The Platinum Jubilee brings splendor and celebrations for Elizabeth II. But, just as the long-lived queen is going to receive the unanimous recognition of her people, she too wants to have something to offer the British. Therefore, she has decided to open her jewelry box and her cabinets and show some of her most significant pieces to celebrate her 70 years on the throne.
To do this, the queen has announced that she is going to exhibit brooches, tiaras and even her coronation dress in some of the most significant castles and palaces in the United Kingdom. The collection belongs to the so-called Royal Collection Trustthe fund that manages the residences, works of art and objects of great value of the monarch and her family.
In reality, that exhibition will be three almost simultaneous exhibitions. The first will take place at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of Elizabeth II in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. It starts on July 3 and ends on September 25. The second will begin on July 7 and will end a day later, on September 26, in Windsor, where the sovereign now resides, one hour from London. And the third will be at Buckingham Palace, in the British capital, from July 22 to October 2. Visits to the exhibitions will cost 17.50 pounds (20.5 euros), 26.50 pounds (30 euros) and 30 pounds (35.3 euros), respectively. Buckingham, a palace whose rooms are rarely open to the public, is the site with the most expensive entrance, but also with the most symbolic pieces.
In Edinburgh, in what is perhaps one of the queen’s least known palaces (when she visits Scotland she usually stays in Balmoral, in the country, while this one is in the city center), the dresses that she has worn in other jubilees: those of Silver, Gold and Diamond, that is, in the celebrations for his 25, 50 and 60 years on the throne. On display will be costumes designed by Sir Hardy Amies — such as the pink silk crepe and chiffon dress, coat and stole ensemble she wore to her 25th birthday celebration in 1977 — and hats by Simone Mirman.
Some of the highlights will be on display at Windsor, such as the white satin dress embroidered with Commonwealth flowers and encrusted with pearls and crystals that the Queen wore on June 2, 1953 for her coronation ceremony at the Abbey. of Westminster, created by Sir Norman Hartnell, and also the so-called “robe of state”, in purple silk trimmed with ermine and with spikes and olive branches, “symbol of prosperity and peace”, as explained from the exhibition. The garment was made between March and May 1953 and took more than 3,500 hours to complete.
“I think it serves to underscore the importance of the iconic design and iconography of the coronation dress, but at the same time it really supports the queen’s message as head of the Commonwealth and the fact that she has really spent a lot of her reign to it”, underlined Caroline de Guitaut, deputy topographer of the queen’s works of art and curator of the exhibition, to Magazine People.
In addition, some of the most famous and significant brooches used by Elizabeth II will be on display in Windsor. This is the case of the maple leaf that she used in 1951 as well as Camilla de Cornwall and Kate Middleton later on her state visits to Canada. You can also see the one that the then brand new queen wore over her black dress when she rushed back from her tour of Africa in 1952 after the death of her father; or with which the Australian Government presented her on her first visit to the country in 1954.
The Buckingham exhibition reviews everything related to the coronation and the figure of the queen over the years: from different portraits used on stamps and coins (such as the first one made by Dorothy Wilding in February 1952, 20 days after becoming queen) to the jeweler Garrard’s tiara worn by Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary, at her wedding to George V in 1894, a gift from Queen Victoria. When Isabel and Felipe got married in 1947, María gave it to her granddaughter. Also the necklace that the monarch inherited in 1953, the year of her coronation, which incorporates nine emeralds and an 8.8-carat diamond pendant, cut from the Cullinan diamond, the largest ever found, a piece of great value and that the queen has worn on very few occasions; the last of hers, at a gala dinner in Malaysia in 1989, where she combined it with her grandmother’s tiara.
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