Country Life 404 (Full Edition)

EVERY WEEK

APRIL 26, 2023

VOL CCXX NO 17, APRIL 26, 2023

His Majesty King Charles III Charles III, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of His Other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Photographed at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, by Norman Parkinson, in advance of his investiture ceremony as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle, Wales, on July 1, 1969

Contents April 26, 2023

156 A theatre of coronation

John Goodall unravels the history of Westminster Abbey in its role as the nation’s coronation church

164 The Renaissance King

Ten friends of COUNTRY LIFE who have worked with The King tell why they believe the pioneering, indefatigable and courageous Charles III will be a great monarch

184 ‘She’s the best listener in the world’

It has not been an easy ride for the new Queen, but she is excelling in royal life, describes Jane Wheatley

190 A perfect 10

Agnes Stamp plays the numbers game

192 It shouldn’t happen at a coronation

Tumbling peers, backwards crowns, earthquakes: the ceremony has seen it all, finds Carla Passino

198 Let the celebrations begin

Kate Green reveals what everyone will be doing on coronation weekend, from The Mall to the village hall

204 The King and I

Dorothy Maltby was there when George VI was crowned

Above: From crown to cherub, trumpet to triton, the Gold State Coach is a true masterpiece (page 210). Right: The policeman at the procession (page 198) THIS WEEK

144 Henry Dallal’s favourite painting

The photographer admired by the late Queen picks a jewelled and gilded Persian scene

146 Heavy lies the crown Fred van Deelen/ Country Life Picture Library

The circle of gold and glittering jewels is a familiar badge of royalty, but its ancient, symbolic meaning goes far deeper, explains Matthew Dennison

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114 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

King of the canine castle: The Queen and her dogs Beth and Bluebell with The King at the inaugural Dumfries House Dog Show, 2022

210 Masterpiece

272 Mark the occasion

214 If the ceremonial hat fits

292 The face of Majesty

Jack Watkins admires the Gold State Coach

312 Shrimply the best

Tom Parker Bowles tucks into the luscious langoustine, seafood fit for The King

Royal portraits reveal both preoccupations and personalities, finds Michael Prodger

314 The bumblebee’s knees

Timothy Mowl meets the artist of our new coins

302 All creatures great and small

EVERY WEEK

224 Let the power of the music carry you

308 As fresh as a daisy

Royal milliner Jane Smith’s work has graced screen and stage, discovers Simon Fenwick

220 Time for change

Annabelle King/Country Life Picture Library; Alamy; John Holder

Sarah Royce-Greensill explains hallmarks

Spirits will be raised by soaring song at this coronation, as always, says Andrew Green

230 The King’s gardens

Alan Titchmarsh tours the royal sanctuaries

240 Send him victorious, happy and glorious Charles Harris examines the history of the national anthem

246 Luxury

Jane Asher and fine jewels

258 Interiors

WOW!house lives up to its name

266 Not just for mugs

Are commemorative souvenirs worth it, wonders Huon Mallalieu

Mary Miers tells the life story of St Francis Cleavers and dandelions evoke the games of childhood for John Lewis-Stempel

310 Native breed

Kate Green on the noble Vaynol cattle

Harry Pearson on the beloved buzzing bee

116 Leader 118 Town & Country 124 Notebook 140 Letters and Agromenes 142 Athena 276 Property market 284 Properties of the week 298 Art market 320 In the garden 324 Books 330 Bridge and crossword 340 C lassified advertisements 348 Spectator 348 Tottering-by-Gently April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 115

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A coronation for us all

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S a nation, we owe our loyalty not to a party, a cause or even, strictly speaking, to a person, but to a concept made manifest in an object: the Crown. This is an emblem not only of the continuously operating institutions of our nation—including the legal system, Parliament, Armed Forces and the Church of England—but of those Commonwealth countries that recognise the Sovereign as their Head of State. In simple terms, therefore, the forthcoming coronation might be described as the ceremony that unites the Crown, both literally and figuratively, with the heir to the throne to create our new King, Charles III. Across the Commonwealth and in the diverse society of 21st-century Britain, there must necessarily be many views as to what exactly it means to place the crown on the head of an individual. Its importance as a gesture,

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however, cannot be in doubt. That, in part, explains the pomp and splendour that necessarily attends the coronation. Such outward display lends the occasion dignity and helps articulate its inner significance to the watching world. At the same time, the trappings of tradition underline the deep historical roots of our constitutional monarchy.

In this special issue, COUNTRY L IFE celebrates this great ceremony of state and explores its history. It looks, for example, at the emergence of the crown as a symbol of royalty, as well as at the changing face of Westminster Abbey, which has served as the theatre of coronation for close to a millennium. The issue also seeks to illuminate the character of The King himself. From the perspective of those who have worked closely with him in the past, we reveal more about his driving interests and the qualities that

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116 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

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will underpin his rule as a constitutional monarch. In addition, we reflect on the achievements of Queen Camilla, who will also be crowned. Her personal support will be of vital importance in the years ahead.

Beyond all the solemnity, pomp and symbolism of the events of the coronation, the day itself is surely most important as one of celebration. Modern Britain is not a perfect place, but that fact should not permit us to overlook all that is positive about it. Added to which, at the start of a new reign, we necessarily look forward in optimism. Through the personal endeavours of Charles III, openly declared in his Coronation Oath, we hope that Britain and the Commonwealth can be further improved for the benefit of us all.

His success will be ours and we wish him all the best for the day and for his reign.

God save The King!

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Town & Country

Edited by James Fisher

Birds are welcome down on the farm T

The Osborne Studio Gallery is celebrating 25 years on Motcomb Street, London SW1, with an exhibition of 25 works of art by 25 of the gallery’s favourite artists, until May 13. The site, which is one London’s leading institutions for equestrian art, will host works by Jack Laurence Miller (including Nijinsky and Lester Piggott Ride into the Winners’ Enclosure, Derby 1970, above), Hubert de Watrigant, Katie O’Sullivan, Freddy Paske, Clementine St John Webster and Mao Wen Biao, as well as many others.

For more information, visit www.osg.uk.com

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HE results are in from the Big Farmland Bird Count of 2023, organised by the GWCT, with more than 1,700 farmers taking part and some 460,000 birds counted. The event, which is in its 10th year, was especially successful due to the dry and settled weather conditions in February (when the work was undertaken) and has allowed the conservation charity to take a ‘vital snapshot’ of the health of our farmland birds.

A total of 149 different species was recorded, from white-tailed eagles on Benbecula in the Hebrides to white storks in Cambridge and cirl buntings in Devon.

The most spotted birds were blackbirds, woodpigeon and robins, which were seen on seven out of 10 counts.

Some 33 species on the Red List were also observed, such as starlings, fieldfares, lapwing and linnet. Some 1½ million acres of land were covered, the GWCT says.

‘The results of this year’s count provide a fantastic and important snapshot of the range of wildlife on British farms, with almost 150 species of bird being recorded, many of which are on the Red List for Birds of Conservation Concern,’ says Minette Batters, president of the NFU, which sponsors the count. ‘Alongside producing quality, climate-friendly

Birds from white-tailed sea eagles to linnets were recorded

food, farmers are the custodians of the great British countryside and are working to boost biodiversity, create habitats for wildlife and provide additional feeding for farmland birds. It’s great to see this work paying off.’

Organiser Dr Roger Draycott adds: ‘The fact that the count is still going strong after 10 years highlights the passion and commitment that British farmers have for the birds on their farms and their keenness to understand how the birds—Red Listed or not—are faring.’

As well as data on birds, the count collects information on farm habitat and conservation work, with 25% of respondents being members of landscape-scale conservation projects, such as farm clusters, and 62% being in an agri-environment scheme.

The data shows that 47% of respondents were providing some form of extra seed for food for birds in late winter.

The GWCT added that, of the 36% of participants who said they run shoots on their land, nearly half grow wildbirdseed mixtures and 62% put out supplementary food for farmland birds. Those figures were lower for farms that do not operate a shoot.

Visit www.bfbc.org.uk

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UK pigs far from flying

Good week for Emily Williamson A blue plaque honouring the RSPB founder has been unveiled in Lancaster. Williamson established the charity in 1889 to campaign against the slaughter of birds for their ‘fashionable’ feathers

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RITAIN’S much-loved native pig breeds are in trouble. The annual Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) Watchlist reveals that the British Landrace pig, which is championed at The King’s Dumfries House educational farm and was once one of the most popular post-war commercial breeds, has plummeted in numbers to only 23 sows producing pedigree piglets in 2022; this compares alarmingly with the nearly 500 dams registered in 2006.

The charismatic Saddleback, Gloucestershire Old Spot, Oxford Sandy and Black (Native breeds, January 25) and Middle White breeds are all showing downward trends, which does not bode well for genetic diversity in the event of disease, but, happily, birth registrations of Large White have increased.

‘The crisis in the pig industry over the past two years is driving a worrying and worsening situation,’ comments Christopher Price, RBST’s chief executive (page 164). ‘Each of these breeds has unique characteristics; they are part of the UK’s heritage, but they also have an important role in food production.

Handsome and of impeccable heritage, yet at risk: Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs are among several native breeds whose numbers are declining

We are asking the Government to consider the plight of native breeds as it reviews the pork supply chain. Every person who chooses native-breed produce in a restaurant or at a butcher’s will be making a real contribution.’

Other breeds on a downward slide are the attractively marked Welsh Llanwenog and Castlemilk Moorit sheep and the Gloucester cow; avian flu is having a dire effect on the breeding of rare poultry. However, there is encouraging data for the four UK breeds of goat— Golden Guernsey (Native breeds, April 5), Bagot (February 8), English and Old English—rare Albion and Northern Dairy Shorthorn cattle and Greyface Dartmoor and Norfolk Horn sheep. KG

Royal rescue

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N 2022, the Royal Jersey Agricultural & Horticultural Society (RJA&HS), with the Jersey Milk Marketing Board (JMMB), decided that, to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen, it would give her seven maiden Jersey heifers to acknowledge her long reign.

A group of heifers that represented a cross-section of breeding from the leading herds in Jersey was selected, then stayed in the island to be bred, with the intention of creating a lasting legacy Jersey jubilation: the seven heifers given to the Queen within the Windsor herd that could trace its lineage to the origins of the breed. Following the death of the Queen, arrangements were made to present the animals to The King instead and they were soon to be shipped to Windsor. However, in December 2022, disaster struck, when one of the leading milking herds on Jersey lost a majority of its cows. Jersey doesn’t allow the importation of live animals, so the herd could only be restocked by in-calf heifers. The JMMB and its members helped the affected herd re-stock as quickly as possible and, when The King was made aware of the loss, he, too, stepped in to help, returning the seven heifers to assist with the re-stocking programme in support of the dairy-farming community.

Last week, the lieutenant governor of Jersey, Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd, gave the seven cows on The King’s behalf to the Le Boutillier family of Woodlands Farm to help them re-stock their farm. As a thank you, the progeny of these animals will be recorded within the Jersey herd book with the affix ‘Platinum’ to their pedigree name, to mark the ‘deep links’ between The King and the Jersey breed.

Paper poppies Remembrance poppies sold by the Royal British Legion are to be made entirely of paper, reducing the carbon footprint by 40%.

They will be created from offcuts from paper-cup production Shearing is caring A workshop for the conservation of the Balearic Shearwater, the most endangered seabird in Europe, will be held in Jersey. It will bring together conservationists from the Channel Islands and France for the first time to promote protection of their ‘shared natural heritage’ Building bridges A 200-year-old bridge linking Scotland and England over the Tweed has reopened after a £10.5m restoration project. Locals hope the bridge will draw tourists to the site, but are most relieved that a 10-mile detour is no longer required The (re)wild Highlands The Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, a world first, has opened in Glenmoriston. It ‘provides a gateway’ to the UK’s largest Nature-recovery site and aims to educate visitors

Bad week for Agatha Christie Luxury travel company Belmond has ended the UK section of the Orient Express route after 41 years due to the ‘enhanced border and passport controls’ of Brexit Unsanitary angling The Shrewsbury River Classic competition could be called off this year due to pollution in the Severn. It is said anglers have been hooking more sanitary products than fish Silence of the lambs A lamb has been euthanised after being dumped in a Dorset field, with injuries most likely caused by a dog.

It had had its ear tag ripped out AEW

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 119

Town & Country

See our trees, save our woods D

EFRA and organisations in the plant sector across the country are urging gardeners, farmers and foresters to prepare for this year’s National Plant Health Week (NPHW), which begins on May 8. The week first started in 2020 to coincide with the International Year of Plant Health and this will be the third annual NPHW. More than 20 organisations across the UK will come together to celebrate our plants and encourage others to learn how to protect them.

There are millions of gardeners in the UK and numbers have increased significantly since the pandemic. As well as helping more people to get involved with horticulture, with the mental health and wellbeing it can provide, NPHW will inform green-thumbed participants about the importance of good biosecurity. Plant pests and diseases outbreaks cost the economy millions of pounds, Defra says.

