2012 is the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. To celebrate her 60 year reign, a series of Royal Collection exhibitions have been planned across the UK. Reflecting the tastes of the Royal Family over the centuries, they provide a unique opportunity for visitors from Cumbria to see the antique balloon backed dining chairs Queen Victoria might have used.
The Royal Collection combines the individual tastes of our monarchy over more than 500 years. While the paintings, furniture, tapestries, jewellery, armour, ceramics and other artworks remain the property of the sovereign, no single monarch owns the collection. Instead, it is held in trust for the nation and future successors, managed by the Royal Collection Trust – a department of the Royal household.
Distributed between various royal residences – including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Holyrood House – as well as various museums and art galleries, all buildings housing the Royal Collection are open to the public. Worth in excess of £10 billion, the collection is immense, with around 47,000 paintings, drawings and watercolours alone. However, a much larger proportion is given over to the decorative arts. At royal palaces like Holyrood, visitors making the trip from Cumbria will see antique marquetry furniture , oriental porcelain, Faberge artworks, Baroque antique desks and other treasures. Naturally, it is only possible to have part of the collection on display at any one time, so exhibits are changed on a regular basis, with touring exhibitions and loans to other institutions to allow maximum public access.
Some venues have particular themes – Osborne House, for example, is dominated by the furniture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. However, you don’t need a King’s ransom to buy a Victorian balloon back dining chair – as any Preston antique dealer will tell you.