hicks (Rizzoli) £46

At the age of 96, Lady Pamela Hicks, younger daughter of the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma, is the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria and has stood witness to some of the last century’s most memorable events. She was in India at the time of Partition, was a bridesmaid at the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and her cousin, Philip Mountbatten, attended the 1953 Coronation and, as lady-in-waiting, accompanied The Queen on several Commonwealth tours. At the insistence of her daughter, India Hicks (who regularly includes her redoubtable and always impeccably groomed mother on her Instagram account), Lady Pamela’s extraordinary life has been collated into a beautiful book published by Rizzoli. As India says to her mother in a video promoting the book: “You have been in the shadows so long… it’s time to tell your story.” Lady Pamela’s archive, which includes unseen photographs, invitations and other personal ephemera, forms the basis of this tome, which recounts not only a life of great privilege but one affected by heartbreak and tragedy. A visual feast, it’s an affectionate tribute by India Hicks to her mother, as well as an invitation for readers to share in a long and fascinating life.

LADY

Mary Evans Picture Library

SOPHIE – Saving the Royal Family by Sean Smith (Sphere) £25

The last few years have been tumultuous for the Royal Family, but the Duchess of Edinburgh has been a steadfast, dependable and respected member of the inner royal circle. This is the premise of Sean Smith’s definitive biography of the Duchess, as he traces her life

QUEEN JAMES – The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King by Gareth Russell (William Collins) £25

The time-worn clichés about King James I have stuck fast, but Gareth Russell’s pulsing biography shatters preconceptions and brings us an action-packed

from her Kent childhood, her career in PR and nervous early days as part of the ‘The Firm’, to becoming a key player among the working royals and a powerful voice on world issues. According to the author, The Queen’s early impression of Sophie (“you wouldn’t notice her in a crowd”) worked in Sophie’s favour, as she quietly established herself away from the media glare, and learnt from the mother-in-law to whom she became close. Now dubbed ‘Super Sophie’ by her fans, the Duchess is ranked fifth most popular royal, according to YouGov polling. Smith gives us an intimate portrait of Sophie, as a wife, mother and royal, and her achievements made while enduring the pressures of life in the spotlight. Read it to discover the real woman behind the title.

tale filled with kidnapping, witch-hunts, religious devotion, political radicalism, betrayals and the kind of brutality only a monarch with gumption could stand up to. The king Russell gives us was a complex character, not the slobbering weakling served up by lazy histories.

Nicknamed ‘Queen James’ by those who wished to mock his anti-war foreign policy and private life, the King’s homosexual love affairs with six royal favourites are covered by Russell with refreshing candour. In a biography that manages to be both academically rigorous but also a rollicking good read, Queen James brings to life the machinations of the Jacobean court with style and substance.

ENTITLED – The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lownie (William Collins) £22

Having already written bestselling books on Edward VIII and the Mountbattens, Andrew Lownie is carving out a niche as a biographer of controversial royal figures, and they don’t get much more controversial than the Duke and Duchess of York.

CHARLES III –The Inside Story by Robert Hardman (Pan) £12.99

Author, royal commentator and Royalty in Britain contributor Robert Hardman is one of the most respected and authoritative voices when it comes to royal

Lownie pulls no punches as he paints a searing portrait of the Yorks, lifting the lid on their unconventional relationship and revealing all about shady business dealings, unchecked extravagance and countless scandals. Chronicling their lives in parallel, the book paints a picture of a spoilt, arrogant prince unable to connect and an insecure duchess, desperate to retain her ‘royal’ status and the attention that brought her. Rigorously researched by Lownie, who conducted hundreds of interviews over four years, this eye-watering biography is the most talkedabout royal read since Prince Harry’s memoir Spare . Over 450 pages, Lownie conducts a revelatory and damning examination of a duke who surely now has no chance of returning to the official royal fold.

biography. This recently released paperback edition of his bestselling biography of The King is updated, “with exclusive new material on the tests and triumphs of 2025”, including insights into his relationship with his sons, and his role as head of 15 realms at a time when the world order seems increasingly uncertain. Hardman’s unrivalled access to the Royal Family, their close friends and staff, plus previously unseen papers from the Royal Archives results in an immensely readable biography which is rich in detail, balanced in approach and illuminating in its insider knowledge. When future generations consult the royal biographies of the past, this definitive volume will be top of the pile.

These and many other royal books are available at booksellers and at Royal Warrant Holder, Hatchards, at its London shops in Piccadilly and St Pancras, and in Cheltenham, or by visiting hatchards.com

DANCING IN THE SPOTLIGHT

From the Victorian polka to twerking in the 21st century, when the r als take t the dance r, it is a newsw rth event ucinda sling l ks back at s e their st e rable ves

Left: The Prince of Wales tries his hand at breakdancing at a discotheque session at Middleton-on-Sea in 1985

Below: Princess Margaret dances the Portland Fancy Jig with Jackie Toaduff, a 25-year-old Durham miner – and champion clog dancer – at a ball held in her honour by the English Folk Song and Dance society in London in 1958

Facing page: Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip enjoying a Canadian Square Dance during a party at Government House in Ottawa during the royal tour of 1951

n July last year, during a visit to St Peter Port in Guernsey, HM The King bumped into an old acquaintance, Caroline Freeman. More than 70 years earlier, both had been pupils at the Vacani School of Dance where Caroline, being a little older, had often been asked to guide the four-year-old Prince Charles through the steps. Founded by Marguerite Vacani in 1915, the school was the destination of choice for generations of upper-class children needing to be schooled in dance and deportment. As The King pointed out to Ms Freeman, “What was so marvellous is I had the same dance teacher as my mama.” He did indeed. Each week through the 1930s, usually on Monday afternoons, Madame Vacani, as she styled herself, would come to the royal residences with

her niece Betty, to teach Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, Scottish reels, polkas and foxtrots, an ideal grounding for the many balls and dances they would be obliged to attend as they grew up. It was an essential skill in those days, especially for members of the Royal Family, who then, as now, never had a photographer far away when they took to the dancefloor.

Queen Victoria, whose dancing days were before the existence of press photographers, found much joy in music and dance. Her dancing master thought her very accomplished, and one maid of honour, after teaching The Queen the steps to a new Scottish reel, described how Victoria, “danced and skipped gloriously”. One of the reasons Victoria lost her heart

Above: An engraving from about 1849 showing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert watching their children – including the future Edward VII – dancing

Below: Prince Harry dances with Chantol Dorner during a visit to the Rise Life charity project in Jamaica in 2012, as part of a Diamond Jubilee tour where he represented his grandmother, The Queen

Mary Evans

Picture Library; PA

Images/Alamy

to Prince Albert was because he was, in her words, “a splendid dancer”. The Queen’s annual schedule was punctuated by balls, where she would generally lead the first dance, and join in with others throughout the night. In 1843, she opened the state ball at Buckingham Palace by dancing a quadrille with her cousin, Prince George, while Prince Albert partnered Princess August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In ovember that year, she once again opened dancing during a visit to impole Hall in Cambridgeshire, dancing with the Earl of Hardwicke. A new, larger ballroom at Buckingham Palace, completed in 18 (the largest of the state rooms today), allowed Victoria to indulge her love of dancing on an even grander scale. Even in her widowhood, she would occasionally indulge. At Balmoral in 1875, at a ball held for the Royal Household, it was reported that The Queen danced one reel. Her great-grandson, the future Edward VIII, was very fond of dancing, recounting in his memoirs how, Like most young men, I loved to dance, and almost every year brought forth some new step or rhythm; for a brief period I counted the music of the ‘Charleston’ and the ‘Black Bottom’ among the foremost American exports to Britain”. He frequented the smart nightspots of London and was much in demand as a dance partner, with girls who danced with the Prince enjoying brief celebrity. Once, at the

Ascot Cabaret Ball, he asked ballroom champion Edna Deane to dance with him nine times, inspiring a popular 1927 song written by Herbert Farjeon and Harold Scott I’ve danced with a man, who’s danced with a girl, who’s danced with the Prince of ales.