The timing of this year’s NPHW is significant, too, say organisers, with 120 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Magnificent oak trees, such as this splendid specimen in the Lake District, could be under threat from disease if strict biosecurity measures are not taken

the coronation taking place two days before it begins. ‘The King has always had a great interest in the environment and great concern over the loss of, particularly, trees and key species to pests and diseases,’ says Geraint Richards, head forester for the Duchy of Cornwall. ‘We’ve had Dutch elm disease, ash dieback and that’s only a taste of the many, many pests and diseases that are threatening our plantscape.’ Mr Richards is also chair of Action Oak (www.actionoak.org), an initiative to protect our oak trees that was begun after discussions with the then Prince of Wales at his home at Highgrove.

‘We’ve seen the loss of elms, and now

ash, and the ultimate disaster would be if we lost our oak trees,’ adds Mr Richards. ‘We have an initiative to bring all parties together to work on the research and the communication necessary to make sure our oak trees stay as safe as we can make them and stay resilient for the future.’

When asked how we can protect our oak trees and plantlife in general, Mr Richards offers three basic rules.

‘Firstly, be alert,’ he says. ‘Understand what these pests and diseases are and use the online reporting tool TreeAlert (www.forestresearch.gov.uk) to record things you are worried about.

Be conscious of your own biosecurity, particularly when moving from site to site—this is for gardeners, this is for farmers, this is for foresters. Clean your boots, tools and so on.’ Secondly, it’s important to know where your plants come from and to always buy from reputable suppliers. Mr Richards recommends looking out for the Plant Healthy certification, developed by the Plant Health Alliance. Lastly, never ever bring plants or cuttings back from abroad. ‘Most good things are available to buy from this country now, so you don’t need to bring them here, because you don’t know what you are bringing in with it,’ he concludes. For details, visit www.planthealthaction.org

Alamy; Getty; Ollie Jones; Neil Hanna

Rupert North wears a majestic robe, created using an array of flowers and leaves, that formed the centrepiece of the Harrogate Spring Flower Show last weekend, which this year celebrated the coronation of Charles III

Town & Country Country Mouse

The future’s bright green

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T

HE National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has announced a further £1 million of funding for an extra 25 paid work placements. The placements will target young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to ‘help them grow their career in the natural-heritage sector,’ NLHF says.

It hopes to create a ‘new natural legacy’ to mark The King’s coronation.

The funding is part of New to Nature, launched last year to mark the Platinum Jubilee and led by community charity Groundwork. New to Nature helps people find paid work placements in the natural environment and landscape sector, ‘sowing the seeds for the future of Nature conservation’. The project has already seen 10 individuals join groups, such as WWF-UK, the CPRE and the British Ecological Society.

Last week saw a further 60 organisations join, including ZSL, the Woodland Trust, Bat Conservation Trust, the National Trust and the RSPB. With the extra 25 places, that will mean 95 individuals will gain paid placements.

‘Although it’s in the city, Scotswood Garden is like a little Nature community and it’s nice to go outside and enjoy it,’ said Heather, 19, who started in January as a youth work assistant

Ben Stalk on his placement at The Ecology Centre in Kinghorn, Fife

at the garden in Newcastle upon Tyne.

‘The placement has been really good and I’ve been gradually given more responsibility. It’s improving my confidence and I’m very happy here.’

The funding is the second part of a £7 million investment in Nature by NLHF, which also began Nextdoor Nature last year, a £5 million programme ‘to create a huge matrix of communityled rewilding projects delivered by The Wildlife Trusts’, which aims to improve the lives of people from the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. ‘New to Nature is a brand-new approach for us,’ says NLHF CEO Eilish McGuinness. ‘These people represent the future of Nature conservation and we are delighted to support them.’

Dreams are made of this

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NE of the few First Folios in private ownership has been put on display to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its publication. The book, part of the ‘Folio 400: Shakespeare Treasures at Longleat’ exhibition at the Wiltshire house (until October 29; www.longleat.co.uk), is considered to be one of the most influential books ever published.

The First Folio (or Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies) was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death. It contains 36 of the Bard’s plays, being the source text for about 20, including The Tempest, Macbeth and Twelfth Night.

Prepared by Shakespeare’s colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, it’s believed that about 750 copies were made, of which only 235 remain. Six are in private hands—one edition sold for more than £2 million in July last year.

‘Without this incredible book, some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays would have been lost to history,’ says James Ford, curator at Longleat House. The Longleat Folio is believed to have been acquired in the early 19th century by Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath. The exhibition will reveal further Shakespeare treasures from the Longleat collections, including the only known contemporary depiction of one of his plays (Titus Andronicus) being performed.

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Sleeping tight

HEN we are in London, we stay at The Sloane Club on Lower Sloane Street, which is ideally placed for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and for Peter Jones in Sloane Square, the profits of which must have risen when we were building our new home. Last week, Rachel was there for the night and, at the last minute, I joined her. However, months earlier, Mrs Hedges had sensibly booked a single room, with an appropriately sized bed for when it was her alone, which meant we slept like two magnets facing the wrong way—rarely has the alarm clock been more welcome.

At home, the garden is thrillingly moving forward —we lost the odd plant to February frosts, but, happily, the long hornbeam hedge has survived last year’s drought.

Even better, the fishing season has started on the Itchen. Sadly, I have misplaced my fly boxes and, although I’ve searched with increasing fervour, they remain elusive. Therefore, when The Judge and I had an evening on the water last week, I had a choice of a single fly—a yellow humpy—that had remained attached to my waistcoat over the winter. It did the trick and I was able to present my bride with a nice overwintered brownie for supper. MH

Town Mouse

Parties small and large

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HE end of the Easter holiday united the family in Yorkshire for a 90th birthday party. It was an exceptionally happy occasion, held in the local parish hall. Despite unpredictable spring weather, the day was beautiful and we decked the slightly spartan interior with colourful fabrics, lights and flowers.

The latter were freshly picked from the garden by the children, who roused themselves for the task in honour of their grandmother at the unusually early holiday hour that they were pleased to call 10am.

In attendance were about 70 guests aged between 13 and 99, who just fitted into the space available.

There was Champagne, followed by a delicious lunch and a lemon-drizzle birthday cake. In the course of the event, one regular reader of this column asked the children about their appearances in Town Mouse.

Both looked pleased, denied everything and went on to display heroic levels of amnesia.

As this column goes to press, Westminster is in the process of transformation. Great stands of temporary seating have risen beside Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards and outside the great west doors of Westminster Abbey. Areas of the parks are being enclosed with railings to create work depots and the streets are full of high-vis jackets. The capital is preparing for the coronation. JG

Town & Country Notebook Quiz of the week

1) Who composed the opera Gloriana in 1953?

2) Which tea-linked Whig politician became Prime Minister in 1830?

3) Who was the first British author to win a Nobel Prize for Literature?

4) Which main river flows across York?

5) The English word mayday derives from the call ‘help me’ in which language?

Word of the week Bruiter (noun) Someone who spreads news or rumours

100 years ago in

Edited by Carla Passino

Cabinet of curiosities by David Profumo

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HOUGHT perhaps to be an Old Harrovian clochard, Malcolm the automaton, with his carefully distressed tweed trousers and tawdry cravat, was originally employed as a shop-window advertisement for Whitbread ales and is a fine working example of 1960s ‘Breweriana’.

I liberated this thirsty gentleman of the road from an auction house in Perth and he is

still mechanically sound; his electric motor-driven bottlepouring and tippling movements are accompanied by a timely tilt as his titfer selfraises with pleasure.

He is 43in high and is a favourite of our young grandson, although not of my wife. One friend reckons Malcolm resembles the young Donald Trump.

Follow David on Instagram @david_profumo

Time to buy

The Coronation Tea & Biscuits Selection, £25, Cartwright & Butler (www.cartwrightand butler.co.uk)

A

LTHOUGH one swallow may not make a summer, the presence or absence of the King’s yacht Britannia (above) can make or mar a yachting season. As evidence of this, one needs look no further than last year, when His Majesty, from motives of economy, did not fit out his famous cutter. In the absence of Britannia, big yacht racing ceased to exist; while in 1921, when the Royal Yacht went the round of the regattas, she was accompanied by a fine fleet of large vessels which enjoyed splendid racing. The news that Britannia is being overhauled in readiness for the coming season is, in these circumstances, particularly gratifying and the racing this year should be the best experienced since the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 put a period to sport.—Francis B. Cooke 1) Benjamin Britten 2) Charles, 2nd Earl Grey 3) Rudyard Kipling 4) The Ouse 5) French Riddle me this: Bellows

124 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Coronation digital, hand-signed A4 print, £13, Nice Things By Helena (www.nicethings byhelena.com)

‘Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that were near; ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of manhood; and wisdom sat upon his brow, and strength and healing were in his hands, and a light was about him.

And then Faramir cried: “Behold the King!”’

The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

Limited-edition Coronation Gin, £35, Gin in a Tin (www.gininatin.co.uk)

Riddle me this

They breathe daily, yet have no life; they kindle fire, yet cause no strife.

What are they?

Glyn Satterley/Country Life Picture Library; Jeremy Moulsdale, Keeper of the Light

April 28, 1923

In the spotlight Polecat (Mustela putorius)

The elusive polecat, Mustela putorius, became extinct across most of Britain during the 19th century, following centuries of human persecution, with its last stronghold in mid Wales.

The animal’s fortunes only changed relatively recently, after reduced use of trapping in the 20th century. Partial legal protection of the species has been in place since the 1980s and the increase in rabbit population, due to the waning of the myxomatosis virus, further helped the cause of this lithe carnivore, enabling it to return to much of England. Unfussy about habitat

Unmissable events Until November 5 ‘A Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare’s First Folio’, Shakespeare’s New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. See the Ashburnham Folio, one of the original copies published in 1623, at the Bard’s childhood home (01789 204016; www.shakespeare.org.uk)

April 28–September 17 Outdoor sculpture exhibition (pictured), Helmingham Hall, Helmingham, Suffolk. More than 50 artists display their work against the backdrop of this fine Elizabethan home and the

Wines of the week Pure and simple Mas de Daumas Gassac, Moulin de Gassac Viognier, Languedoc, France, 2021. £11.25, Wanderlust Wine, alc 12% Pretty, dancing florals and fluffy peach skin on the nose, opening onto a creamy palate with a fleshy texture and spiced apricot flavours. It lacks a little freshness, but this Pays d’Oc Viognier ticks many boxes.

Fairly simple, but well made.

and residing in a wide range of landscapes— provided prey is at hand—polecats are not easy to spot, resting by day for long periods and venturing out to hunt after dusk.

Wearing a glossy, dark coat and a pale face with a ‘bandit’s mask’ of dark fur across the eyes, a true polecat may easily be mistaken for its long-domesticated version, the ferret.

Because many escaped ferrets have bred with the wild-polecat population, hybrids are widespread; they are known as polecatferrets and often have variable fur markings.

Xa Tollemache-designed gardens, helping raise money for the care and cure of breast cancer (01473 890799; www.helmingham.com and www.artforcure.org.uk) Book ahead May 5 FRIENDly Coronation Prom, Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent.

Regal music performed by the Central Band of the Royal British Legion. Funds raised go to the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, of which The King is patron (01227 452853; www. canterburyfestival.co.uk)

May 7–8 Royal Coronation Joust, Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire. Celebrate the coronation in medieval style, watching the Knights of Royal England battle it out in a tournament (01494 871117; www.coam.org.uk) June 8 The Soldiers’ Coronation Ball 2023, Prestonfield House, Edinburgh. Toast The King, enjoy a three-course dinner and dance well into the night, all in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity (0131–376 4008; www.soldierscharity.org)

South Wood Farm, Cotleigh, Honiton, Devon, EX14 9HU. April 29–30, 2pm–5pm Designed by Arne Maynard around the 17th-century thatched stone farmhouse (not open), this is a gem of a garden, with swathes of tulips in borders and pots and camassias in the meadow coming into flower in April. The contemporary design in a traditional setting, the quality of planting and an ever-present eye for detail make this a garden to savour and revisit (it is open again in September).

A peach of a wine Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli Bianco, Basilicata, Italy, 2022. £12.95–£14.95, NY Wines, Wine Direct, alc 13% A Fiano-Greco blend grown on the volcanic slopes of Monte Vulture. Smoky and mineral, faintly exotic with creamy and spicy flavours of mango, pineapple, peach and apricot; reminiscent of a fruit-forward, New England-style IPA. In the mountain’s shadow Textura da Estrela, Tinto, Serra da Estrela, Dão, Portugal, 2018. £18.68, Justerini & Brooks, alc 13% An elegant yet robust mineral backbone and a filigree tannic structure define this beautiful red from vineyards at the foot of Portugal’s highest mountain.

Wet-stone freshness runs through the crunchy cranberry, cherry and plum flavours, lined by gentle spiciness and floral nuances. The fleshy mid palate is followed by a refreshing finish.

A bite of the apple Bowler & Brolly, Winemaster’s Lot Classic 89 Cuvée Brut, Hampshire, England, NV. £19.99, Aldi, alc 12% Twee name aside, this is a tasty fizz, with a steely line and firm green-apple bite, together with racy acidity. At £5 more than Aldi’s non-vintage Champagne, it’s not cheap, but it showcases home-grown quality.

For more, visit www.decanter.com

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 125

Letters to the Editor Data roaming

A

LTHOUGH I am a Maid of Kent, I had not lived or worked there during the era of the mobile phone until 2021 (Letters, April 12).

