This is London Magazine Easter Edition 2025 - Flipbook - Page 9
© Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2025 | Royal Collection Trust.
HIS MAJESTY THE KING TRIES
GILDING AT ROYAL CONSERVATION
WORKSHOP
His Majesty The King has visited
Royal Collection Trust’s Decorative Arts
conservation workshop in London to
hear from conservators about their work.
His Majesty viewed objects being
conserved for the new exhibition The
Edwardians: Age of Elegance, and tried
his hand at applying gold leaf to a gilded
dragon that will go on display to visitors
in Buckingham Palace’s East Wing.
The workshop’s expert staff use a
combination of centuries-old techniques
and the latest technologies to conserve
furniture, ceramics, sculpture, giltwood
and metalwork from the Royal
Collection, ensuring that these objects
can be enjoyed for generations to come
and can be seen by the public in
palaces, museums and galleries across
the UK and around the world.
His Majesty is Patron of Royal
Collection Trust, a charity caring for the
Royal Collection and welcoming visitors
to the royal palaces. The Royal
Collection is one of the world’s great art
collections, held in trust by The King for
his successors and the nation. With over
a million objects, it is a unique record of
the tastes of British kings and queens
over the past 500 years, with many items
still used today for their original purpose.
The Edwardians: Age of Elegance,
opening at The King's Gallery,
Buckingham Palace on 11 April, is the
first Royal Collection Trust exhibition
ever to explore the Edwardian era and
will immerse visitors in the glamour and
opulence of the period. The exhibition
will explore the lives and tastes of two of
Britain's most fashionable royal couples
– King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra,
and King George V and Queen Mary –
from their family lives and personal
collecting to their glittering social
circles, global travels and spectacular
royal events. Visitors will see more than
300 items from the Royal Collection –
almost half on display for the first time –
including works by many of the period's
most celebrated names, including Carl
Fabergé, Frederic Leighton, Edward
Burne-Jones, John Singer Sargent,
William Morris and Oscar Wilde.
Four years into George V’s reign, war
broke out, and the glitz and glamour of
the Edwardian age came to an abrupt
end. The royal family collected works
that recorded and honoured the
sacrifices made by so many during the
‘Great War’ and its aftermath – including
haunting wartime landscapes by Olive
Edis, Britain’s first official female war
photographer, and Frank O. Salisbury’s
painting showing the unveiling of the
Cenotaph on 11 November 1920. By the
end of the conflict, a more restrained
and dutiful monarchy had emerged: a
monarchy shaped for the 20th century.
Following successful trials in 2022
and 2023, Exclusive Guided Tours of
St James’s Palace will be available on
selected weekends this spring. From its
origins as a residence for Henry VIII to
its status today as the official seat of the
British monarchy, St James’s Palace is
steeped in 500 years of fascinating royal
history. Highlights of the tour include
views of the Palace’s surviving Tudor
architecture, such as its courtyard and
gatehouse; paintings, furniture and
decorative arts from the Royal
Collection, including Mortlake tapestries
acquired by Charles I; and the Throne
Room and Picture Gallery, where the
Accession Council of King Charles III
was held on 10 September, 2022.
Further information at www.rct.uk
Attributed to Godefroy Durand, The Marlborough House fancy ball, 1874.
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
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