King Charles’s lessons at Vacani’s meant he has been able to reasonably negotiate a dancefloor over the years, and he has, if nothing else, been willing to ‘have a go’ on numerous occasions, much to the delight of his hosts and the gathered press. The Vacani School once reported that he particularly excelled at the Highland Fling. Diana, Princess of ales, was hugely passionate about dance, and to a certain extent moved the spotlight away from her husband when it came to dancing in public. The memoir of dancer and choreographer Anne Allan, published last year, revealed that The Princess secretly had dance lessons with Allan for nine years, during which time she polished enough to dance on stage with ayne Sleep at the oyal Opera House in 198 . In ovember that year, she had tripped the light fantastic with American actor and dancer ohn Travolta during a gala dinner held at the hite House by President Ronald Reagan. The dance, which saw Diana in an elegant, Edwardian-style Victor Edelstein dress of midnight blue velvet, twirling across the chequerboard floor to the tunes

Above: The Duchess of Cornwall dances with Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole at a tea dance at Buckingham Palace in 2017, held t highlight the benefits sta ing active r lder pe ple

Above right: The Duchess of Cambridge has Paddington Bear as a dance parnter, as she, rince illia and rince arr ined children r the charities the supp rt n a special train at addingt n stati n in

of Saturday Night Fever, with the movie’s own snake-hipped star, has become an iconic moment, and cemented her status as not only a royal princess, but a global celebrity. Has Diana’s talent been passed down to her sons Prince illiam’s carefree ‘dad dancing’ when he took George and Charlotte to see Taylor Swift at Wembley last year may not gain him a ‘Fab-u-lous’ verdict on Strictly Come Dancing, but his sheer enthusiasm won the hearts of many as the video went viral. And those who follow The Duchess of Sussex on Instagram were recently treated to a video of Harry and Meghan strutting their moves to The Baby Mama Dance by Starrkeisha in the delivery suite as they tried to kick-start the arrival of baby Lilibet in une 1. It’s a far cry from the polite quadrilles and elegant walt es of Queen Victoria’s time, but every dance has its day. And, it seems, every generation of royals has its movers and groovers.

Above: Diana, Princess of Wales famously dances with Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta at a White House dinner in 1985

Left: Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, dancing with William Tallon, the long-serving steward at Clarence House who was nicknamed ‘Backstairs Billy’ by the press

NOTE-WORTHY

Music sheets were the album covers of their day, with subjects that re ected popular pastimes, news events and celebrated figures. Royal marriages, coronations and other regal themes were regular inspiration for compositions that could be played at home but would have also been heard in ballrooms, on bandstands, in restaurants and in concert halls.

Opposite, clockwise from top left: The Queen and Prince Albert’s Polka , by Louis Antoine Jullien; The Coronation Grand March , by Ezra Read; The King is Still in London , with words and music by Roma Campbell Hunter and Hugh Charles; and from 1947, music for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth by Tommie Connor and Everett Lynton

Mary Evans Picture Library; Getty Images

CHANGING ROOMS

Despite its fearsome reputation as a fortress and prison, the Tower of London was also once a deluxe home to kings. Lucinda Gosling visits the revamped Medieval Palace and uncovers the stories of life in the royal household in the Middle Ages

Alamy

When I arrive at the Tower of London at 9.30am on an August morning, the sun is already beating down on the tourists queuing to gain access to the UK’s most popular paid-for visitor attraction. They’re here to see an extraordinary survivor of medieval London, first built by illiam the Conqueror and expanded, reshaped and adapted over the next millennium. Today, it is hemmed in by glassy City skyscrapers on three sides, a stark architectural contrast that serves only to enhance the Tower’s venerable age and palpable sense of history. Once through the est Gate, most people will, I imagine, make a beeline for the Crown ewels (and so they should; close up they are utterly da ling). There is also the Bloody Tower to tick off the list; it includes the rooms where Sir alter Raleigh languished as a prisoner for several years, and the sons of Edward IV disappeared, never to be seen again. And then there’s Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn, Lady ane Grey and other unfortunate Tudors lost their heads. And yet on a scorching day during the school holidays, as the Yeoman arders joke with American visitors and a vendor sells artisan

ice cream made in Hackney, the Tower of London does in fact seem like a bustling, welcoming and rather jolly village. It occurs to me that this seems appropriate, for in between the chilling tales of lengthy imprisonments and grisly executions, it is easy to forget that the Tower was not only a fortress and a prison, but also a home to several medieval monarchs, and a very comfortable one at that. I’m here to see the recently reopened Medieval Palace, occupying St Thomas’ Tower, akefield Tower and Lathorn Tower close to the Thames. Through a series of rooms, royal life is recreated as it would have been during the 13th century, when occupied by Henry III and, later, his son, Edward I.

Historic Royal Palaces has combined new discoveries with audience research findings to reinterpret these rooms and make the experience as engaging, informative and accessible as possible to its visitors, 70 per cent of whom are from other countries. Display panels and interpretation boards set the scene, illustrated with authentic-looking line drawings that mimic the style of the monk and chronicler, Matthew Paris. There is a timeline of the medieval period (spanning a

This page: The arched river entrance to St Thomas’ Tower, now better known as Traitors’ Gate

Facing page: The medieval Tower is contrasted today by a forest of modern City skyscrapers

thousand years from to 1 ), listing world events that were happening in parallel to those in England, and profiles of the Kings and Queens who used the Tower as a residence, not to mention the various people who served them. The 1 th century marked an important period for the English crown, with the emergence of Parliament and the drawing-up of Magna Carta. Law-making and governance necessitated a concurrent revolution in record-keeping which means that, through an abundance of royal letters, household accounts and wardrobe records, fascinating details of everyday life have been documented for posterity. Thanks to this, we are introduced to members of the royal household during the time of Edward I (1 9-1 ) and his wife, Eleanor of Castile (1 41-1 9 ). e learn about Philip de Beauvais, the King’s surgeon; the King’s laundress, Matilda de autham; and ohn de aseby, Keeper of the hite Bear at the Tower, who fed the animal and was paid fourpence a day for his trouble. The Queen’s household included Margerie de Hustede who was entrusted with keeping the Queen’s jewels; Gillot, her tailor (one of three) who came from Ponthieu in northern France (where Eleanor’s mother was from); and Christian Page, Queen Eleanor’s coachman, who served the Queen for a number of years before he lost his eyesight in 1 9 and was retired to France with a pension from the King. Details like this bring to life what was obviously a busy, bu y community focused on serving the King. Mingling together within the Tower’s walls would have been guards, workers at the oyal Mint and merchants (paying their dues to the Tower’s Constable). hen the King was in residence, the -strong royal retinue, from high-born nobility to cooks and stablehands, added to the Tower of London’s population. The first room of the Medieval Palace is the Hall of Edward

I in St Thomas’ Tower, built between 1 and 1 9. It’s a grand space hung with rich tapestries featuring a design drawing on the symbols and ciphers of medieval kingship. An imprint of a huge 1 th-century fireplace is still evident against the south wall along with the remains of a tiled hearth. This was the centre of royal business, where the King would have received ambassadors, nobles, advisers, messengers and city leaders. A set of architectural drawings on a table reflect Edward’s eal for building and his firm belief that castles were tangible proof of his unassailable power. He ordered St Thomas’ Tower to be built out over the Thames, standing proud for all to see; the royal barge could be moored by the archway beneath the royal apartments (an entryway later known as Traitors’ Gate). St Thomas’ Tower was part of a much wider expansion of the site during this period. Edward I was intent on creating a formidable and imposing power base, a visible symbol of the Crown’s might at a time when its relationship with the City of London was often uneasy.

Domestic detail and what curators and academics like to call ‘material culture’ (basically ‘stuff’) provide fascinating insight into everyday medieval lives in this reimagined space. In a cabinet in the south antechamber is a remarkable discovery, a fish trap, found in the moat area in the 199 s. Made from wicker, its survival seems near miraculous. Fish formed an important part of the medieval royal diet, and the moat built by Edward I was not solely for defence but stocked with pike destined for his dinner table. e walk through the rooms to the strains of piped medieval music which I’m told is in fact an original 1 th-century composition by Alfonso of Castile, brother to Queen Eleanor. Anyone with preconceived ideas that medieval interiors were dimly lit and spartan might be

Historic Royal Palaces

surprised to enter the bedchamber and see light, bright, gaily painted walls. Based on meticulous research in medieval records, the design was inspired by instructions that the Queen’s room was to be painted with ‘false masonry and roses’. The four-poster bed, generously loaded with warm blankets and silk throws, and with a pair of slippers on one side (a nice touch), is roped off, but a tactile display of velvets and silks, which visitors are encouraged to stroke, hammers home the idea of a royal palace as rich, sumptuous and cosy. A tiny, jewel-like chapel to one side of the room is handily located for prayers at any time of the day or night; monarchs of the medieval period were particularly devout. A closer look at the bed reveals it was constructed so that it could be easily dismantled and taken on the road, a reminder that royal courts were itinerant, travelling from one castle to the next, or often one country to another.

Above: edieval wicker fish trap, und in a re arkable state of preservation in the moat area in the 1990s Facing page: he resence ha ber in the akefield wer, complete with a replica of Henry III’s throne

Edward and Eleanor went on a crusade in 1270 where Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, Joan, in Acre, Palestine, the following year. They would not have been expected to slum it. Wherever he was, the King still required his creature comforts. The bedchamber really does give an evocative glimpse of the tastes of the Medieval Palace’s former residents. The queens of Henry III and Edward I, Eleanor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile respectively, had sophisticated, cosmopolitan tastes. Eleanor of Castile was highly educated and cultured, a patron of learning, with a library of her own and a passion for pottery and textiles, all of which brought an elevated luxury to royal interiors. We also learn that she created gardens based on her homeland’s Islamic traditions and introduced water fountains to England. The rooms very much centre on these queens, who exhibited laudable intelligence and strength of character. All

Top: The Queen’s bedchamber, with a display of sumptuous velvets and silks for visitors to touch

Clockwise from above: A toy tin soldier that perhaps once belonged to a prince; a 13th-century seal matrix from a knight of Edward I’s court; and counters and dice used in medieval board games

Facing page: Display boards employ line drawings that mimic the style of the monk and chronicler Matthew Paris

the more impressive when you consider Eleanor of Castile was pregnant 16 times during her marriage.