Driving to a new job in Sandwich that year, I was concerned to see the mobile-phone signal disappear after Canterbury. Imagine my surprise when, soon after reaching the location of my new role, the phone popped up with a message: ‘Welcome to France.’

With centuries of enmity between the two nations, it was a pleasure to see such cooperation. One might wonder, in the post-Brexit era, whether this still applies in 2023.

Kate Lloyd, Surrey

The writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne

North tea power

R

ECENTLY, I took my first delivery of some Darjeeling Second Flush loose tea, so it was a great coincidence to discover the article

by Rob Crossan all about loose tea on the same day (‘Blends with benefits’, April 12). The gentle revolution referred to

by Mr Crossan has already arrived in Cheshire at Davenports Tea Room, which opened in 2007. It was there that I was introduced to the amazing world of teas by Belinda Davenport, the resident afternoon-tea expert. The tea rooms have an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland theme and are well worth a visit by readers who venture ‘up north’.

Louis Henry, Lancashire

Pipe-smoking gargoyle

O

N the northern side of Exeter Cathedral, there is a gargoyle of a pipe-smoking dog (‘Who are you calling ugly?’, March 15). The gargoyle (right) was made by the former head stonemason Peter Dare.

Many years ago, I used to see a mobility scooter with a dog on the back smoking a pipe in Exeter. The owner used to visit McGahey’s on the High Street for his tobacco.

Other notes suggest the dog was called Butch and the owner used to

frequent a pub in Exmouth. Do any of your readers know the true story of the gargoyle?

Mike Wynne-Powell, by email

Locomotive reimagined

A

RABELLA YOUENS refers to the word ‘hall’ signifying a building of exception (‘Halls of fame’, April 5), which made me wonder if the Great Western Railway had had that in mind when it included ‘halls’ in its rich diversity of hierarchical engine naming. The Kings dominated, followed by Castles, Halls, Granges and even lowly Manors and Courts. All were engines of exception in polished brass and Brunswick Green. The Courts and Granges were victims of the cutter’s torch, but many of the others survive to lift our spirits on heritage railways (including Foremark Hall in Gloucestershire, below).

Such is nostalgia that a Grange, Betton Grange, is being re-created.

Christopher Jones, Bedfordshire

Damsons in distress

I

READ Tessa Waugh’s article (‘A plum job’, April 12) with interest because the damson tree in the garden of our house was one of the reasons I fell in love with the place. Last summer (our first here) saw a bumper crop. We made compote, chutney, the most stupendous ice cream and pressed every giant Kilner jar we could find into service to make gin—but still the damsons plopped off the tree faster than we could gather them.

On enquiring at our local farm shop if they would like to take some, we were told they weren’t selling well: ‘People keep asking: “What is a damson?”’

A great shame. Flora Watkins, Norfolk

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140 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

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Letter of the week

Mark Hedges

Environment act

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HAVE been receiving a subscription to COUNTRY LIFE for many years, knowing it to be not only about the countryside, but for the countryside.

I was horrified to see that the opinion page (‘Protecting our own wild isles’, April 12) had been handed over to Dr Thérèse Coffey to allow Tory propaganda about the party’s record on the environment. The Conservatives have only just launched a pathetic Plan for Water because, finally, the public are seeing our rivers and beaches destroyed by the water companies and the ineffective enforcement of penalties, after continual pollution events. The Conservative Party is not a reliable protector of our special environment.

Jeremy Armstrong, Powys

MAY 3 The turn of the Tamworth, the men who reached the top of the world, Badminton, modern medieval strip farming, botany as art, the greatest royal collection of all and the coronation timetable Make your week, every week, with a Country Life subscription 0330 333 1120

H

A new monarch for a new world

EAD of state is not an easily accomplished role: sufficiently engaged as to be relevant, sufficiently influential to matter, yet sufficiently apart to be respected by all.

There are presidents who are nonentities, so ceremonial is their role, and others so politically powerful that they are not a centre of unity for their nations. There are monarchs so involved that they limit democracy and others so marginal that the shine of royalty is dimmed and its majesty lost.

Only this month, France, Israel and, as ever, the US, have shown how tricky is being head of state when the political role undermines the need to represent the whole nation. There is a serious gap when no one stands above the fray and embodies the nation’s spirit. That centre of unity must never be dismissed as merely ceremonial. It is a crucial part in giving a country self-confidence, particularly in times of crisis when the world is at its lowering worst and politicians seem to have lost their way. Elizabeth II fulfilled that role to perfection for 70 years, so much so that some doubted for the future of the Crown when finally her reign would end.

Succession planning is no easy matter in a monarchy. The heir is defined and that makes for simplicity, but it doesn’t always make for success. Edward VIII would have been an embarrassing monarch in peacetime and disastrous in war. Instead, his unprepared and tongue-tied brother George VI proved the enduring strength of the British monarchy. We owe much to the archbishop and the prime minister whose instinctive judgement made that change possible, as well as to the institution they defended and upon which they could depend.

It gave us the centre of unity our nation needed so crucially, not only between 1939 and 1945, but in the reconstruction that followed.

It also prepared the way for a queen in whose reign we segued from Empire to Commonwealth, from world leadership to one nation among others and from traditional structures through unprecedented and continuing social change. And, of course, she changed with it.

She maintained the role unerringly, yet subtly altered so much about it: more accessible without losing authority, closer to ordinary life without pretending to be ordinary, inclusive without excluding what had served us well.

For much of the time, her heir was learning his trade. He knew that his time would come, but not before time. His mother had made her promises before God and the nation and she intended to carry them through until her life’s end—abdication was never on the cards.

And how well he prepared. He saw that he needed to show that his was a real role, not only a prince in waiting.

As the Prince of Wales, he defined himself by espousing causes and upholding them. They were worthy, but not always fashionable, and history has shown how right he was about almost all: architecture of which people could be proud; an environment that we had a duty to protect; farming that respected the soil; and opportunities for the young of every background, race and religion. The future king concentrated on being the present prince and made a remarkable success of it.

Yet, it was not an end in itself. The making of the Prince of Wales was also the making of King Charles III. The institution ensured the succession, but the individual has ensured its success. Already, we are seeing the sure and practised hands of a worthy son and heir.

The doomsayers have been silenced and the guardianista republicans marginalised.

We have a new and different monarch for a new and different world. One who will ‘ever give us cause’ to sing with a thankful heart God Save the King.

The making of the Prince of Wales was also the making of King Charles III

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 141

Athena

Cultural Crusader

Hail the ‘hymnpact’ of church music

longevity and also by its eclecticism, drawing as it does on different confessional and musical inheritances. No less importantly, it is being performed every day across the whole geographic extent of the country in a happy variety of registers. At one extreme are the professional and semi-professional groups that serve our great churches. Whatever our personal beliefs, it’s an enormous

Such music-making THENA delights in music of all lends life to the kinds. When it is performed in a church, she is conscious that buildings themselves. this art has a special power to move, adding weight, character and meaning A church with to words and ceremony. For that reason, music is an essential ingredient of the fortha choir is vibrant

A

coming coronation. The pre-service programme and the ceremony itself will not only include works by such long-admired figures as Byrd, Handel, Parry and Elgar, but 12 new pieces by British composers (page 224). They comprise six orchestral compositions, five choral works and a piece for organ. These compositions—some of which will hopefully come to be cherished in their turn—are produced at a crucial time.

Our tradition of church music is unique within Europe, by virtue of its extraordinary

privilege to be able to hear superbly performed music in these great spaces. No less important, however, are the amateurs who gather as small ensembles to lead musicmaking in parish churches or the rank and file of congregations, who simply contribute their voices to hymns and responses.

Such music-making lends life to the buildings themselves. A church with a choir is likely to be a vibrant one and that promises the bricks and mortar care. In return,

the discipline of music has a remarkable power to forge communities, as well as to educate and enrich the lives of those who partake of it. That’s true for people of every age, but it perhaps particularly touches the young, for whom the formation of an interest in music can be a lifelong source of delight.

Indeed, given the 4,000 or more schools across the country affiliated to the Church of England alone, there is a huge potential for parishes to be centres of musical education. These are a target of the Royal School of Church Music, a long-standing charity that recently launched a subscription-based musical resource for churches and schools called Hymnpact! (www.rscm.org.uk).

Such initiatives are important, because church music is under pressure as never before from the effects of financial hardship and shrinking congregations. Meanwhile, the decline of musical education—combined, paradoxically, with the enormous popularity of recorded music—has led to a wider decline in the numbers of practising musicians at every level. That’s a trend in church, and out of it, too, that urgently needs reversal. The King has helped change perceptions of such things as the environment; hopefully, his coronation commissions— which reflect his own love of the Arts— will herald a revival in church music.

The way we were Photographs from the COUNTRY LIFE archive

1953

Unpublished

Every week for the past 125 years, COUNTRY LIFE has documented and photographed many walks of life in Britain. More than 80,000 of the images are available for syndication or purchase in digital format. To view the archives, visit www. countrylifeimages.co.uk and email enquiries to licensing@ futurenet.com

142 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Country Life Picture Library

One in a series of photographs taken for some forgotten purpose that illustrate the extraordinary diversity of souvenirs produced for the coronation in 1953. Here footballs, a lantern, bellows, an album, pens, balloons, paperweights, models of Eros and Nelson’s column, as well as lead figurines, rub shoulders with each other.

My favourite painting Henry Dallal A Spark in the Emerald Forest by Hana Shahnavaz

Henry Dallal is a landscape and portrait photographer who was commissioned

by Elizabeth II multiple times. For the late Queen’s 96th-birthday portrait, he photographed her with two Fell ponies, Bybeck Katie and Bybeck Nightingale

A Spark in the Emerald Forest, 2019, handmade paint, 24-carat gold, diamond dust on handmade paper, 56¾in by 36¼in,

by Hana Shahnavaz (b. 1985), private collection, US

When I first saw this work at the Saatchi Gallery, I was struck by its beauty and the colours and the style. I am Persian and always appreciate the famous Shahnameh (also known as The Book of Kings), written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi more than 1,000 years ago and one of the sources that inspired this artwork, reimagined as art.

I love the colours, the flow of the painting and, of course, the fact that horses are involved in depicting a love story set in Nature. I once met the artist and she explained the effort and methods employed to create the painting, which included using earth from Iran

T

HIS highly intricate painting looks like a historic Persian miniature, but it was painted in 2019 by recent graduate Hana Shahnavaz and is more than 4½ft tall.

The British-Iranian artist spent six years in Iran studying Persian art with Safoura Asadian, before completing her Masters in visual Islamic and traditional art at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in Wales in 2017. When in Iran, she studied the works of 15th-century masters: ‘There is an amazing history of Persian art and poetry,’ she says.

144 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

‘You can feel it still vibrating in the earth, within the people.’ She also learnt how to grind her own colours and began foraging for earth and mineral pigments, as well as using gold leaf and diamond dust to give her works an additional glow.

A Spark in the Emerald Forest takes a moment from the traditional Persian tale of Khosrow and Shirin. The pair had never met, but were drawn together when their spiritual hearts recognised each other. In the artist’s retelling, Khosrow picks his way along

an undulating wooded ridge. As he crosses a river, he spies Shirin bathing in a pool below. The painting follows the format of Persian art in that there is no Western perspective, but rather a flattened picture plane covered with exceptional detail. Flowers from all seasons are in full bloom, expressing the couple’s union. The central pool has been enhanced by diamond dust mixed into the pigment, which refracts the light and makes the surface dance, a sparkling visualisation of the couple’s spiritual connection.

Hana Shahnavaz; Cyrus Dallal

Charlotte Mullins comments on A Spark in the Emerald Forest

Heavy lies the crown It is to the Crown that we owe allegiance. Matthew Dennison considers the history of this most familiar attribute of royalty, which he finds as laden with the hopes of a nation as it is with glittering gold and precious jewels

146 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

St Edward’s Crown, named for the last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor (William the Conqueror claimed succession from him, not Harold), and re-created by order of Charles II after the original was melted down by Oliver Cromwell.

This colour photograph was taken

by COUNTRY LIFE in 1937 and has been restored as part of the digitisation of the magazine’s archive (www. countrylife.co.uk/digitisation)

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 147

T

HE hand that descends from heaven holds above the king’s head a golden circlet. Jewels stud the sturdy band, alternating egg- and lozengeshaped knuckle dusters. To the monarch’s left and right, in this 9th-century illustration of the coronation of the Frankish ruler Charles the Bald from a manuscript in Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale, stand bishops. Their gaze does not dwell on the king himself.

Instead, it is the crown that transfixes their attention. At this moment of royal transformation, the crown embodies Charles’s preeminence. Above it is a cross, which, like the crown, is golden, gleaming.

Nothing expresses earthly kingship more powerfully than a crown. As an emblem of royalty and divinely ordained authority, it was assumed in evocation of Old Testament references by Byzantine Emperors from the 4th century. Charlemagne’s coronation by the Pope in Rome on Christmas Day 800 effectively introduced it to the kingdoms of the former Western Roman Empire and English kings are regularly depicted wearing crowns from the 10th century.

In the late Middle Ages, these objects were important partly for their value and accrued in numbers within the Royal Treasury. The first page of the inventory of Richard II’s treasure drawn up in 1398–99, for example, lists 11 gold crowns, collectively valued at the stupendous sum of £50,237. One of these, probably the possession of his Queen, Anne of Bohemia, survives.

For English kings, however, one crown associated with Edward the Confessor, from whom William the Conqueror claimed legitimate succession in 1066, acquired particular significance. The real date and history of St Edward’s Crown—as it became known—are now beyond rescue and it seems to have changed in character within its documented history, being worn from the 14th century with an internal, fur-lined cap of estate and incorporating from the 15th century two intersecting arches of metal surmounted by a miniature orb and cross, a so-called ‘imperial’ form.

St Edward’s Crown was used in the English coronation ceremony and became a mark of legitimacy. As with all the regalia, it was preserved in Westminster Abbey, where the shrine of this royal patronal saint stands. As a mark of its inalienable association with this church, it was exchanged for what was later termed the Crown of State when the King departed from the choir after the anointing ceremony.

St Edward’s Crown survived the Reformation—when the coronation acquired a new significance by force of religious change— but it was destroyed after the Civil War. In 1649, Oliver Cromwell may have dismissed England’s royal regalia as ‘worthless 148 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

church stuffe’, but he recognised its potent symbolism. His order that it be ‘totallie broken and defaced’ was followed by instructions to melt down all gold and silver items and remint the metal as coinage. The ancient crown of St Edward, valued by Cromwell’s commissioners at £248 (and confusingly described as King Alfred’s Crown), could not be allowed to survive as a reminder of erstwhile glories.

As an emblem of royalty and divinely ordained authority, the crown was assumed from the 4th century Within little more than a decade, a new regime reversed Cromwell’s act of vandalism, castigated as ‘the Rapine of the late unhappy times’. In May 1660, Charles II returned to England’s throne; a meeting of his Coronation Committee in October commissioned a replacement for the medieval crown of Edward the Confessor. With four high arches, studded with jewels, topped by an orb and cross, and decorated with fleur-de-lys and crosses, Charles’s new gold crown was symbolic proof of the return of royal government.

‘When you appeare... shew your Selfe Gloryously to your People,’ the Duke of Newcastle had implored the King.

The Committee commissioned not one, but two new crowns, one for the moment of crowning and a second for state occasions, such as the King’s opening of Parliament.

St Edward’s Crown was placed on Charles’s anointed head at the climax of his coronation, the greatest dramatic flourish of the ceremony. He wears it in a state portrait by John Michael Wright. In the painting, an armorial

A bright ring of power

Since the coronation of Edward VII in 1902, British sovereigns have worn a Coronation Ring made by royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell in 1831. Created for William IV, it consists of an octagonal sapphire, surrounded by diamonds and overlaid with a ruby cross. William bequeathed his Coronation Ring to his widow, Queen Adelaide, who, in turn, bequeathed it to her niece, Queen Victoria. Victoria left both William and Adelaide’s rings to the Crown, ending a tradition that coronation rings—made anew for

cloth of honour hangs behind the King, embroidered with an image of a crown that closely resembles Charles’s own.

In 1661, the bill for new regalia came to an impressive £12,184 7s. 6d. Charles’s government was on short rations and Robert Vyner, created royal goldsmith by letters patent in July 1661, would be driven to the brink of bankruptcy by late and incomplete payments over the following decade. To save money, Charles’s new St Edward’s Crown was decorated with borrowed jewels, at a cost of £500. This is how it appears in an unsigned painting of the royal regalia completed in the 1670s and the engraving included in Francis Sandford’s pictorial record of the coronation of Charles’s younger brother, James II, published in 1687.

The jewels are modest in scale. Significantly, it was no longer stored at Westminster Abbey, but in the Tower of London, the royal stronghold within the walls of the capital.

The crown remained without permanent jewels until 1911. Then, on George V’s instructions, it was set with the precious and semiprecious stones it retains, including nearly 350 rose-cut aquamarines, as well as tourmalines, rubies, amethysts and sapphires.

At Charles III’s Coronation on May 6, St Edward’s Crown will be placed upon The King’s head after his anointing with holy oil.

Although he has been monarch since Elizabeth II’s death on September 8, his sovereignty will be confirmed at that moment to the watching billions around the world. As the former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy wrote in a poem celebrating the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s coronation in 2013: ‘The Crown translates a woman to a Queen.’

A monarch crowned is a timeless image, remote from party politics, the squabbles or endeavours of any epoch, fleetingly shorn of his or her own virtues and shortcomings, transformed into a glistering symbol of authority, of present trust and hopes for the future, each monarch—became part of the monarch’s personal property.

The ring is traditionally placed on the monarch’s fourth finger, as a symbol of his or her ‘marriage’ to their kingdom.

Unlike Elizabeth I, who wore her Coronation Ring throughout her reign, Elizabeth II wore hers, like St Edward’s Crown, only at her coronation, a tradition Charles III is likely to follow. Coronation rings are as old in origin as St Edward’s Crown.

A large sapphire today mounted in the Imperial State Crown may previously have formed the central stone of the Coronation Ring of Edward the Confessor, made in 1043.

The Imperial State Crown, worn for the Opening of Parliament, is, as the Queen noted, heavy, befitting its role as a reminder of royal duty

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 149

shiningly branded by destiny, isolated in an age-old calling. At that moment, for the King himself, the congregation in Westminster Abbey and myriad spectators across the globe, time will fleetingly halt; and the King who has felt on his head a weight of more than 4lb will carry with him for the remainder of his life the imprint of that unique burden.

It is a memory he will share with no one living.

Of the Imperial State Crown, which she wore annually for the State Opening of Parliament, Elizabeth II observed that it was meant to be heavy. That heaviness, like the crown itself, is a symbolic, as well as a physical weight. ‘It hurt me a good deal,’ Queen Victoria recalled of her own experience of wearing the crown, yet she remembered, too, as ‘a most beautiful impressive moment’, ‘the Crown being placed on my head’.

Images of early-Christian kings exploited the resemblance of crowns and halos. As a saint is God’s servant, so the crowned sovereign is the servant of his subjects. A crown exacts more than it exalts. ‘To be a king and 150 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

70 years ago by his mother, places him He will carry with worn in a continuum of these islands’ rulers that back more than a millennium. him the imprint of stretches St Edward’s Crown, used once in a reign, the crown that ‘shone with the that unique burden. resembles various glitter of gold, silver and precious at the coronation of the teenage It is a memory he will stones’ Saxon king Eadwig in 955 or 956 or that of the Bible-clasping king in an illuminated share with no one manuscript in the collection of the British wear a crown,’ suggested Elizabeth I, ‘is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.’ The Archbishop’s words at the pivotal moment—‘God crown you with a crown of glory and righteousness’ —are a reminder that, for its wearer, the crown is as much a symbol of aspiration and intent as of rank. In the liturgy of the coronation service, the sovereign attains ‘the crown of an everlasting kingdom’ through ‘a right faith and manifold fruit of good works’.

For His Majesty, the symbolic crowning with St Edward’s Crown, made for his namesake Charles II more than 350 years ago and last

Library, which, produced some time after 966, is considered the earliest surviving depiction of a crowned king in England.

Although kingship pre-dates the fashioning of precious crowns, a crown has become the defining emblem of royalty. The Crown, indeed, is the embodiment of the state, an entity that outlives kings and queens. For that reason, from the uniforms worn by policemen to postmen’s vans, it is the image of the crown that, embroidered, emblazoned, engraved, painted and printed, asserts the authority of the state and articulates Britain’s status as a constitutional monarchy.

Country Life Magazine/Future Content Hub; Alamy; Royal Collection Trust/© His Majesty King Charles III, 2023/Bridgeman Images

Above: The crown of Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV, one of two surviving medieval crowns. Facing page: Charles II anointed

Line by line, from top left: Crowns through British history, drawn from effigies, seals, portraits, engravings and life: the simple 11thcentury crown of William the Conqueror; of Richard I; King John; Edward I; Richard II; Henry V; Elizabeth I; a Scottish crown kept in Edinburgh Castle; James I; Charles I; James II; George I; George III; the Imperial State Crown; (the second) St Edward’s Crown For The King, the crown is also a link with his mother and, in time, his elder son. Neither he nor we have seen St Edward’s Crown worn by anyone else and there are few people alive who remember the spectacle of a young Elizabeth II, enthroned and crowned to receive the homage of princes and peers.

The Crown binds together sovereign, church and nation, past, present and future Given his love of history, Charles III will undoubtedly be reminded of ancient predecessors: Edgar, whose coronation in 973 His Majesty’s will resemble in many essentials, or Edward the Confessor, who built the first Westminster Abbey and, in the first scene of the Bayeux Tapestry, appears crowned and seated on a throne. The gold crown commissioned for Charles II in 1660 sought to re-create the crown first recorded as belonging to Edward, which, following his canonisation, acquired the status of a holy relic.

At the beginning of December last year, Buckingham Palace announced the safe removal of St Edward’s Crown from the Jewel House of the Tower of London as a preliminary to alter its size and fit ahead of the May 152 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

A spoon of holy meaning

Made in the 12th century, the engraved and pearl-decorated silver-gilt Coronation Spoon is the oldest surviving item of coronation regalia, probably supplied to Henry II or Richard I, but first recorded —as a spoon of ‘antique forme’—in 1349, when it was in the keeping of the monks of Westminster Abbey, together with St Edward’s Crown and associated items.

Valued at 16 shillings, the spoon was included among those ‘Jewels’ that, on August 9, 1649, Cromwell’s commissioners instructed be sold ‘for the best Advantage of the Commonwealth’. Its purchaser was a Yeoman of Charles I’s Wardrobe, a Mr Kynnersley, who, 12 years later, returned it to Charles II. Although the spoon’s original purpose is uncertain, it is known to have been used for the act of anointing at James I’s coronation in 1603 and has been used for this purpose at subsequent coronations, beginning with that of Charles II. The holy oil poured by the Archbishop into the

spoon at The King’s coronation on May 6 is kept in the amulla (also shown) and will be used to anoint His Majesty on the hands, breast and head. It will confirm him as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a position that, like kingship, is lifelong.

coronation. The purpose of these alterations is to ensure, insofar as possible, His Majesty’s comfort when wearing the crown. Yet The King’s chief concern will not be his own comfort. Shaped by historical precedent and the artistry of leading goldsmiths, ornamented

with the sign of the Cross and studded with jewels acquired over more than 1,000 years, the Crown binds together sovereign, church and nation, past, present and future, in a gleaming golden circle without beginning or end, as heavy as expectation, as bright as hope.

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A theatre of coronation

The setting of Charles III’s crowning in Westminster Abbey in London lends grandeur and history to this great ceremony. John Goodall considers the evolution of this remarkable building and its role in celebrating the authority and antiquity of the monarchy

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ESTMINSTER ABBEY first became our coronation church almost by accident nearly 1,000 years ago. The last Anglo-Saxon king of the English, Edward the Confessor, had a particular fondness for Westminster— then a peaceful spot outside London—and not only created a palace for himself on the Thames here, but also patronised the ancient monastery beside it, rebuilding the church in a new and monumental idiom of architecture inspired by Roman example. He died in this palace and was laid to rest before the high altar of his Abbey on January 6, 1066.

The Bayeux Tapestry shows his funeral procession entering the church as a workman erects a final weathercock on the roof.

Taking advantage of the funeral gathering, Earl Harold Godwinson was acclaimed King and crowned in the same church on the same day. It was the first such ceremony ever held at Westminster. Nevertheless, it ensured that, when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings several months later, he, in turn, sought coronation in the same building.

The ceremony took place on Christmas Day 1066 and was a harbinger of the brutality of Norman rule. Mistaking the cries of acclamation in an unfamiliar tongue for treachery, the guards began sacking the surrounding houses. According to the 12th-century account of Orderic Vitalis, amid the ensuing chaos, the newly-annointed monarch, possibly for the only time in his life, lost his nerve and sat trembling on the throne.

It was on the strength of these calamitous events in 1066, that Westminster Abbey successfully secured and formalised its role as the coronation church of the English kings.

The process was driven forward by a formidable succession of 12th-century abbots, who, with the support of Henry II (then locked in conflict with Thomas Becket), also began to promote the sanctity of Edward the Confessor. The growing importance of the Abbey was naturally reinforced by its proximity to 156 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Fig 1 above: Richard II enthroned, in a remarkably early portrait probably painted for his stall in the Abbey. Fig 2 right: The choir, crossing and sanctuary Westminster Palace, which was gradually emerging as the seat of the royal administration. It was distinguished architecturally from the 1090s by a leviathan hall that came to accommodate a fixed throne of stone, the literal seat of royal authority in England.

Our earliest detailed description of an English coronation—that of Richard I on September 3, 1189, by the monk of St Albans, Roger of Wendover—illustrates the intertwined roles of the Palace and the Abbey.

On the morning of the ceremony, a procession of nobles and clergy conducted the King from the door of his ‘inner chamber’ in the former to the ‘high altar’ of the latter. Woollen cloth carpeted the route and the coronation regalia were carried in order of importance —a linen coif, spurs, sceptre, rod, three swords, a large board bearing vestments and finally ‘a golden crown great and heavy and adorned on all sides with precious stones’. The King himself followed beneath a silk canopy.