The tour continues as we leave the bedchamber and move into the akefield Tower, where we step back in time to the previous reign of Henry III (1 -1 ). hile the room is configured as a Presence Chamber, with a replica throne and Plantagenet lions painted on the wall, historians believe it might also have been used as a bedchamber at some point in its long history. Adjoining the room is the King’s Private Chapel, associated with Henry VI who died while imprisoned at the Tower of London during the Wars of the oses. Every 1 May, on the anniversary of the beleaguered King’s death, the Ceremony of Lilies and oses takes place, where representatives from Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge remember the king who founded both institutions. The Lanthorn Tower, the final section of what remains of the Medieval Palace, was believed to be part of Eleanor of Provence’s apartments but now houses a series of cabinets containing objects that truly bring the medieval world to vivid life. There is a gemellion, a metal bowl used to wash hands before eating in wealthy households, an interesting example of

medieval fastidiousness and social etiquette. Also on display is a portable altarpiece or ‘triptych’ and silver coins minted at the Tower, a 1 th-century seal matrix from a knight of Edward I’s court, and a gold and enamel pyx, a small, round container used to hold communion wafers made in Limoges, France. There are counters used in board games and a crystal chess piece dating back to the 11th century. Then, perhaps the most captivating of objects – a tiny toy soldier. Might it once have belonged to the children of a knight, a duke or even a young prince An heir to the throne perhaps Finally, there is a stone from a Mikvah, a ewish ritual bath used in preparation for worship, a fragment representing the large Jewish community in London in the medieval era. They were taxed heavily by both Henry III and Edward I; taxes levied on ewish Londoners most certainly helped finance the medieval kings’ ambitious building projects. The re-presentation of this suite of rooms by Historic oyal Palaces demystifies what is often a little-known period in royal history; and offers glimpses into life at court, and the wider community, almost 8 years ago. If you’re planning to visit the Tower of London, come for the Crown ewels, but stay for the Medieval Palace, a historic des res with a difference.

Historic Royal Palaces

A ROYAL LOVE MATCH

Unlike many royal couples of the medieval era, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile were particularly devoted to each other. An intimidating presence, Edward, was dubbed ‘Longshanks’ due to his unusual height and had a reputation for being hot tempered and a ruthless soldier. However, he appeared to be a good husband. There are no records of a royal mistress and when Eleanor died aged 49, near Lincoln, his grief was manifested in an order to build a memorial cross at each place where her funeral cortege rested during its journey back to London. Three original Eleanor crosses survive today, at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham. A Victorian replica Eleanor Cross stands outside Charing Cross station just a mile or so west of the Tower of London. It was nine years before Edward remarried, this time to Margaret of France who was 40 years his junior, another happy union that resulted in three children.

POWER PLAYER

Eleanor of Provence (1 -1 91) was just 1 years old when she married Henry III of England, but she developed into a powerful and politically active Queen consort. Reportedly beautiful and artistically gifted, she enjoyed music and writing poetry, and set fashions at court. In 1 , while her husband was dealing with an uprising in Gascony, she was appointed regent and also acted as Lord Chancellor (the only time a woman has held the post until Li Truss in 1 ). During the Second Barons’ ar of 1 , Eleanor supported her husband against the rebel leader Simon de Montfort but when the royal couple became trapped in the Tower, she decided to escape. Londoners hated Eleanor due to punitive fines she had levied and her retinue of relatives. As she sailed up the Thames, they pelted her barge with everything from rotten eggs to broken paving stones. She was rescued by the Mayor of London and sought refuge with the Bishop of London. After Henry’s death in 1 , she raised several of her grandchildren before retiring to Amesbury Abbey in Wiltshire as a nun.

MEWS OF INSPIRATION

For 200 years, there has been a “village” within Buckingham Palace. The Royal Mews, a working stables and home to historic coaches and carriages, has played a pivotal part in palace life and at the great occasions of state. By Lucinda Gosling

The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, one of the finest working stables in existence, celebrates its th anniversary this year. Open to the public for seven months a year, it is home to the historic coaches and carriages used by the oyal Family, including the spectacular Gold State Coach. The Mews has played a major part in every coronation and royal wedding since it was built, and a visit offers a behind-the-scenes insight into these magnificent events. ith a surprising amount of activity in this self-contained community, Queen Elizabeth II described the Mews as a small village which belongs to Buckingham Palace .

As the Royal Mews marks this bicentenary here are 10 facts to fascinate from its 200-year history:

A GRAND DESIGN

The Royal Mews was built in 1825 for George IV and designed by the architect John Nash, who was charged with turning Buckingham House into a palace. For a cost of £65,000, Nash built grand stables for 100 horses. Prior to this, the Mews had been located at Charing Cross, on the present site of the National Gallery.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The origin of ‘Mews’ comes from the royal hawks that were kept at the King’s Mews. The world ‘mew’ means moulting and as birds could not be used for hunting while their feathers moulted, they were kept in a ‘mews’.

PICTURE THIS

In 1848, Queen Victoria recorded in her journal that she had been to visit the Mews at Buckingham Palace, to watch daguerreotypes (an early type of photograph) being made. She wrote: “Went to the stables to see the horses daguerotyped, which really was curious, particularly to see how badly the horses placed themselves, when they had to stand still.” The resulting photograph featured a Shetland pony called Webster, the favourite of Queen Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred.

Facing page: The Gold State Coach of 1762, which has been used at every coronation since 1831

Above: Photographs from Queen Mary’s own album showing the tea party held for wounded soldiers during the First World War, with captions written in the Queen’s own hand

Above right: Grooms with the pony Webster in May 1848. Queen Victoria visited the Mews to see the picture being taken

A CLASS OF ITS OWN

In 1855, Queen Victoria set up a school for the children of families who worked at the Palace and the Mews. Classes were conducted in two small rooms, where children were “carefully taught, and passed their examination very credibly”, according to a school inspector’s report of 1873.

KEEPING UP MORALE

In 1916, the Mews played its part in the war effort when King George V and Queen Mary hosted a tea party there for wounded soldiers where they enjoyed an entertainment that consisted of various artistes, acrobats, conjurers and a choir singing songs, the choruses of which the men joined in with.

LIFE DURING WARTIME

During the Second World War, the horses and carriages were moved from the Mews for safety. It suffered damage from a bomb that completely destroyed the chapel beside Buckingham Palace, the site of which later became the King’s Gallery.

This page, top: A 1793 engraving of the Mews in its former home at Charing Cross, on the site of what is now the National Gallery; Above: The Diamond Jubilee State Coach in the Royal Mews Facing page, top: Children from the Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children view the Gold State Coach on a visit to the Royal Mews; Right: An inspector’s report from 1873 for the Royal Mews School at Buckingham Palace

CORONATION CROWDS

In the months leading up to the 1953 Coronation, the Mews became a popular visitor attraction, receiving up to 1,500 visitors a day.

GOLD STAR

The Gold State Coach has been used at every coronation since that of William IV, most recently at The King’s Coronation in 2023. When Queen Elizabeth II used it for her coronation day in June 1953, Royal Mews staff strapped a hot water bottle under the seat as the weather was unseasonably chilly and wet.

HISTORY ON SHOW

Besides the historic carriages, the Mews is home to more modern coaches including the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, first used in 2014. Also on display are items relating to key events in British history from a musket ball from the Battle of Waterloo to a piece of a Battle of Britain Spitfire.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Visitors can often see the daily work of the Royal Mews staff, including the feeding, exercising, mucking out and training of the Windsor Grey and Cleveland Bay horses that pull the royal carriages as well as tasks in the harness room. They may also see the messenger Brougham carriage which transfers post between royal residences, a daily routine that has been in place since 1843.

The Royal Mews is open to the public until 2 November 2025 and reopens in spring 2026. This year for the first time, the Mews will host a pop-up Christmas shop, selling the best of Royal Collection Trust’s seasonal products. The shop is open from 14 November 2025 to 5 January 2026. For visitor information, go to rct.uk

TAKING THE PAST TO MAKE A FUTURE

Thanks to the work of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust over the last 35 years, the craft movement across the UK is proving that handmade still matters. By Clara Taylor

n an era where AI reigns supreme and driverless cars are a reality, creativity is at risk of becoming coded rather than crafted. In the face of this, QEST stands steadfast in safeguarding Britain’s craft heritage.

For 35 years, QEST, whose patron is HM King Charles III, has transformed the careers of talented and aspiring makers by funding their training. Since 199 , it has given .4million to almost 900 makers across more than 130 craft disciplines, significantly helping to halt the decline of traditional skills in the UK – the national charity Heritage Crafts reports that no crafts have become extinct since 2023.

Preserving these skills is a cultural imperative and QEST is committed to championing the full breadth of craft, from heritage to contemporary to innovation. Take the work of QEST scholars like Ho-yin Man, Hofi from Glasgow, a textile conservator who explores the emotional and historical

value of clothing. Or look at Olga Prinku, originator of a unique craft flowers-on-tulle embroidery. Olga uses botanical materials like dried flowers and weaves them onto stitched or net fabric. The result? An innovative new technique that blends the fragility of nature with the precision of embroidery.

A thriving craft industry is vital to the UK’s cultural and economic landscape as well as the future world of work. QEST empowers the next generation to see craft as a viable, fulfilling and sustainable career. Since launching its Partnership Programmes in 2023, QEST has reached more than 19,000 young people and children and supported under-represented communities to explore craft and conservation careers.

“We’re so proud of the impact QEST has made over the past 35 years,” says Deborah Pocock LVO, QEST’s CEO, “but we know our work is only possible through partnership, collaboration and the support of our donors. Valuing craft,

skill and the human-made is vital, not just within the craft industry, but across society.

Pocock continues e’re building on this legacy to ensure that makers have the support they need to grow and develop sustainable careers. e believe opportunities in craft should be open to all, which is why we’ve developed our Partnership Programmes to reach under-represented communities and help craft continue to be valued and to thrive into the future.

One such partnership is the Homo Faber Fellowship, an international programme developed by the Michelangelo Foundation, for which QEST is the official UK partner. Together, they aim to ensure the transfer of traditional skills to new artisans.

The scheme recently announced that five UK duos, including two QEST scholars – Kate Holland, bookbinding, and Sahar Freemantle, millinery – will undertake a seven-

month sponsored journey to train emerging talent. But QEST’s mission does not stop there. Inspiring the next generation of makers is critical to ensuring the industry’s survival. hether through encouraging young people to think about a career in crafts and conservation or by partnering with the ational Saturday Club, where 1 to 1 -year-olds study subjects they love for free, QEST is determined to create an inclusive craft future.

Clockwise from top left: an akers have benefited r s help cera icist lla rter s w rk was n displa in an e hibiti n at untr all tter in nd n s unt all ealier this ear te tile c nservat r - in an, fi eweller a ait creates subtle rganic r s, such as this lea necklace and apprentice urniture aker saac den, wh is specialising in rush-seated chair aking

Facing page: lga rinku s uni ue techni ue wers- n-tulle e br ider

JOURNEYS WITH THE KING

For 40 years, The King has invited an artist to join him on each royal tour, a tradition that has remained unbroken to the present day. A new book offers a colourful view of the sights and spectacles produced during four decades of regal globetrotting. By Lucinda Gosling

n 19 , the artist ohn ard (191 - ) was invited by The Queen to stay at Balmoral and to paint moments in the oyal Family’s summer holiday. hile there, ard gave lessons to the teenage Prince Charles who was showing a growing enthusiasm for art. Twenty-three years later, when The Prince of ales (as he by then was) embarked on a tour of Italy, it was ard who The Prince requested to accompany the tour in the capacity of official artist. ard joined the tour at the port of Catania before it set sail for Venice, enjoying the thrill of being on board HM Britannia as it sailed down the Grand Canal. By 198 , ard was very much an establishment artist, but his grounding as an illustrator (he had worked for Vogue early in his career in the 194 s) meant the pictures recording those three weeks are full of spontaneity and vivid life. Sometimes, ard and The Prince would paint side by side, on one occasion choosing to sit on the afterdeck of the royal yacht and record their own version of the scene, including Britannia’s ensign, fluttering from its stern.

For the past 4 years, 4 different artists have been part of 9 different royal tours, carried out by His Majesty as both Prince of ales and more recently as monarch, an arrangement he funds personally. Collectively, the artists have visited, and painted or drawn, 9 countries. There are no specific rules about what they should choose as their subject, and they are given the freedom to capture whatever inspires them; from local colour and stunning scenery to informal portraits of

The King and The Queen themselves. The results of these artistic adventures, which are usually hung in various royal residences, have this year been brought together to mark the 4 th anniversary, with more than works of art displayed at Buckingham Palace during the summer opening this year, and an expanded selection of more than 1 images collated together in a book, The Art of Royal Travel: Journeys With The King. It’s a handsome tome, documenting a little-known aspect of royal tours, and makes for a fascinating, alternative record of The King’s travels through the years.

Engaging artists in this way very much reflects The King’s deep appreciation of art, and his belief in the greater depth of emotion and connection it can give us. He views it as, a primary language natural to all human beings , and of the tour artist tradition he reasons I have long believed that to travel with an artist results in a more satisfactory and historically interesting record than to rely on photographs. As a capable artist himself, he can also draw on his own experience. The great thing about painting, he has said, is that it is your own individual interpretation of whatever view you have chosen. Because it obliges you to sit down and make a careful observation of the chosen subject, you discover much more than just pointing a camera. As a result, you become increasingly aware of the quality of the light and shade, of tone and texture. The benefits of art were even acknowledged by the legendary royal snapper, Arthur Edwards of The Sun

Above: Richard Foster’s Their Royal Highnesses on North Seymour Island , 2009, watercolour over pencil, from the tour of Chile, Brazil and Ecuador

Below: A world map by Toby Ward, who was on the 1993 Gulf states tour

newspaper who took one look at a scene Mungo McCosh had painted of Jinja during the Uganda tour of 2007 and exclaimed, “I have been trying to photograph that scene for half an hour”, adding: “The pencil can do something that the camera can’t.”

For the artists who are invited to accompany a royal tour, it’s a career highlight, although one that can be nerve-racking to negotiate, especially if not briefed in advance about the usual protocols. Martin Yeoman was 32 when he was recommended to accompany the royal tour of Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in November 1986. With long hair and wearing a suit picked up in a charity shop, Yeoman unwittingly boarded the royal yacht via the gangplank reserved for members of the Royal Family leading the gathered press photographers to wonder who on earth he was. A press release explaining his presence was hastily issued and in the following years, directives have been more clearly outlined. Yeoman makes an interesting point about being an artist. He was arrested on suspicion of being a spy when he stopped to sketch outside a police station, but explains: “People don’t understand what an artist does, they were suspicious of me. When the press arrived with their huge cameras and other equipment, nobody batted an eyelid. People were more suspicious of me sitting quietly with my pencil.” Yeoman’s discreet presence extends to his respect for the Royal Family’s privacy, never divulging details about life on board HMY Britannia. “The royal yacht was home from home for The Prince and Princess of Wales, once each long day of official events was over. It was a huge privilege to be invited to share it with them, and I respected their

From top: Phillip Butah’s Elephant Sanctuary, Nairobi National Park , 2023, oil on board; The Prince of Wales painting in the peaceful surroundings of Paro, Bhutan, in February 1998

Facing page: Paintings of HMY Britannia ’s afterdeck by The Prince of Wales and John Ward in May 1985; Paul Reid’s Standing Man , 2004, oil, based on a photograph he took at the pedimented portico of Al-Khazneh in Petra

©Royal Collection Trust; Alamy

privacy. My role was simply to capture the experience as we went along.” Yeoman was invited at short notice to accompany the royal party on the Hong Kong leg of a tour of Indonesia and Hong Kong in 1989, barely having time to pack and turning up in a battered leather jacket. But he and The Prince found time to paint together, with Yeoman giving advice on painting techniques, such as how to use watercolour on toned ground. As the years have gone by, His Majesty has had less and less time to indulge in painting himself while on tour; another reason why the role of the tour artist is so important to him. “I used to take a camera with me on tours,” he has explained, but I found photos rather flat; they don’t give a sense of feeling the landscape. I had the urge to express what I saw in paint. The artists I commission are making a record of contemporary life, travelling with me.” And not only do the artists have the novelty of travelling with the Royal Family, but they are exposed to some exceptional cultural experiences. Peter Kuhfeld was asked to accompany the royal tour of Nigeria, Cameroon and Tunisia in March 1990 and was delighted to observe a durbar at Maiduguri, an ancient Hausa festival to celebrate The Prince’s visit, recalling: “The Prince was very keen that I should paint the durbar, and I wanted to show how the people were even climbing into trees to get a good view. Everyone had gathered to pay homage to the royal couple, waiting hours to get a glimpse. There was so much goodwill everywhere that had to be felt to be believed. You cannot put a price on it.”