This display of the symbols of royalty made it clear what the King was assuming in the coronation ritual, an event invisible to most within the confines of Edward the Confessor’s church. It was, indeed, the only public outing that the regalia received because, after the ceremony, the King ‘put on a lighter crown and vestments, and so crowned came to breakfast [in Westminster Hall]’. These two processions, the exchange of regalia and the palace celebrations, remained central to the coronation ceremony as it subsequently evolved. Sections of the processional carpet —latterly made of blue ray—were claimed afterwards as perquisites.

In the early 13th century, Westminster Abbey found a crucially important new patron in Henry III. Devotion to his ancestor, Edward the Confessor, and a sense of competition with the resurgent power of the rival Capetian kings of France, prompted him to reconstruct the Abbey on the grandest scale from 1245.

Among the points of architectural reference for the new building was the High Gothic coronation church of the French Kings, Reims Cathedral. Indeed, it’s strongly suggestive of a direct link that the mason in charge at Westminster was called Henry ‘of Reynes’.

Henry III’s new abbey church was taller and more opulently detailed than any other English great church. The main elevations made use of different coloured stones and were encrusted with carved decoration (COUNTRY L IFE , December 15 and 22, 2021). Craftsmen were brought from Rome to lay pavements in mosaic and semi-precious stone. Their so-called Cosmati work pavement extends across the sanctuary in front of the high altar and into the chapel beyond it, where a new shrine to Edward the Confessor was erected.

The shrine itself and several surrounding tombs, including that of Henry III, were also decorated in Cosmati.

In certain details, the choir of Henry III’s church seems to have been designed with the ceremony of coronation in mind. The triforium gallery, for example, is exceptionally large, presumably to accommodate spectators, and the piers of the crossing are strikingly slim in order to open out views through the building (Fig 2). It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the design of the Cosmati 158 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

9

8

The east end of Westminster Abbey in 1500

The crossing, where the temporary coronation stage was erected, is partially visible to the extreme right (1). From this, steps led up to the sanctuary with its Cosmati pavement and the High Altar (2), backed by the 13th-century Westminster Retable. To the right is a four-part seat or sedilia used by the clergy celebrating mass (3). The Cosmati pavement extended into St Edward’s Chapel, with the Confessor’s shrine (4) encircled by royal tombs. At the end of the coronation service, the regalia were deposited on the attached altar. The usual sedilia for this altar was St Edward’s Chair (5). Dividing the chapel from the sanctuary is a reredos completed by the Abbey mason John Thirsk in 1441 (6), which screened the shrine from the choir. Henry V’s Chantry Chapel (7), also designed by Thirsk in 1438, created an internal porch to the 13th-century Lady Chapel (8). The form of this Lady Chapel—replaced from 1502–03 by what is familiarly known as Henry VII’s Chapel—can be reconstructed from previously unrecognised fragments at vault level. Opening off it is the St Erasmus Chapel (9). The position of the altars in the radiating chapels is inferred from extant fittings and decoration.

Overall, this drawing illustrates the way in which colour—in glass, paintings and furnishings—was used to focus attention on liturgically important spaces in what was otherwise a cool, two-tone interior of Reigate stone and Purbeck Marble.

This illustration, drawn by Stephen Conlin, was researched by the author and Matthew Payne. It was commissioned by the British Archaeological Association.

4 7 3 5

6 2

1

The coronation church

Westminster Abbey as prepared for Henry IV’s coronation in 1399, the first in which St Edward’s Chair (1) is securely known to have been used for the anointing. Note the open plan of the interior between the High Altar (2) and shrine (3). The King was shown to his people on each side of the crossing stage, but climbed up onto an elevated throne above it (4) to hear the Coronation Mass and to receive homage.

According to the rubrics of the coronation liturgy, a carpet and cushion were laid where the King abased himself on the sanctuary floor (5). From the late 14th century, the church interior was almost certainly dressed with tapestry, then a novel and stupendously expensive type of wall covering (6). Entrance to the choir enclosure was carpeted in wool (7) and, when the nave was under construction, was probably through the north transept.

Richard II’s portrait dignified the first north stall (8), the conventional position of a bishop’s throne or cathedra.

Fig 3 above: The north-transept façade of the Abbey offered the most direct connection between the Palace and the Abbey. The reconstruction of the nave continued into the 15th century. Fig 4 below: The late-14th-century throne of the Bishop of Durham floor in the sanctuary defines a central area in front of the high altar, an ideal spot for the King to be anointed.

By these changes, Westminster Abbey was not only splendidly renewed as a theatre for coronation, but it simultaneously became the mausoleum of England’s kings and the shrine of their royal saint and ancestor, Edward the Confessor. Uniting these functions in one place right beside the seat of the royal administration in Westminster Palace was exceptional in contemporary Europe.

The Capetians, by contrast, were crowned at Reims (where the implements of coronation were divided between ecclesiastical institutions), had their mausoleum at St Denis and displayed their relic collection in the splendid interior of the Sainte Chapelle on the Isle de la Cité in Paris (which was also the seat of the royal administration).

Only the choir, transepts and eastern nave of the new abbey church at Westminster were completed during Henry III’s reign. They were first used for a coronation by his son, 160 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Edward I, in 1274, when the crossing had to be boarded over to tidy up the interior. It would be more than a century before the awkward abutment of the Gothic and Romanesque elements would be resolved by rebuilding.

For this period, the main entrance to the church probably moved from the nave to the splendid north transept (Fig 3).

More important for the coronation—and completely conventional within a great church—was the creation of a gated liturgical enclosure inside the main volume of the building. At Westminster, this comprised the Confessor’s Chapel with its shrine beyond the high altar, the sanctuary to the west of the high altar, the crossing and the monastic choir, which occupied the first bays of the nave. This enclosure was ringed with high screens, furnishings and monuments, which were incrementally developed throughout the Middle Ages.

The use of these spaces in a coronation is described in the so-called Fourth Recension, a version of the liturgy first securely known to have been used to crown Edward II on February 25, 1308. Its directions or rubrics— augmented in the late 14th century—describe a ‘pulpitum’ or stage that was to be set up ‘near the four high pillars in the cross of the church’, with steps rising to it from the choir and descending towards the high altar. The structure was to be covered in carpets and cloth of gold. From about 1400, the area around the high altar was also dressed in tapestry for the coronation, the most fabulously expensive of all surface coverings.

3

6 2 5

4

1

8

7 On arrival in the church, the King was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to his people each side of the stage and acclaimed before being led to the high altar, to make an offering of gold. He then briefly prostrated himself on the floor, which was spread with carpets and cushions, before taking a seat on the sanctuary to hear a sermon.

What followed was laden with symbolism.

In very abbreviated form, the coronation oaths were then taken at the high altar, after which the sovereign took off his outer garments and was anointed. The regalia, having been brought in procession to the Abbey, were laid on the high altar and the King was vested.

He must have stood to put on such things as the tunic or colobium, although he is usually depicted receiving the crown seated. The history of this regalia is now beyond rescue —all bar one item being destroyed in 1649— but there were clearly traditions that linked it to the figure of Edward the Confessor, reinforcing the connection of the living monarch with this legitimising and saintly ancestor.

His “lofty throne” is described as being high enough for a mounted knight to ride beneath it The King then offered his sword to the altar, which was immediately redeemed, and was afterwards conducted to ‘a lofty throne’ on top of the stage in the crossing where he could ‘be clearly seen by all the people’. For Edward II’s coronation, this structure— probably resembling the 1370s cathedra at Durham (Fig 4)—is elsewhere described as incorporating seats for the King and Queen and of being high enough for a mounted knight to ride beneath it. Enthroned on this, he received the homage of his nobles.

The Queen’s coronation followed the King’s in similar, but distinct, form. She received the homage of the women present and her throne was pointedly lower than her husband’s.

Next, a Mass was celebrated, after which the King and Queen descended from their high thrones and were conducted past the high altar to the shrine of Edward the Confessor.

Here, they were divested of all their regalia and their crowns were placed on the altar of the shrine. Then, wearing lighter crowns and with their sceptres only—which were later collected by the Abbot of Westminster, the custodian of all the regalia—they processed back to Westminster Hall for breakfast.

Such are the rubrics, but other accounts of Edward II’s coronation suggest a chaotic event. One anonymous eyewitness describes the press of people causing the partial collapse of the coronation stage and the death of a knight. The behaviour of the notorious favourite, Piers Gaveston, meanwhile, incensed several important guests. Royal accounts additionally reveal that the enthronement April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 161

Fig 5: James II is crowned. He faced the altar throughout the ceremony. When published, his coronation sermon ran to 30 pages took place in a huge, temporary hall within the Palace. Its arched throne recess—presumably resembling that which survives at Knaresborough Castle, North Yorkshire (COUNTRY LIFE, January 17, 2008)—incorporated a gilt effigy of the King, a means of making his likeness visible to everyone. It gives some sense of the numbers attending that 14 subsidiary halls were erected for the occasion, as well as 40 ovens to prepare food. Ostentatious and prolific consumption was essential at such an important royal event.

In the late 14th century, Richard II further enriched the architectural setting of the coronation, pressing forward the construction of the Abbey nave and re-roofing Westminster Hall in its present, magnificent, form.

He also had an image of himself in regalia painted on his stall in the choir (Fig 1).

Ironically, the King who first used these spaces for his coronation, however, was the man who deposed him, Henry IV. This ceremony in 1399 was necessarily organised with particular care. To dignify the usurpation, 162 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

not only was discovery made of an ampule of oil supplied by the Virgin herself, but an existing piece of furnishing in the Abbey was pressed into new service for the act of anointing, probably for the first time. This was St Edward’s Chair (COUNTRY LIFE, May 29, 2013), containing the Stone of Scone, upon which Scottish kings were inaugurated.

A trophy of war, the stone, together with the Scottish crown and sceptre, was gifted to the Abbey in 1298 by Edward I. It was incorporated within a special seat for priests celebrating Mass at the shrine altar of Edward the Confessor and the chair has subsequently been used in every coronation. Another innovation made at about this time was the use by peers of so-called parliamentary robes and furlined caps of estate. These caps were carried in procession to the coronation and then put on collectively after the crowning, a theatrical flourish first recorded in the 1440s sculpture of Henry V’s Chantry in the Abbey.

From the late 15th century, there is a growing volume of documentation on individual

coronations, most of it compiled by heralds.

These suggest the outward forms of the ceremony remained remarkably consistent. Such changes as it underwent generally emphasised its magnificence, one such being the gradual enrichment of the robes worn by peers. Not only did they adopt small crowns or coronets, but, by 1626, robes lined with rich fur.

The Restoration in 1660 and the need to revive the traditions of monarchy prompted a further outpouring of antiquarian study and analysis of the ceremony. The herald Francis Sandford set a new standard in this regard with his sumptuously illustrated account of the coronation of James II and Queen Mary, published in 1687 (Fig 5). From this point forward, the physical appearance of Westminster Abbey as a theatre for coronation —its interiors transformed by temporary viewing galleries—is easy to reconstruct.

Such imagery underlines the degree to which every coronation is a reinvention of tradition.

In the next few days, we will all be able to enjoy the next step in its evolution.

The Renaissance King Few realise the breadth and depth of Charles III’s interests and influence, but, here, 10 friends of COUNTRY LIFE, who know and have worked with The King–including former Prime Minister Sir John Major–predict he will be a magnificent and much-loved monarch

The Renaissance King

Preceding pages: The new King awaits his coronation. Above: Sir John Major and Charles III are amused at a 1994 Prince’s Trust event

All hail the King Sir John Major Ahead of the curve, diligent and gifted with an empathy that allows him to connect with all people, Charles III will be a great and muchcherished monarch NO monarch of our nation has been better prepared than Charles III. He has moved into the role with a sure touch and a deep understanding of all that will be required of him.

I do not claim to be an intimate of The King —and nor should any politician—but I know enough to be confident that, as the years unfold, he will become a very successful monarch and a much-loved one, too.

The nexus between the monarch and the Government is a sensitive one. It can easily be misunderstood and more easily misinterpreted. The monarch has every right to be fully informed about the actions and intentions of the Government, not least because each and every one of them will have an impact on the lives of those he or she serves.

Some critics have complained that—when still Prince of Wales—The King ‘lobbied’ 166 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

ministers too forcefully; but, in my experience, such a criticism is woefully misguided.

During the years I was Prime Minister, we met to discuss a wide range of issues and I found the meetings to be hugely beneficial. Yes, I was questioned about policy. And, yes, opinions were expressed. Yet I was never put under any pressure to follow any particular course.

He should not be silent on issues upon which he is an authority The Prince invariably put his concerns to me fully and fairly—as I believe it was his duty to do—but I have never known him, or any other senior member of the Royal Family, step over the accepted line between Crown and Government. The question, as I saw it, was straightforward. Would I prefer an heir to the throne who highlighted a legitimate concern about what is happening in our country or one who showed no interest in how our people live and the problems they face?

The answer to me was clear.

As monarch, there is no doubt The King will be circumspect, but I hope not too much so. I know of no prime minister who did not

find the late Queen’s private counsel of immense value and that will hold true for Charles III as well. The King has a personal gift of empathy and an understanding of hardship. Both are sharpened by an acute sensitivity to others. It is that sensitivity that underpins his ability to sympathise with the ambitions, the hopes and the fears of people from all backgrounds. To be able to do so is a great strength for anyone in public life— and most especially in a monarch.