Later, in Tunisia, during a visit to the Roman ruins at Dougga, Kuhfeld and The Prince settled down to paint and the artist

noticed a group of tourists passing within touching distance of the royal easel but, they didn’t have a clue who he was . Artists are sometimes chosen to accompany a tour due to their particular style or interests. After providing drawings for The Prince’s book, A Vision of Britain, John Sergeant was invited to Czechoslovakia two years later, where The Prince was involved in setting up the Prague Heritage Fund. Sergeant’s expertise in drawing buildings made him the ideal candidate. Robbie Wraith was apprenticed to the Italian portrait painter Pietro Annigoni who advised his pupil to “draw carefully in the studio in the morning and in the afternoon go out and sketch in the bars and in the street”. This combination of classical technique and rapid sketching produced an artist able to capture an immediacy and vitality in his subjects. His drawing of The Prince in conversation with President Nelson Mandela during the 1997 royal tour of Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa, are arrestingly lifelike. Catherine Goodman was invited on the official tour of Sri Lanka and India at the end of autumn 2013 and was an excellent choice having collaborated on numerous artistic projects in India, exhibited there and taken part in art residencies. Claudette Johnson, a founding member of the British Black Arts Movement was asked to join the royal tour to Rwanda in June 2022 which she recalls was, “extremely pressurised with intense bursts of activity”.

All artists recall the furious pace of a royal tour. Susannah Fiennes, who accompanied The Prince to Oman in 1995 describes “a whirlwind of activity and excitement and not much time to absorb impressions of the country while trying

to keep up”. She had been honoured with the BP Travel Award in 1994 and had travelled to China where a similarly frenetic pace has given her a good grounding in working at speed. Her tools included not only paints and pencils in a shopping bag, but a folding stool. Emma Sergeant was the tour artist during a trip to Central Asia in 1996 and remembers “in a single day, we would move from a yurt in the snow to the boiling-hot desert . Toby ard (son of ohn ard), who travelled on the royal tour to the Gulf States in 1993 and who, despite having spent six years in the Army, was surprised by the tight itinerary.

“I had no idea of the scale of what The Prince does. Every five minutes he was meeting someone new, and he always had to know exactly who they were and what they did. As a result, almost everything I did was done standing… I remember at one dinner everyone was being served with wonderful chocolate models of Big Ben for pudding – and mine was whisked away while I was still drawing it.”

The final entry in The Art of Royal Travel records The King’s tour of Australia and Samoa in October last year, his first visit to Australia since his Accession in September 2022. The artist on this tour was Warwick Fuller, who, despite this being his fourth time, was no less overwhelmed and says: “The trust accorded by The King never to set parameters or requirements for what I would paint or do, could come only from a sensitive artistic mind and heart, for which I am eternally grateful.”

The Art of Royal Travel: Journeys with The King is published by Modern Art Press in association with Royal Collection Trust and is available from Royal Collection Trust shops and royalcollectionshop. co.uk, from Modern Art Press (modernartpress.co.uk) and Yale University Press (yalebooks.co.uk)

©Royal Collection Trust; Alamy

FROM TRAILBLAZERS TO A ROYAL TRADITION

Before being invited to accompany the royal tour of Uganda in 2007, Mungo McCosh had joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders tour of Iraq in 4 as official artist, a challenge which he took up with relish. “I decided to be the man from The Illustrated London News,” he said, “working at speed and sketching everything as I went along.” It’s perhaps no surprise that McCosh referenced the ‘specials’ of the ILN, trailblazers when it came to global reporting. Not only did the ILN, the world’s first illustrated paper, send artist-reporters around the world to record wars and political upheaval, but many of them were also commissioned to follow royal tours and send back their sketched impressions, which would then be translated onto boxwood by a team of engravers in readiness for the printing press.

Born in poverty in Glasgow, William Simpson became known as ‘Crimea Simpson’ after he made a name for himself with his scenes of the Crimean War for Colnaghi & Sons. Queen Victoria was so impressed that he found royal favour and by the time he had become special artist for The Illustrated London News, followed The Prince and Princess of Wales as they toured Egypt in 1868, and was present during The Prince of Wales’s tour of India from 18 - (above). More recent artists would no doubt sympathise with the rush to keep up with the royal itinerary. In his memoirs Simpson recalled: “We had to run after the local authorities to get the necessary cards of admission, then to dress for the ceremony and get ready again to start on the journey to the next place. Often no time was left to work up sketches.”

Melton Prior was renowned as one of the ILN’s most daring war artists, but in between dodging spears or bullets during the Ashanti Campaign or the Boer War, he found more peaceful assignments including the visit to Athens by The Prince of ales in 18 and the Delhi Durbar of 19 (attended by the Viceroy, Lord Cur on and the Duke of Connaught). Fortunino Matania, special artist for The Sphere, drew countless royal events, and was invited into the inner sanctum of the German royal family; he was even on friendly terms with the Kaiser until the outbreak of the First orld ar. His illustrations of the 1911 Delhi Durbar surpass those in any other publication. By donning ceremonial uniform in blistering heat and standing on the steps up to the dais on which King George V and Queen Mary sat, Matania enjoyed a close-up view of the ceremony, allowing his photographic memory to take in every decorative detail. By the 1930s, photography was eclipsing illustration, but the ILN continued to recognise the value of employing special artists. Bryan de Grineau accompanied The Prince of Wales on his tour of South America in 1931, and the proximity he enjoyed is reflected in the informal sketches of the prince and his brother, Prince George, dancing and playing piano on board RMS Arlanza on their return from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon.

at Buckingham Palace

Facing page: The Prince of Wales painting in Bhutan, in 1998; James Hart Dyke’s 2007 oils of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall on their Gulf States tour

Above: Marcus Cornish’s terracotta bust Veteran II , 2000, based on sketches made on the tour of Slovakia; and the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna in an iPad work by Fraser Scarfe made during last year’s royal tour of Italy, and displayed in this summer’s exhibition

MONARCHY AND MINISTERS

For Queen Elizabeth II, the relationship between sovereign and government was famously one kept behind closed doors. But the monarch did have political views – and favourites among the 15 prime ministers of her long reign, as Valentine Low reveals

Illustrated London News

Ltd/Mary Evans

Queen Eli abeth II was cut from a different cloth from her predecessors. While she maintained a cool detachment from the political melee, refraining from offering her views on the pressing issues of the day, her forebears showed no restraint – in private, at least – from expressing forthright opinions on both politicians and their policies. Edward VII, for instance, regarded Arthur Balfour (who was prime minister from 19 to 19 ) as the greatest political shu er of our day and a man with no sense of honour or truth . hen George V, while he was still Prince of ales, said that H H Asquith (PM from 19 8 to 191 ) was not quite a gentleman , this got back to Asquith thanks to an indiscreet inston Churchill, much to George’s embarrassment. In turn, David Lloyd George thought George was a rampant Tory, and rather dim to boot.

Eli abeth’s father, George VI, was so distressed by Churchill’s defeat in 194 that he wrote not one but two letters saying how sorry he was to see him go. Although The King got on well with his successor, Clement Attlee, in private he was often critical

of the Labour government’s policies. In contrast, Queen Eli abeth appears to have kept her opinions to herself. Sir Malcolm ifkind, the former Tory minister, told me that with other members of the oyal Family it was not too difficult to know where they stood politically. But with The Queen, he said, one never knew what her political opinions were. This chimes with a story she told about how the Shah of Iran once asked whether she had had more Conservative or Labour prime ministers. I had to say to him that I hadn’t the faintest idea. ot only had she not kept count, but the politics of her prime ministers mattered less than their personalities: what she cared about was whether she got on with them.

On that basis, her first prime minister was without doubt one of her favourites. She revered inston Churchill, who was old enough to be her grandfather, and their audiences had an almost jaunty air , according to her biographer Ben Pimlott. Churchill’s private secretary once asked what they talked about. Oh, mostly racing, he replied. But it was not all plain sailing. He could be very stubborn, she once said.

Above: Queen Elizabeth II at a Downing Street dinner in 1985 with six of her prime ministers – from left, James Callaghan, Alec Douglas-Home, Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath Facing page: The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament in 1964

She was fond of his successor Anthony Eden, and kept up a correspondence with him long after he resigned, the year after the Suez Crisis. But she found Harold Macmillan a bit of a bore because of his tendency to lecture the young monarch, and on his annual visit to Balmoral, a junior secretary was deputed to take him on long walks to keep him out of The Queen’s way. Harold Wilson, on the other hand, was one of her favourites, although he did not get off to a good start. At his first weekly audience she asked him a question about something that had come up in the Cabinet minutes, which she had been sent, only to find that ilson was unprepared and unbriefed. Unhappy at being caught out – he was not the only prime minister to have underestimated The Queen in this way – from then on, he always did his homework.

The strength and depth of their relationship, based in part on their mutual love of political gossip, influenced the subtle way in which monarch and prime minister can support each other. During the crisis over Rhodesia in 1965, when the white minority regime made a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI), ilson got her to agree to an announcement that there could be no question of her accepting the role of head of state of a rebel regime. Then, on the eve of UDI, when the hodesian PM Ian Smith made a final appeal to The Queen, she sent what Labour minister Barbara Castle described as a beautifully formal reply saying she was confident that “all her Rhodesian people will demonstrate their loyalty by continuing to act in a constitutional manner”. Castle noted: “Harold has certainly got her superbly organised.”

The Queen’s relationship with Margaret Thatcher was not so cordial, but it was also not as bad as was portrayed in, say, The Crown. On a personal level they had little in common – Thatcher was very much not a countrywoman, and endured rather than enjoyed her annual trip to Balmoral –and was a political iconoclast while The Queen was a small-c conservative (although Thatcher did once remark, in sorrow rather than anger: “The problem is The Queen is the kind of woman who could vote SDP. )

The Commonwealth was the issue that really divided them, however. The Queen thought that it was a force for good, while Thatcher thought it was irrelevant at best and a source of great annoyance whenever its leaders berated her over the question of South Africa. The Queen demonstrated the important role she could play during the Commonwealth summit in Zambia in 1979, when Britain was deeply unpopular with Commonwealth leaders over its refusal to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime. Zambia’s President Kaunda was preparing to make an inflammatory anti-British speech at the official banquet, and diplomats’ efforts to get him to tone it down had proved wholly unsuccessful. It was only The Queen’s intervention, when she was in a car alone with Kaunda, that managed to persuade him to remove the offending passages.

Even when she had differences of opinion with her prime minister, The Queen knew that her constitutional duty was to act on their advice. She did not have any choice in the matter. The starkest example of that was The Queen’s Speech, when she read out the Government’s legislative plans for the year. Those were her Government’s policies, whatever she thought of their merits. It could lead to some pretty secondgrade oratory. In 1967, Richard Crossman, then Leader of the Commons, described listening to an “appalling” speech that was “impossible to enunciate”. A generation later, Tony Blair winced at how The Queen had been forced to read out what even he described as “New Labour twaddle”. In more recent years the Palace has not hesitated to push back on language

Above: The Queen and Baroness Thatcher at Claridge’s in London in 1995 for a dinner to celebrate the former prime minister’s 70th birthday

Below: Sir Alec Douglas-Home pictured in The Illustrated London News during his tenure in Downing Street in 1964. As Sir Alec was a friend of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, his appointment was a sensitive issue for The Queen. As it was, he was only in power until later that year

Alamy; Mary Evans Picture Library

that it thought was overly political. In the Boris Johnson era, a phrase on the Rwanda Bill had to be taken out at the Palace’s insistence, as did another on Brexit, which was all about “taking back control”.

It would be wrong, however, to imagine that the power all lay with Downing Street. When the Government was negotiating with the Palace over the creation of the Sovereign Grant, the new system for financing the monarchy which replaced the Civil List, it decided late in the day that the level of grant agreed had been a little too generous. But when the head of the Treasury rang the Palace to tell them, he got short shrift. The Keeper of the Privy Purse told him that it had all been agreed with The Queen, and could not possibly be changed.

Politicians were also anxious to keep on the right side of the Royal Family. As one former Labour minister told me: “We all want to be recognised and approved of by The Queen… My overwhelming desire all the time was to please her.”

Yet despite her image of studied neutrality, The Queen had more political opinions than she has been given credit for. We saw that when she spoke out during the Scottish

independence referendum in 2014, calling on people to “think very carefully about the future – a cleverly worded message which said nothing, but also made her views abundantly clear. Two years later, she also had an opinion on Brexit – just not the one we thought she had. A notorious Sun headline claimed that Queen backs Brexit , but that was just based on a conversation a few years earlier, and turned out to be far from the truth. A minister told me that he spoke to The Queen, and she said she thought Britain should not leave the European Union. “It’s better to stick with the devil you know,” she said. Queen Elizabeth II played a clever game. As far as the public was concerned, she was above politics, a neutral figure who could use her impartiality to unite the nation. But behind the scenes she used her influence when she regarded it as necessary, and when she had strong opinions she managed to ensure that they never leaked out. The fact that the monarchy remains a vibrant part of public life is thanks in no small part to the way she played her role.

Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy and 10 Downing Street by Valentine Low is published by Headline Press

left: Harold Wilson escorting the Queen to the State Room at No 10 for a farewell dinner after his resignation as prime minister in 1976

Above: Harold Macmillan pictured in the Cabinet Room at No10 in a edition of The Illustrated London News r , his first ear in fice

Left: n lair at his weekl pri e inisterial audience with he ueen in his was a rare gli pse the private eeting, captured r a d cu entar t ark he ueen s lden ubilee in

Above

SCINTILLATING STYLE

Jewellery trends come and go, but royal sparklers have an enduring appeal. Lucinda Gosling investigates the jewellery fashions that take their cues from royalty

t was called the “Sale of the Century”. In May 1987, when The Duchess of Windsor’s jewels were auctioned by Sotheby’s in Geneva to raise funds for France’s Institut Pasteur, the feverish bidding led to pieces soaring way beyond their original estimates. Up for sale were not just some of the finest examples of the jeweller’s art, but storied pieces steeped in romance, sentiment and no small measure of controversy. These were love tokens, given by a king who ruled for less than a year to the woman for whom he had given up the throne. One ruby and diamond necklace bears a

simple inscription that nevertheless speaks eloquently of their devotion to each other: “My Wallis from her David”. Brian Vine, writing in the Daily Mail in December 1986, felt it was a sad state of affairs that a collection representative of such passion should end up being sold off in a, sanitised, emotionless auction room” in Geneva. In fact, the collection had first been offered to Mohammed Al Fayed following the Duchess’s death. He declined, with the puzzling and somewhat short-sighted declaration that they were not sufficiently historical to interest me”. They were certainly of interest to

Nils

Herrmann, Collection Cartier © Cartier

plenty of others, and the desire to possess them brought out some of the wealthiest and high-profile jewellery connoisseurs.

The billionaire jeweller, Laurence Graff, acquired the emerald engagement ring Edward VIII gave Wallis on the day of her divorce. Eli abeth Taylor, a lifelong diamond addict, bid via telephone from beside the pool in Los Angeles to secure the diamond brooch in the shape of The Prince of ales insignia. It was a piece that by rights should have remained within the oyal Family, to be worn by successive princesses of Wales, but through an oversight it had remained with the indsors, and Taylor, who knew the Duke and Duchess and had admired it, splurged , to make it hers.

The Duchess’s superb Cartier turquoise and amethyst bib necklace went to American celebrity lawyer, Marvin Mitchelson, while Sam Moussaieff, owner of London Hilton ewellers, bought the Duke’s set of seals, studded with semi-precious stones for 1 , each. He also paid a cool 1million for the monogrammed sword George V had presented to his eldest son back when David was Prince of ales. Cartier bought back some of its flamboyant, exotic ‘Great Cats’ pieces which the Duchess had worn with aplomb the jewel-encrusted panther brooch atop a 1 . -carat Kashmir sapphire cabochon, and a novelty lorgnette with a handle fashioned into a tiger, pieces dreamt up by Cartier’s creative director eanne Toussaint who often collaborated directly with the indsors on designs.

The Duchess’s fondness for Cartier’s cats set a trend among the fashionable elite, with Barbara Hutton and Daisy Fellowes

Facing page and above: The Duchess of Windsor’s diamond a ing br ch, ade b artier, being w rn in une

Below: he uchess s artier panther br ch, eaturing a ewel-encrusted big cat at p a ash ir sapphire cab ch n

both becoming fans of these feline-form status symbols. There was a more unorthodox bidder among those at Sotheby’s in 198 – the Daily Mail. The paper purchased five different pieces. It paid , for a pearl choker, worn by allis to a 19 gala film premiere of A King’s Story in Paris. There was a lunette compact, studded with gemstones on one side, and, on the other, a delicately etched map charting allis and Edward’s holiday cruise on board the luxury yacht Nahlin in 19 ( , ). A panther brooch, made in Italy, a totemic part of allis’s style, was secured for , . The Mail also bought the Cartier ‘ E’ brooch ( , ), with the couple’s initials entwined, conveniently spelling a word that was the epitome of togetherness. The brooch had been another gift from Edward to allis in the 19 s. The final piece was a set of interlinked hoop rings in red, yellow and white gold ( 18, ) with one inscribed, ‘Darling allis, 19. .’ (the Duchess’s birthday).

There was a canny motive behind this extravagance. The jewels would be used in an extraordinary marketing initiative, guaranteed to boost the paper’s profile and readership. On April, the Daily Mail launched its great indsor Gems Contest. For each of the five jewels, readers were required to collect five tokens, with one published each day in the paper, and to post their entry along with 1 words poetically summarising what it would mean to win them. Over the next few weeks, the indsor jewels contest dominated the paper, with plenty of content designed to woo the Mail’s female readership. One day the fashion pages ran a feature on what to wear with the indsor jewels (high-end British designers like Caroline Charles and David Fielden were the answer). On another, actress Glynis Barber dressed up as the Duchess in an elegant black sheath evening gown, in order to show off the

Left: A model with the lunette compact from the Daily Mail ’s Duchess of Windsor jewellery contest in 1987. The paper had paid £73,600 for it, and also bought four other pieces from the Sotheby’s sale, offering them to readers

E brooch. Cynthia Harris, who had played allis in the 19 8 TV series Edward and Mrs Simpson said how terribly special it would be to win one of the pieces, but unfortunately, as an American, was excluded from entering; the competition rules stated that it was only open to citi ens or permanent residents of the United Kingdom. Another American, Farrah Fawcett, asked to borrow pieces to wear during the filming of Poor Little Rich Girl about the life of Barbara Hutton, the tenuous excuse being that Barbara and allis were friends and apparently often loaned each other jewellery.