He has a talent for putting people at ease and, as did the late Queen, knows far more about how his people live than anyone— other than those close to him—might realise.

From early childhood, The King was immersed in a world that put duty to others before self.

He saw his mother’s own dedication until the very end of her life. He will be no less diligent.

A modern man, he has often been well ahead of public opinion: on the encouragement of the young; on compassionate capitalism; on religious tolerance; on the built and natural environment; on agriculture; on climate change; and on so much more besides.

Often, The King was so far ahead of received wisdom that he had to wait for it to catch up, which generally—albeit slowly—it did.

Ideas he advocated that once were mocked have become orthodoxy.

The Renaissance King The point is this: he leads opinion and does not follow it—nor is he influenced by fashionable chatter, for he has too much of his parents’ good common sense to do that.

I hope that The King will continue to talk— publicly as appropriate and privately when necessary—of the importance of community; of the natural world; of Nature; of compassion and caring; of his Armed Forces; and of his work for so many good causes. He should not be silent on issues that have been lifetime passions and upon which he is an authority.

Away from his duties, The King will still, I hope, find time for his private pursuits. His love of painting is known, but he also enjoys the theatre, notably Shakespeare. He loves listening to music—from classical to modern —and has an infectious sense of the absurd: it is no surprise that Monty Python films and Blackadder are among his comedies of choice.

Yet, perhaps, The King’s greatest passion remains that of creating gardens (page 230).

His weekends at Highgrove and Birkhall were spent designing, landscaping, digging, planting and weeding—he does much of the physical work himself. No doubt, the gardens at Windsor, Balmoral and Sandringham will now receive equal attention. He will not waste his days of leisure. The King is a man with hobbies and interests aplenty, which is why he so easily finds a connection with all those he meets.

In a country and nation changing faster than is comfortable, The King knows our monarchy must continue to evolve. For centuries, there was a mystique around the Royal Family; but, over recent decades, public interest and modern media has pulled the curtain aside.

Today, nearly every aspect of their lives is public property and nowhere is this searchlight more probing than upon The King and his immediate family. On any human level, this is intrusive and, at times, must be deeply upsetting, but The King carries the burden with dignity and fortitude.

Charles III is a man who believes in evolution, not revolution, cares about the common good and will seek to heal, not divide. During troubled and uncertain times, we are fortunate to have such a monarch.

On May 6, with The Queen beside him, we will move seamlessly from the Elizabethan to the Carolean age. As tradition dictates, bells will ring out and people will proclaim ‘God Save The King’.

From what we have seen thus far, I believe that proclamation will not merely be out of respect, but will—already—be out of genuine affection for His Majesty, King Charles III. Long may he reign.

Sir John Major KG CH was Prime Minister of the UK from November 1990 to May 1997

Balmoral, Aberdeenshire, painted in watercolour by the then Prince of Wales in 1991

A lone voice in the architectural wilderness Simon Jenkins Charles III has long articulated collective misgivings about new steel-and-glass buildings and we can hope his defence of Classical and vernacular architecture continues THE then Prince of Wales was a man of many opinions. Some he kept to himself; others were mildly eccentric. But, on one subject, he made no attempt to conceal or restrain them: architecture. On this most public of art forms, he was unashamedly controversial.

From the style of buildings to the nuances of town planning, he knew what he thought and would gladly take on any opponent, constitutional convention be damned.

He first broke cover in a speech in 1984.

Still in his thirties, he had already declared his radicalism on alternative medicine, organic agriculture and community volunteering. Then came an invitation to speak on the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects at Hampton Court, an irresistible platform for his views on prevailing modernism.

He tore up briefing notes and platitudes sent to guide him and disregarded pleas from aides who had wind of what he might say.

He duly launched a full-frontal attack on the profession there arrayed before him.

Architects had, he said, ‘consistently ignored

the feelings and wishes of the mass of ordinary people in this country’. They were trained to do one thing, ‘tear down and rebuild… for the approval of fellow architects, not for tenants’.

He savaged their defiling of London, ‘once with one of the most beautiful skylines of any great city’. St Paul’s was to be ‘dwarfed by yet another giant glass stump better suited to downtown Chicago’. To the west, the National Gallery extension was ‘a vast municipal fire station… a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’.

He would take on any opponent, convention be damned The dinner dissolved into near chaos. The guest of honour, the architect Charles Correa, refused to give his own speech. The National Gallery’s architect, Peter Ahrends, said the Prince’s views were ‘offensive, reactionary and ill-considered’. Norman Foster fumed and Richard Rogers complained the Royal Family ‘did not practise what they preached’. Yet press and public reaction sounded a quite different note. The reaction was overwhelmingly favourable. The Prince was no longer murmuring to plants, but talking robust common sense.

Glass tower and carbuncle bit the dust.

In many of his controversies, Charles III tended to lapse into worthy abstractions.

Not so in architecture. He, indeed, practised his preaching. Three years later, in 1987, April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 167

The Renaissance King

Dumfries House in Ayrshire was saved for the community with royal funds and, now, offers a beacon of learning and good practice

he again took the stage, this time at Mansion House, to attack the City’s plan to replace the bleak post-war rebuilding of Paternoster Square north of St Paul’s with another ‘desecration’ of toxic Modernism. He compared the City fathers unfavourably with the Luftwaffe, which knocked down buildings ‘but didn’t replace them with anything more offensive than rubble’. He offered a plan of his own, drawn up by the neo-Classicist architect John Simpson.

It was adopted and more or less built.

The Prince then turned to his own Duchy of Cornwall land outside Dorchester in Dorset, where he invited the favoured Léon Krier to build a completely new town. Traditional in both layout and design, Poundbury took some eight years of argument and near failure to get off the ground. The Prince never gave up.

Still detested by Modernists, the estate has matured into a traditional mix of Cheltenham and Chipping Campden, its houses and flats hotly in demand. As if to rub salt into detractors’ wounds, in 1992, the Prince launched his Institute for Architecture in Regent’s Park.

Together with other similar bodies, it morphed into The Prince’s Foundation, ardently committed to teaching the skills required for Classical and vernacular architecture.

168 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Throughout his interventions, the Prince was adamant that he was doing no more than any private citizen in expressing an opinion and displaying his taste. He galvanised support for the lobbyists of SAVE Britain’s Heritage in rescuing Wentworth Woodhouse in South Yorkshire and in raising money to restore Dumfries House in Ayrshire.

A large majority of The King’s subjects would be sorry if he was over-curtailed He would protest that he had no more power than the ‘opinion-formers’ who criticised him, which was a little naïve, given the breadth of his influence. He was ruthless in stopping a Brutalist replacement for Chelsea Barracks by intervening directly with its owners, the Qatari royal family.

The King’s most controversial technique was during the Blair Government, whose ministers he bombarded with scribbled ‘blackspider’ letters on anything that stirred his

dismay. His attention span was notoriously short and the memos, when revealed under court order in 2015, were outspoken on topics ranging from military supplies to badger culls. As president of the National Trust, he once asked me as its chairman what we should do about the situation in Darfur. I had to explain that we had few members there. His concern was sincere, his application less so.

On architecture, one thing that stood The King in good stead was the simple fact that public opinion was overwhelmingly on his side.

After his Paternoster speech, he received some 2,000 letters, almost all in approval. When, in 2009, Modernist architects, including Rogers, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Lord Foster, declared his interventions ‘an abuse of power… and of democratic planning’, the press had only to look at their letters pages.

He was wholly aware that his opinions would have to be restrained if and when he was monarch. A Shakespeare fan, he knew Prince Hal’s warning on becoming Henry V: ‘Presume not that I am the thing I was… I have turned away my former self.’ His private secretary Sir Michael Peat said he was scrupulous of the need to ‘ensure he [was] not politically contentious or party political’. His campaigns

The Renaissance King

Above the fray, with no axe to grind, he fostered collaboration

Man of the trees: The King with an ancient oak in Windsor Great Park, on his appointment as Ranger of the Park, November 2022

as Prince were inevitably time limited and he wanted to get them off his chest.

The political establishment was plainly irritated to have a black spider crawling over its decisions. Equally, I sense that a large— albeit always mercurial—majority of The King’s subjects would be sorry if he was over-curtailed by constitutional convention.

His had been a lonely voice. Architects had, for the best part of half a century, bullied politicians and planners into a highly partial view of how modern Britain should look.

For a public figure to give voice to a contrary opinion was thoroughly worthwhile.

It would be sad to see it go.

Author and newspaper columnist Simon Jenkins FSA FRSL was editor of the ‘Evening Standard’ from 1976–78 and of ‘The Times’ from 1990–92. He also chaired the National Trust from 2008–14

‘He’s already changed the world’ Tony Juniper An early advocate for the environment and adept at bringing people together to find solutions, The King has long fought to save the planet FEW of us these days are unaware of the momentous environmental challenges facing our world. Global heating, mass extinction of species, ecosystem degradation and the depletion of resources from fish stocks to soils are regularly in the news. It was not always like this, of course, with such questions relegated to the margins of society’s concerns for decades. That they are now on the agenda and

mainstream is down to the work of visionary individuals who could see the need for change.

Most prominent among them has been the former Prince of Wales, now Charles III. Long before celebrities drove Teslas and Greenpeace was a household name, in the days when organic agriculture was a fringe pursuit and few people had heard of the ozone layer, never mind climate change, there were very few voices speaking out for our planet’s future.

It took a lot of courage to stand up and say what was happening, especially at a time when doing so often attracted ridicule. Back in December 1968, however, that is exactly what the 20-year-old Prince did, delivering his first environmental speech, at a conference about the future of the countryside in Wales.

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A moment of peace with his flock: The King’s Burford Brown and Maran chickens are among many contented creatures at Highgrove

he was Prince of Wales, The King shone a bright light on pretty much every environmental question. His initiatives have raised the profile of tropical rainforests, the existential threat posed by climate change, the impact of excessive pesticide use, the need to protect food security through regenerative farming, the plight of the oceans and the opportunities arising from moves to sustainable fishing.

His advocacy has been based on advice from world experts, but also on seeing for himself the questions at first hand, reading vast quantities of material and participating in discussions, briefings and round tables.

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architecture. Although, for some, this created

impression of a man who jumped from one It took a lot of courage the issue to another, with a focus on buildings to stand up and say in the morning and sustainable farming in the afternoon, his 2010 book Harmony brought what was happening it all together. It revealed a golden thread that ran through all of his ideas, a unifying to the planet philosophy that sees Nature as being at the consensus on some complex and difficult challenges, such as the question of how to halt tropical deforestation. The initiative he originated on that subject, The Prince’s Rainforests Project (and the International Sustainability Unit that followed it) was influential in achieving significant outcomes, including at the Paris Climate Change Summit in 2015, which reached a breakthrough agreement that remains today.

His environmental work has, of course, been accompanied by interests and contributions in other areas, including education, health and

heart of human wellbeing and how the circular economy of the natural world must inspire the future of the human world.

He has helped multiple charities through being their patron, as well as setting up dozens of his own, including The Prince’s Trust and Business in the Community. Whereas some environmental advocates see people as the problem, he has always regarded them as the solution. His calls for sustainable farming centre as much on farmers as on soils, water and pollinators. His work for sustainable fishing has been much about fishing communities and his efforts to save the dwindling

The Renaissance King When the then Prince of Wales became patron of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) in 1986, many of our native breeds were at the bleakest point in their history.

Our livestock and equines, bred for our landscape and habitats, were largely disregarded, out of fashion and, in some cases, kept going by only a handful of smallholders and farmers.

As a whole, mainstream farming neither understood nor appreciated the irreplaceable value of native breeds’ characteristics.

The King’s foresight in celebrating and promoting those traditional breeds has been borne out and I am pleased to say that many more people are now catching up.

From Sandringham’s Shorthorns to Large Black pigs, The King champions British breeds

tropical rainforests embraced the future of the people who live there and from whose cultures came ideas that inspired aspects of Harmony, including the indigenous societies.

He worked in a tricky space for more than five decades, raising issues and making progress by bringing people together to forge solutions. He used his position with great skill, unswerving dedication and to great effect. Above the fray and with no axe of personal vested interest to grind, he fostered collaboration. He didn’t have to do what he did, but his personal calling was to make a difference and that is what he set out to do. His new role presents the challenge of finding an accommodation between, on the one hand, his longstanding mission to make progress on the most important issues facing our world and, on the other, the constitutional requirements that come with being head of state.

Since becoming King, he has already demonstrated something of what he can do, working with the Government to host two receptions at Buckingham Palace, bringing leaders together to encourage action. The first was in October 2022, just before the COP27 climatechange meeting in Sharm El Sheikh. The other took place in February, adding momentum in the wake of the successful Nature summit in Montreal at the end of last year. Although his personal voice will necessarily now be less prominent, these kinds of convening events are evidently compatible with his position as sovereign and more will follow.

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a legacy that historians will undoubtedly judge as going far beyond what might have been expected from the positions into which he happened to be born. If we do succeed in avoiding an ecological disaster later this century, part of the reason will be because of what he did for 50 years and more, driving a renaissance in ideas, raising awareness, bringing people together, celebrating good practice and supporting those who, like him, sought to make a difference.

Tony Juniper is an environmentalist, writer and the chair of Natural England

Taking the rare-breed bull by the horns

Christopher Price Long-time patron of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, The King has worked tirelessly, publicly and privately, to promote endangered farm animal breeds

FOR decades, the countryside and our rural communities have benefited from the great empathy and generosity of The King. Often behind the scenes, his support and action for communities, for wildlife and conservation, for food and farming and for rural heritage and skills have had a remarkable impact.

In championing the under-represented and advocating for change, time and again he has shown a prescience that has only been recognised long after the fact.

He is a figurehead for the native breeds’ cause, but he most certainly leads by example, too The skill, knowledge and passion with which His Majesty has supported RBST’s work over the past four decades has made an invaluable and very practical contribution to the breeds’ survival. The Prince’s Countryside Fund’s generous support helped us greatly expand the RBST’s work, not least in the aftermath of the horrors of foot-and-mouth disease, as well as our recent Equine Conservation Project and Farm Park schemes. Without fanfare, our patron has readily committed his own animals for our breeding programmes to help secure vulnerable, irreplaceable genetic bloodlines. He has quietly given a home to new herds that RBST has formed to save some of our very rarest breeds.

At other times, fanfare has been put to good use: I was honoured to visit Cotswold Farm Park alongside Charles III as he encouraged visitors to the network of RBST-approved farm parks when they were finally able to reopen after the first covid lockdown.

In this receipt of inspiration, I join RBST members of all ages. When a rare Boreray lamb was presented to the then Prince of Wales as a 70th-birthday gift at the Royal Cornwall Show in 2018, its proud breeder, Jowan Bobin, was only 15 years old. He has since completed an agricultural course and now runs a sustainable farm in Cornwall with Boreray sheep, Oxford Sandy and Black pigs and Golden Guernsey goats. It is the type of farm with potential to play a key role in a future for the countryside where high-quality food production goes hand in hand with the natural

The Renaissance King environment and multiple societal benefits.

I feel sure His Majesty would approve.

RBST’s patron is a superb figurehead for the native breeds’ cause, but he most certainly leads by example, too. The educational farm he has created at Dumfries House is home to vital rare livestock and poultry breeding groups, from Vaynol (page 310) and Whitebred Shorthorn cattle to Castlemilk Moorit sheep and a variety of our priority poultry breeds, such as the Scots Dumpy. This work is not only improving the outlook for future generations of these rare breeds, it is also giving thousands of visitors an unforgettable experience of sustainable farming. The breeding programmes there have been successful in boosting breed numbers, geographic distribution and genetic diversity. The selection of breeds, comprising those in desperate need of help, but which would also have the right characteristics to thrive on the estate, reflects our patron’s encyclopaedic rarebreed knowledge and farming experience.

This knowledge and passion were brought to bear at Highgrove, too. His Majesty gave the nation a fantastic exemplar of the leading role native livestock and equine breeds should play in a sustainable approach to food production and land management, from Gloucester and Irish Moiled cattle to Large Black pigs and Cotswold sheep, and many more. Equine breeds are not overlooked, with two rare Suffolk Punch heavy horses showing the world their strength and skill. I look forward to seeing what His Majesty will create as he welcomes more breeds to Sandringham (‘Farming for our futures’, May 19, 2021).

The King’s talents for seeing sustainable farming in the round and bringing people together were at the heart of the Coronation Meadows project to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s coronation. The partnership between Plantlife, The Wildlife Trusts and RBST ensured the role of nativebreed grazing was showcased as part of the action to reverse the decline of biodiversity.

Another example of this ability to bring people together for common good is the local-produce conference held at Highgrove in July 2016, where RBST and Slow Food UK joined forces to help develop supply chains for native-breed farmers by engaging with the hospitality sector. The then Prince of Wales gave generously of his time to talk with speakers and guests, providing great encouragement for all those working for a strong future for native breeds.

His Majesty’s skill in facilitating and supporting these types of connections and collaborations will be invaluable in the countryside’s challenging transition to a future in which food production and a modern rural

A solemn moment: the new King takes up the mantel of sovereignty from the late Queen

economy need to work in harmony with environmental improvement and conservation.

We are living through an era of intense debate over land-use policy and it can be a struggle to find common ground between special-interest groups. As rural communities respond to each new crisis or opportunity, we desperately need leaders with an understanding of these nuances and who see things in their longer-term context. As we mark the coronation of Charles III, I have no doubt His Majesty will continue to employ his knowledge, skill and dedication to great effect for the people of the countryside, for the future of our landscapes and wildlife and in support of our native breeds.

Christopher Price is chief executive of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and a former director of Policy and Advice at the CLA. He is also chair of the Wildlife and Countryside Link Agriculture working group and vice-chair of the Uplands Alliance

Our defender of the faith Baron Chartres In Charles III, we can rejoice in a king who is inspired by the wisdom that is ancient, but always fresh

MOST people in their early seventies have retired, yet our King is only just embarking on the most arduous period of his national service. He has been in the public eye, subjected to intense scrutiny, from his earliest years. His image was on the savings stamps that many of us collected when we were young.

Now, his profile will soon be in circulation on everyday stamps and coins (page 220).

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A man of faith and understanding: The King visiting a Sikh temple in New Delhi, India

in a coronation ceremony that incorporates many of the symbols introduced in 973 by St Dunstan when he crowned Edgar the Peaceful in Bath. The 10th-century rituals owed much to European precedents, but, now, they are a unique survival in Europe.

Such continuities are an important thread in a narrative that allows all those who dwell in these islands to say ‘we’. Of course, the changes have been profound. No one today could seriously echo the words of Shakespeare’s Richard II, who declared: ‘Not all the water, in the rough rude sea can wash the balm off from an anointed king. The breath of worldly men cannot depose the deputy elected by the Lord.’

It was in the 19th century that British monarchs finally surrendered the last vestiges of actual political power. Monarchs became part of a dignified national pageant. Their duty was to hallmark the realm of common values that lie beyond the struggle that is proper to political partisans. Sovereigns and their families were to give the constitution a human face and provide a focus for personal loyalty.

Yet for modern monarchs, at a time of increasing social and generational polarisation, the role of unifier is a complex and exacting task.

Although it would be intolerable for the occupant of the throne to become a colourless cipher, the institution would probably not survive a self-indulgent monarch who only did the bare minimum.

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The then Prince presenting campaign medals in his role as Colonel of the Welsh Guards

for hard work that formed the foundation of Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne.

Bertie, Queen Victoria’s eldest son, grew up as the role of monarchy was changing.

Although he became beloved as Edward VII, it cannot be said that as Prince of Wales he brought very much lustre to the institution.

His knowledge and sympathies are not those of a dilettante, but of someone who has a place of prayer By contrast, we have had many years to appreciate the renaissance prince who is now our King. The sheer range of his interests and activities is astonishing. He has come to the throne at a time when the bonds that unite our society are under strain, when our planet seems to be on a trajectory leading to ecological

degradation. In both these fields, he has been a pioneer and his involvements have been sustained, not those of a dilettante.

When, in 1976, Prince Charles completed his service in the Royal Navy, it was a time of record inflation and unemployment and he used his navy severance pay to fund a number of community initiatives. By 1983, having learned from the success of some of the initial projects, The Prince’s Trust launched an ‘Enterprise Programme’ and, within three years, 1,000 young people had been helped to start a business. By September 2020, the trust was able to announce that its work had supported one million young people.

The Prince of Wales also used the extraordinary convening power of the monarchy to work with companies to improve their impact on wider society. He organised visits

by CEOs to alert them to contemporary problems, from urban homelessness to the challenges facing hill farmers in remote areas.

Charles III has been a consistent advocate for rural life and responsible farming, not least in his many contributions to COUNTRY L IFE .

The Renaissance King that The King has an enormous love of our lead in-house writer—and frequently quotes him. What is wonderful for us is the continuity of the interest, not only in the writing, but also in our structure, which uses form and techniques Shakespeare himself would recognise.

The Globe is an embodiment of heritage skills I know The King holds dear—although at a reception thrown for members of the Commonwealth diaspora, the then Prince of Wales entreated me to ‘do something about those bum-numbingly uncomfortable seats!’

(We do provide cushions for delicate bottoms.)

As a trustee of the Radcliffe Trust—which supports this country’s cultural heritage and craft sectors and champions contemporary composers—I was delighted to learn that The King’s great passion for music led him not only to request traditional works for the coronation, but also commission some wonderful new pieces, including one by Shirley J. Thompson.

The King’s ability to connect on a personal and individual basis is astonishing

Not rubbish: rehearsing for a Trinity College Dryden Society revue when at Cambridge

Renaissance princes were celebrated not only for the breadth of their interests, but also for their personal proficiency in the Arts. Likewise, The King, when not engaged in official duties, is a talented painter in the exacting medium of watercolour. He is a discerning and generous patron of music and musicians, as exemplified in the coronation (page 224).

The source of the energy that sustains such varied enthusiasms can perhaps be found in The King’s marked spiritual awareness. Albeit rooted in the Church of England, his sympathies and spiritual curiosity are wide. He will promise, in the coronation, to be ‘defender of the faith’, but he is, at the same time, aware of the vital contribution that faith communities of all kinds make to charitable work and social cohesion. His appreciation of Islam and his support for beleaguered Christian communities throughout the world are well known. Once again, his knowledge and sympathies are not those of a dilettante, but of someone who has a place of prayer in his garden at Highgrove, to which he frequently resorts.

The Renaissance that began in the Italian cities of the late Middle Ages was characterised by a revival of ancient wisdom that widened horizons and opened the way to a renewed Christian humanism. In today’s very different world, we can rejoice in a King who is inspired by the wisdom that is old, but always fresh.

Lord Chartres is a former Bishop of London and Dean of HM Chapels Royal

The King of Arts Margaret Casely-Hayford From his interest in Shakespeare to his love of music, via his support for diverse communities, our monarch has a true appreciation of the Arts ACROSS the varied areas in which I work, I draw a sense of strength that our new monarch has influence and a love of the Arts.

As the chair of Shakespeare’s Globe, I know

But there’s more to The King than a ‘mere’ appreciation for the Arts: his ability to connect on a personal and individual basis is astonishing and he has been an incredibly supportive ambassador of charities such as ActionAid UK, which aims to eradicate poverty by focusing on the rights of women and girls. As Prince of Wales, he was an active patron from 1995, talking passionately about ActionAid’s work and visiting several projects, including in Brazil, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

We live in sensitive times and there are many who are vocal about not being monarchists. To me, a constitutional monarchy is a critically important element of our establishment: where governments rightly change in response to democracy, the monarchy is a constant, yet is held in check. It doesn’t retain unbridled power but, simultaneously, connotes necessary stability. It is one of my abiding memories that every Prime Minister has said that working with the late Queen was not only a joy, but that they learned from her, rather than the other way round. That is a symbol of the strength and knowledge that comes from continuity, which also holds significant cultural importance, because memory is a crucial part of who we are as individuals and, therefore, as a nation.

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The Renaissance King Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, was asked to speak first at the Queen’s funeral service. This, to me, was a wonderful symbol of the importance of the Commonwealth both to her late majesty and her family. Monarchy is as much about this country as it is about others with which it has an historic relationship and, for me, Charles III’s reign can be a symbol of that understanding and hope.

Margaret Casely-Hayford is a lawyer, businesswoman and the chair of Shakespeare’s Globe

My kingdom for a horse Ralph Beckett The King had a longer career as polo player than as an amateur jockey, but racing will flourish under the patronage of The King and Queen IT is 42 years since The King’s stint as an amateur jump jockey concluded and 18 years since his distinguished career as a polo player came to an end. Although Charles III didn’t ride a winner in his six outings on a racecourse, he did finish second twice.

Allibar got him off to a promising start, with second place in an amateur chase at Ludlow.

Sadly, the horse came to an early demise, collapsing one morning when walking home from exercise with trainer Nick Gaselee.

Replacement Good Prospect was not very big and notably short-necked. Perhaps a less than ideal conveyance for an amateur, he unseated The King twice in five days, famously in the Kim Muir at the 1981 Cheltenham Festival.

By contrast, Charles III’s polo career was as auspicious and as long as his race-riding spell was short. He played his first match at 15 years old in a team captained by his father, the Duke Of Edinburgh, and went on to play 17 times for Young England. In 1979, he scored all four goals in a 4–2 win for the Royal Navy over the Army in the Rundle Cup and, in 1981, played for England against Spain.

He reached a handicap of four goals, making him a top-10 British player of his time and at least twice as good as either of his sons.

He was considered a classic player, whose favourite position was at back in defence.

The Prince retired from serious competition just after his 57th birthday, with a list of injuries that included a broken arm, concussion and being hit by a ball in the throat, which resulted in him losing his voice for 10 days. From then on, he played only for charity, raising £12 million in the process.