Carol oyle, Lynsey de Paul, Marie Helvin, ane Asher and former model Lady Brocket were all roped in to model and provide enthusiastic quotes. udging the competition was designer Lindka Cierach, fresh from designing the Duchess of ork’s wedding gown, oseph Allgood, Vice Chairman of Cartier, and the sparkly named doyenne of breakfast TV, Anne Diamond. Over four heady weeks, the paper maintained a level of excitement worthy of those hoping to find a golden ticket to illy onka’s chocolate factory There has never been a competition to match it in the history of Fleet Street, it claimed. And it was probably right.

One by one, the lucky winners were announced. Vera and Percy Brindley of olverhampton won the ‘ E’ brooch with rhyming couplets they had composed together which seemed apt. an uhrmund of Pen ance, a cat lover, won the panther brooch, while Mrs Sue Allen of Derbyshire won the compact, and generously offered it for a long-term loan to the V A.

The competition was an extraordinary event; an opportunity for anyone to own not only a valuable piece of royal jewellery, but also a tangible symbol of one of the world’s most fascinating love stories.

In recent years, some of the world’s most prestigious jewellers have paid homage to royal women and their legendary jewellery collections. Inspired by the art deco clip brooch of aquamarines and diamonds given to Princess Elizabeth for her 18th birthday in 1944, Boucheron’s 2023 Like a Queen collection featured a cuff bracelet that echoes the original brooch’s elegant lines. The Duchess of Windsor owned 15 pieces by exclusive New York jeweller Harry Winston and was reported to adore yellow diamonds. Their Royal Adornments collection includes the Duchess necklace, featuring the white and yellow diamonds she loved so much. Meanwhile, Tiffany have reimagined Jean Schlumberger’s textured gold seashell brooch, worn by Princess Margaret, as a stunning emerald and diamond necklace. Lusting after Cartier style but on a costume jewellery budget? We spotlight a selection of jewellery trends with royal associations.

BROOCHING THE SUBJECT

The Windsor jewels inspired a whole industry in replicas. American costume jewellery company Carolee produced the Windsor Collection in 1987 with their versions of iconic pieces including allis’s diamond flamingo brooch with its tail plumage of rubies, sapphires and emeralds, made by Cartier in 1940. Even today, cubic zircona versions of the Duchess of indsor’s flamboyant jewels sell for several hundred pounds; there is still an appetite to own a piece of Wallis’s unique style. This year, visitors to the Cartier exhibition at the V&A had a chance to see the original brooch and could afterwards purchase an embroidered adhesive version of the flamingo in the museum’s shop – a snip at 18. Because after several decades in the fashion wilderness, the brooch is back where it belongs, gracing the lapels of the nation. For the Royal Family, brooches have always been part of their arsenal, with The late Queen Elizabeth II renowned for her dazzling collection, including the Cullinan VI and VIII brooch, the Courtauld Thomson Scallop-Shell brooch, the flame-lily brooch and the illiamson Diamond Brooch, featuring a central stone considered the finest pink diamond ever discovered. Isabel Marant, Miu Miu and Tory Burch, as well as a host of high street retailers are all pinning their hopes on the brooch this season and while there are plenty to choose from in the shops, if you’re lucky enough to have something donated by granny, why not follow the Royal Family and wear heirloom?

Top and above: Queen Elizabeth II with a young Prince Charles and Princess Anne in 1954. Her Majesty is wearing the Williamson Diamond Brooch, which she commissioned the previous year. t its heart is a awless pink diamond she had been given as a wedding present in 1947

GIRLS IN PEARLS

No longer the preserve of Sloane Rangers, the lustrous pearl is having a moment. Pearls have been associated with royalty for hundreds of years; the Tudors were particularly keen. Queen Alexandra helped popularise pearls in the early th century (see our feature on p 4) draping herself with several ropes at a time and often combining them with diamond brooches and stomachers for ceremonial occasions; her daughter-in-law Queen Mary did the same with majestic effect. By the 19 s, pearls were still popular but greatly simplified with single, long strands the current vogue. Queen Elizabeth II’s classic combination of sensible skirt and twinset was elevated by the addition of her pearls, while Diana, Princess of Wales, made pearls an essential component of her showstopping glamour. Most notable was her sapphire, diamond and pearl choker, with its centrepiece adapted from a brooch given to her by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The necklace was worn when she danced with John Travolta at the White House in ovember 198 , and famously, when she stepped out in her so-called ‘revenge dress’ at a Vanity Fair fundraising dinner at the Serpentine Gallery on 9 une 1994. The most recent pearl renaissance has seen their ladylike status given an edgy overhaul, with Chanel, Bottega Veneta and Moschino offering pearl body chains and belts. Cult Gaia’s covetable accessories include a surrealist take on the clutch bag. For 4 , pearl lovers can store their essentials in a clutch shaped as a single, huge pearl. Missoma, Kenneth Jay Lane and Dinny Hall all offer affordable, wearable modern pearl jewellery, but for neckwear that makes a regal statement, you can’t beat Vivienne Westwood’s pearl choker featuring the late designer’s iconic royal orb logo.

PERSONAL SETTINGS

Her Majesty Queen Camilla may have access to some of the world’s most spectacular jewels, but her most frequently worn piece is something far more modest, but with great sentimental value. She is often seen wearing a simple gold pendant necklace engraved with the initials of her five non-royal grandchildren Lola, Freddy, Gus, Eliza and Louis. The Princess of Wales also favours the personal touch when it comes to jewellery and is the owner of a Daniella Draper necklace featuring the initials of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. In fact, ever since she wore a Merci Maman necklace, a gift to celebrate the birth of Prince George in 2013, the popularity of personalised jewellery has increased dramatically, with brands such as Monica Vinander and Missoma offering an engraving service guaranteed to make each piece unique.

Top: The Princess of Wales wears a personalised Daniella Draper necklace featuring the initials of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis

Left: Queen Elizabeth I resplendent in pearls in the Armada Portrait, which hangs in the Queen’s House, Greenwich Facing page, fom top: Princess Charlotte wears a Jess Collett headpiece at the Coronation in 2023; the Royal British Legion’s Elizabeth Poppy Basket Brooch; and Diana, Princess of Wales dances with Prince Charles in Melbourne while wearing Queen Mary’s Garrard necklace as a headband during the royal tour of Australia in October 1985

DIANA – MODISH MODIFICATIONS

al ewels have re uentl been reset r adapted int new pieces acc rding t prevailing ashi ns n , during a r al t ur ustralia, iana, rincess ales caused a sensati n when she wore Queen Mary’s art deco Garrard necklace of diamonds and cabouchon emeralds as a headband. Her hairdresser, ichard alt n later revealed that he rincess had sunburn on her neck so together they had hatched a plan t wear it ver her rehead, securing it under her thick hair with the aid of knicker elastic! The following year, she wore her sapphire and diamond choker (made from a suite which had been a wedding gi t r the r wn rince audi rabia once again as a headband at a dinner hosted by Emperor ir hit in apan iana s subversi n a traditi nal eweller piece at a time when the New Romantics were wearing headbands with their unc , piratical ashi ns, re ains ne her most memorable moments as a fashion rule-breaker. n , he rincess ales w re the dia nd and e erald necklace as intended, ch ker-st le when she attended the arthsh t ri e in st n t per ectl c ple ented a green dress she had rented from Hurr, a choice that chimed with arthsh t s sustainable values

TIARAMANIA

The coronation of King George VI in 1937 sparked a ‘tiaramania’ as every aristocrat in the land either polished up the family tiara, had it reset and updated, or commissioned something fashionably new from Cartier or Garrard. While the Coronation was a far more egalitarian affair, there was intense speculation about which tiara the Princess of Wales would select from the royal vaults. She had worn the Cartier Halo Tiara to her 2011 wedding, originally bought by the Duke of York for his wife in 1936, and the expectation was that she would choose another from the family’s showstopping, historical collection. In the event, Kate surprised everyone by wearing a headpiece commissioned by Notting Hill milliner ess Collett (who also fashioned a mini version for Princess Charlotte), a timeless melange of silver tulle laurel leaves, twinkling crystals and silver thread embroidery. As an alumna of the Prince’s Trust (now the King’s Trust), the choice of Collett to create a new kind of ‘tiara’ for the modern era seemed particularly fitting, while fashion-watchers will recognise the halo shape replicated in hats and headbands worn at Royal Ascot and weddings over the past two summers. If tiaras are your temptation, then there may be just time to catch the Cartier exhibition at the V&A before it closes on 1 ovember. The grand finale of the show is the tiara room featuring 18 exquisite examples guaranteed to whip up some 1st-century tiaramania.

IN REMEMBRANCE

Inspired by The late Queen Elizabeth II’s Remembrance poppy brooch worn at the Cenotaph ceremony, this year the Royal British Legion has released a brooch featuring six blooming p ppies in a basket er a est w uld wear five p ppies, th ught t represent each service in the ec nd rld ar the r , the av , the , the ivil e ence and w en s services his new design eatures a si th p pp t h n ur Her Majesty, uniting her remembrance and theirs in a single piece ll pr fits r the li abeth pp asket r ch will go towards the Royal British Legion’s work in supporting the r ed rces c unit

THE ROYAL TOUCH

A lifetime of collecting has resulted in an intriguing cache of royal jewels amassed by expert Geoffrey Munn. Now on display at the V&A in London, these special pieces survive as symbols of love and loss. By Lucinda Gosling

picture and right: The

Above

Top left and centre: The matt-gold locket with conjoined hearts that Prince Albert had bought as a Christmas gift in 1861 for Queen Victoria and given to her after his death, containing their portraits

Top right and centre right: Mourning locket with a photographic transfer of Queen Victoria’s Highland ghillie, John Brown, and a lock of his hair

Geoffrey and Caroline Nunn/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Main

open-work gold heart brooch with freshwater pearls from Scotland given to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1843 to mark their third wedding anniversary

left and centre left: A commemorative ring, c1785, holding the hair of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, woven into a wheatsheaf

December 1861 must have been the bleakest of Christmases at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. With Prince Albert having breathed his last less than a fortnight earlier, it was up to Princess Alice to present her grieving mama with the gift her late father had already bought and wrapped for his wife before his untimely death. It was a matt-gold locket decorated with conjoined hearts under one crown, fetchingly set with turquoise and diamond, two stones representing true love and constancy respectively. The locket contained photographs of Albert and Victoria while the inscription on the back was simple: ‘Xmas 1861’. Even beyond the grave, Albert had managed to continue the habit of gift-giving the couple had enjoyed in life; their presents to each other tangible expressions of their steadfast devotion. The Queen noted in her journal on 1 January 1862: “Alice gave me my beloved Albert’s Christmas present, so precious, so sad.” We can easily imagine the locket resting against the black crêpe of her mourning dress as she penned those words.

This poignant memento is one of 31 jewels with fascinating back stories (many of them royal) now on display in The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery at the V&A Museum in London. They are part of a long-term loan by Geoffrey Munn, one of the UK’s best-known jewellery experts and an Antiques Roadshow regular since 1989. Munn is a selfconfessed “mudlarker without the mud”, greatly relishing the hunt around antiques shops and salerooms, and the sleuthing he undertakes to establish a hefty provenance to pieces he has acquired over the years. Take, for example, a brooch of polished granite, framed by a wreath of gold and green enamel myrtle leaves. Inscribed on the reverse “Loch Dhu 3 October 1870 from VR”, the brooch was clearly a gift from Queen Victoria but Munn’s digging unearthed details that give the brooch a greater, more emotional resonance.

That was the date and place where John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne proposed marriage to Queen Victoria’s sixth child, Princess Louise (the pair later became the Duke and Duchess of Argyll). Personally designed by Queen Victoria, the inspiration for the piece is described in her letter to Lord Lorne dated 8 December 1870.

“I send you here a little pin made out of a piece of granite I picked up on the path to the Glassalt Shiel on 26 October, with the 3 October engraved on it at the back, and with a wreath of bog myrtle round it which I hope you will sometimes wear. Louise has a brooch just like it made out of the same stone.”

Glassalt Shiel was a dressed granite house built to the Queen’s order in 1868 in a spectacular setting much favoured by Victoria and Albert. The choice of stone may have also alluded to Prince Albert’s interest in geology (he was made a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1849). Even the myrtle leaves were heavy with symbolism. The Marquess was the heir to the chiefdom of Clan Campbell, whose emblem was the bog myrtle, which, in the Victorian language of flowers, represented love. It may not sparkle and shine like some royal jewels, but the idea of Victoria bending down and picking up the stone herself, in a place so meaningful to her, brings the brooch vividly to life. Munn’s further investigations found that Princess Louise took her granite brooch on her honeymoon to Italy where she wore it when she sat for a portrait by Giulio Rossi of Genoa and Milan.

The granite brooch is not the only piece to manifest a Scottish connection. A pretty, open-work gold heart set with semi-precious stones, typical of the Scottish love token or good-luck charm known as a Luckenbooth, dates from happier

times. The inscription on the reverse reads: “From Albert, Feby. 10th 1843”, the date of Victoria and Albert’s third wedding anniversary. Sure enough, the Queen recorded in her journal: “My beloved Albert gave me a lovely brooch which is so original in design & which I am delighted with. It is set with four freshwater pearls from Scotland.” They had visited Scotland for the first time the previous September; the brooch symbolised the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the Highlands.

The Victorian cult of mourning, spearheaded by The Queen, is well represented here. There is a gold mourning locket in the shape of an ivy leaf, made to commemorate her son-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg, husband of Princess Beatrice. A great favourite of The Queen, ‘Liko’ as he was affectionately known, went to serve in the Ashanti War but contracted malaria and died in January 1896, aged just 37 aboard HMS Blonde off the coast of Sierra Leone. The locket was given by The Queen to her Lady of the Bedchamber, Jane Churchill, proof that everyone within the royal circle shared in the communal experience of grief and remembrance.

The Queen’s Highland ghillie, John Brown, is memorialised in an oval mourning brooch set with a photographic transfer enamel portrait of Brown in profile. The frame is inscribed “Dear John 27th March 1883”, the date of his death, and the reverse holds a lock of his hair. Although Victoria ordered a number of jewels to commemorate her favourite servant, this is the largest known and bears a surprisingly intimate message. Rumours simmered about the nature of The Queen’s relationship with Brown, although the fact she then gifted it suggests Victoria herself felt no shame in her very performative brand of mourning. The brooch simply represented the depth of her sentimental regard for Brown.

Present-day sensibilities may cause us to squirm at the ghoulish idea of wearing the hair of a deceased person as jewellery, but Munn’s collection holds some quite astonishing examples. One shuttle-shaped ring contains the hair of King Edward IV and another holds that of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, who first married Louis XII of France, then Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Her reddish hair is woven into a wheatsheaf – a symbol of resurrection and eternal life. In both cases, the hair was procured long after death, when the moving and opening up of tombs was not uncommon. Mary’s tomb was opened 251 years after her death in 1533, and yet her hair, still in a plait measuring two feet, was found to be in good condition. They are remarkable as relics, but their survival tells us something more about medieval beliefs. Munn explains: “Superstition regarding the power of the royal touch survived until the 18th century and a relic from the person of a king would have been imbued with mystical powers that are difficult to understand today.” Indeed, royal jewels were inextricably linked with this concept of regal power. Outwardly, jewels distinguished the monarch from ordinary beings, but beyond that, there is the notion of numinosity; that royal jewels, relics and regalia somehow have supernatural powers.

Even in the Georgian era, the so-called Age of Enlightenment, the preservation of locks of royal hair as jewellery suggests an awe and respect for the past, but also something mysterious and indefinable. Before photography, before even reasonably lifelike portraiture, these physical remnants of long-dead royals are the one surviving link with the past. There remains something wondrous about the fascinating jewels in Geoffrey Munn’s collection, all of which, in one way or another, boast of ‘the royal touch’. Among the bling and dazzle of the V&A’s jewellery galleries, these are the pieces to seek out, for royal stories worth their weight in gold.

A FESTIVE FIR-ST FROM THE ARCHIVE

On 23 December 1848, The Illustrated London News published a picture which was to mark a defining moment in the popularity of a certain Christmas tradition. Engraved by JL Williams, it depicted Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their five eldest children gathered around a twinkling Christmas tree at Windsor Castle. Christmas trees were not unknown, and pictures of royal Christmas trees had been published before, including in the Pictorial Times in 1846, but the widespread circulation and popularity of the ILN meant this was the image that turned Brits into serious fans of the festive fir. The report accompanying the engraving explained the tree was “that which is annually prepared by her Majesty’s command for the Royal Children. Similar trees are arranged in other apartments of the Castle for her

Majesty, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, and the Royal household. Her Majesty’s tree is furnished by His Royal Highness Prince Albert, whilst that of the Prince is furnished according to the taste of her Majesty”.

Despite Charles Dickens describing the idea as “that pretty German toy”, the Christmas tree, within a few short years, had become widely adopted and an accepted part of festive celebrations in Britain, thanks in part to The Illustrated London News .

Above: A digitally colourised version of the original black-and-white engraving, first published in The Illustrated London News , 23 December 1848

Mary EvansPicture Library