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A proficient polo player, The King reached an impressive handicap of four goals

The new Queen, too, was an avid follower

In a hedge in Quorn of hounds from a young age, starting with the Southdown (now part of the Southdown Monday country, & Eridge) in Sussex. In the 1970s, she shared her mother steeplechasers that were there is a tiny plaque with trained by Fulke Walwyn at Lambourn in the most notable being Menehall, with the inscription: Berkshire, who won at Aintree. With her first husband, Parker Bowles, she bred numerous “The Prince Of Wales Andrew chasers and polo ponies. Blessed with a tereye, she is well known by friends and broke these sticks” rific family for recognising a three year old if she A keen follower of hounds before the 2004 ban, he was a regular visitor to anywhere that tested horse and rider, particularly the Shires, and was well known for going route one in the huntsman’s pocket, regardless of how formidable the obstacle. Indeed, if you look hard enough among one of the hedge bottoms away from Willoughby Gorse, in the Quorn Monday country, there is apparently a tiny plaque with the inscription: ‘The Prince Of Wales broke these sticks.’ As a countryman, he is popular with farmers, pro-hunting or otherwise, wherever he visits.

had known it as a foal.

It is not surprising, therefore, that, as a wedding present, Elizabeth II gave the then Prince of Wales and his bride a Sadler’s Wells mare named Supereva. Her first progeny arrived as a yearling at Whitsbury, Hampshire, in the autumn of 2007. Named Royal Superlative, she belied her name, but won a maiden at Chepstow, making all up the stand rail under Jack Mitchell. There followed a succession of less than talented, but victorious horses, including tiny Carousel, who was one of our first winners on moving to Kimpton Down, Superciliary (a gorgeous, but soft

The Renaissance King type) and Ravenous (small, yet hardy), until decent handicapper Pacify showed up. He was much the best his dam produced and we had a lot of fun with him, although he did disappoint on the day that mattered most— at Royal Ascot in 2016.

There’s little doubt that the Royal Studs will continue to produce homebred winners on a regular basis, with decent prospects such as three-year-old Slipofthepen, which won at Kempton recently and is now quoted as a leading contender for the Derby, plus there are a number of promising types that have gone into training this year as two year olds. With the significance of the horses running in joint ownership not to be underestimated, both The King and The Queen’s enthusiasm for the Sport of Kings is readily apparent—hence, their future patronage of the great game is assured.

Ralph Beckett is a leading trainer of Flat racehorses at Kimpton, Hampshire

Monarch of the trend Dylan Jones Charles III’s loyalty to British tailoring–combined with an innate sense of style–made him a king of fashion long before he ascended to the throne THE KING has served as a brilliant role model for sustainable fashion and style and has been a lifelong advocate of good old-fashioned British tailoring. For that alone, he should be celebrated. I have always gone out of my way to champion Charles III as a style icon, because he’s become a talismanic figure in the fashion industry. He has developed the ability to fly the flag for British tailoring and craftsmanship, looking good in the process.

His classic looks include the safari suits of his youth (once famously worn with a shortsleeved, baby-blue safari shirt, a pair of tight chinos and some Helmut Newton-style riding boots), the traditional double-breasted jacket, which he completely subverts by jamming both hands into its pockets, the almost-bling signet ring (which he is supposed to pass on to William because of its Prince of Wales crest) and, of course, his love of tartan.

My all-time favourite Charles III look is the one he sported in the late 1970s when he was visiting Canada. He looked like a cross between John Wayne and Pee-Wee Herman, in a western suit (in an extremely modern shade of urgent pink) with a check shirt, a bootlace tie and a superb white 10-gallon hat. Then there was the time he sported an 178 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

egg-yellow Hermès top (complete with cartoonish ‘Happy Hermès’ logo), a blue chambray shirt and a pair of skintight white jeans that left almost nothing to the imagination.

He was dressed for the polo, but could just as easily have been going to a nightclub. He also appears to wear his blazer everywhere, regardless of whether or not it’s appropriate.

Indeed, his equerries used to joke that he wore his favourite blazer in the bath.

Nonetheless, he takes all this stuff terribly seriously. I was once at one of his receptions at Dumfries House when His Majesty was unusually late. ‘I’m terribly sorry,’ he said with a smile, ‘but I changed my cufflinks three times before I came down.’

Only Charles III could have convened warring Savile Row tailors and just-outof-college designers Whenever he is asked about his style, however, he likes to downplay it by being as selfdeprecating as his position allows. ‘I think I’m a bit like a stopped clock,’ he’s fond of saying. ‘I get it right twice every 24 hours.’

Sustainability might be fashionable these days, but The King has been banging that drum —the same old drum, mind, with recycled skins —for decades. It’s ironic that he was pilloried for years for his obsessions, but he is now at the forefront of a modern movement that celebrates the old almost in spite of the new.

A few years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time with the then Prince of Wales, shadowing him for a magazine article, and he was nothing if not passionate in his espousal of his beliefs—and, obviously, still frustrated that industry and government often only pay lip service to sustainability.

Although he has decried fashion for fashion’s sake, he has nonetheless been something of a style icon. Ten years ago, when the British Fashion Council asked me to create Britain’s first fashion week devoted entirely to men, there was only one person I wanted to launch it and that was the Prince of Wales. His ability to celebrate the traditional with the anarchic chimed with my idea of what a fashion week should look and feel like, especially in Britain, celebrating the traditionalism of Savile Row on one hand and the entrepreneurial spirit of outspoken young designers on the other.

Even then, the fashion industry believed in his own particular brand of style. Only Charles III

could have convened all the warring Savile Row tailors, only he could have intrigued the young, just-out-of-college designers and only he had the pulling power to drag Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger and Paul Smith down to St James’s in the middle of the afternoon. And I remain convinced that it was his patronage that made the event so immediately successful.

The King makes you feel proud to be British.

He looks British, sounds British and carries himself with a swagger that, in other hands, could look unnecessarily bullish or embarrassingly Mr Bean-ish. He is a cool-looking dude, which is what we expect him to be.

I don’t think we like it when our politicians are too well-dressed (some of us distrusted Tony Blair because of this, in the same way that some look at Rishi Sunak as too much of a fashion plate), but we want our royals to wear that mantle. I certainly do.

Personally, I’ve always been a fan of The King.

Not only have I enjoyed the fact that he tends to speak his mind, but, even from a young age, I thought his outspoken manner was actually rather smart. Where his mother was all about decorum and being silently quizzical, he always had more of his father in him—namely an ability to look aghast at strange developments in modern life that he didn’t like.

Plus, of course, he always dressed like a king.

A flamboyant king, for sure, but a king all the same, even when he was only a prince.

A journalist and author, Dylan Jones was editor of the UK version of the men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine ‘GQ’ from 1999–2021

Cometh the hour, cometh The King

Dame Fiona Reynolds Charles III is the role model the country needs in these difficult times

A KING who warned of the carbon and Nature crises years before the rest of the world woke up to them. A King who is as comfortable in a farmhouse kitchen, a shepherd’s crook by his side, as in a royal palace. A King whose hands are scarred with the toil of hedge-laying, yet soft enough to enfold those who have received public awards, from knights (and dames) to recipients of British Empire Medals. A King who has helped countless young people take hold of their future, at the same time as persuading some of the world’s largest businesses to embrace sustainability.

Getty; Shutterstock; Alamy; Copyright AG Carrick/Photo courtesy of Belgravia Gallery; Simon Jauncey/John Millar/Simon Buck/Country Life Picture Library; RBST; Rob Wilson Jnr

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The Renaissance King A King who loves nothing better than a quiet hour in a beautiful garden, where he impresses the local expert with his horticultural knowledge. And a King with a fine eye for architecture and design, from the vernacular to the unashamedly grand. In short: a King with a keen sense of beauty and how fundamental it is to our lives.

In this time of contested priorities and short-term politics, isn’t this exactly the kind of King we need? For although public policy is horribly siloed and seems ill-equipped to deal with a pressured economy and a succession of short-term crises, our King understands the bigger, long-term picture and has an unerring instinct for what motivates and sustains the people of the UK.

He was always there, quiet and genuine, not grandstanding, but offering empathy He knows our country intimately and understands it better than most. Over decades, he has visited every corner of the British Isles, taking time to acquaint himself with the spirit of each place and bringing delight as a royal visitor. Often, when I was working for the National Trust, I would receive a discreet telephone call seeking space in a busy visit for a spell of spiritual refreshment in one of our beautiful gardens or houses. We were always delighted to make this happen.

And he remembers: people, details, dates and stories. Years later, in a conversation about something entirely different, The King might draw an analogy or remember an anecdote that can only have come from such a fleeting, but clearly meaningful experience.

He cares. The joy of repeated, out-of-thelimelight visits to the Lake District—a landscape he loves—were jolted into another dimension by the horrors of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. He cheered us on as we did all we could to save the Herdwick sheep from destruction from contiguous culling (today’s flocks being direct descendants of those shepherded by Beatrix Potter; Native breed, January 11). As the restrictions were lifted, he was among the first to visit the farms and their occupants who had been so terribly afflicted by the disease. He did the same in so many contexts: after floods and disasters he was always there, quiet, compassionate and completely genuine, understanding what people needed; not grandstanding, but offering real empathy, drawn from his own insights into the realities of people’s lives.

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In Harmony, perhaps The King’s most personal articulation of his credo, he wrote: ‘This book offers inspiration for those who feel, deep down, that there is a more balanced way of looking at the world, and more harmonious ways of living.’ If that was true in 2010, it is more than ever now, as the implications of our failure to control the speed of climate change or reverse the decline of Nature have become ever more apparent.

Our world, our country and the places we live in and love are ecosystems of interconnected networks, underpinned by Nature and natural resources, but heavily influenced by humans. As The Economics of Biodiversity (the Dasgupta review into the economics of Nature) showed us, sometime in the 1950s human activity started to outstrip its ability to regenerate. The world is a tapestry of woven threads, which are now beginning to break.

Our King may rarely speak publicly on these issues now, as he did in the past, but make no mistake, we have already heard what he has to say. If ever we needed a role model to lead us to a better, more sustainable future, it is there in the form of our King, Charles III. Dame Fiona Reynolds was formerly Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and director-general of the National Trust. She is now the chair of Governors at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, and the author of ‘The Fight for Beauty’

‘The world’s greatest convener’ Patrick Holden The King has been a force for good in the world of organic and sustainable farming in more ways than we might realise

OTHERS have highlighted The King’s many achievements; he is surely one of the most inspired and influential human beings on our planet. I believe his lifelong service—to humanity and the natural world—has rarely, if ever, been equalled. However, having known him for 40 years—initially through our shared interest in sustainable agriculture—I would like to share a personal perspective. I recall the excitement I felt in 1982, when I was first invited to meet the then Prince of Wales, who was considering putting his green farming principles into practice at Highgrove. I was on the list of guests because I—as were many there that day—was an early adopter of this way of farming, having left London in the early 1970s to set up a community farm in west Wales, which marks its 50th anniversary this year.

As the son of a doctor, who grew up in London and attended mainly state schools, my background contrasted significantly with his. Nonetheless, I immediately felt a strong sense of affinity. This was partly due to our interest in organic farming, but I suspect that he, like me, had also been influenced by some kind of global shift of consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Perhaps Jamie Oliver was right when he described him as ‘a bit of a hippy’—I definitely sensed he was a fellow traveller.

I can’t remember exactly what I said, except that I was tongue-tied and overwhelmed, muttering something about my experience of milking cows and organic dairy farming.

I think there was some kind of mutual recognition, because we stayed in touch.

After deciding to go ahead with the organic conversion, a small parcel of land was chosen out of sight of the general public, in case it went wrong; back then, organic farming was seen as fringe, unworldly and decidedly not mainstream. Typically, the Prince persisted, converting the dairy farm and then the entire 1,700-acre estate to organic. Initially, this was not widely appreciated by the establishment.

Subsequently, however, the Highgrove Farm and gardens became a place of pilgrimage.

They offered a ‘seeing is believing’ experience to tens of thousands of visitors, including

The Renaissance King

Outstanding in all his myriad fields of interest: The King at Sandringham in Norfolk

a small, but highly influential, group of farmers, policymakers, academics, food companies, philanthropists, environmentalists, celebrities and the media, as word got out that what he was doing was of long-lasting significance.

In my role as head of the Soil Association and, subsequently, the Sustainable Food Trust, we benefited greatly from this capacity to convene others on issues about which he was passionate. He did not attend meetings and we often joked that, if he had, delegates might have been distracted and learned less. As a result, the ‘Highgrove alumni’ now numbers more than 1,000 influential people, from all over the world, who have witnessed the positive impacts of the practical application of sustainable and Nature-friendly farming principles at landscape level. Indeed, I believe that The King is universally acknowledged as the greatest and most influential champion and advocate of sustainable food and farming.

Having been such a seminal influence for change, any normal individual might have been tempted to stop there and rest on his laurels, but not the future King. There is no doubt that his work at Highgrove led to what I consider to be one of his most important contributions to humanity, namely the publication of Harmony in 2010. The book details

a new way of looking at our world and includes the observation—as The King has expressed in speeches— that ‘we are Nature’ and, by extension, ‘what we do to Nature we do to ourselves’.

It stresses the need to work in a more interconnected way and that, in future, food production must operate in harmony with Nature through ‘land sharing’, as it did until the 1950s.

The King has courage, tremendous self-discipline and an incredible work ethic Known for his vision and intuition, the extraordinary breadth of his interests and knowledge, spanning history and culture, the Arts, faith communities, literature, music and the environment, The King has many hidden qualities, too. These include loyalty, humanity and vulnerability, but also courage, tremendous self-discipline and an incredible work ethic—how many of us go back to our desks after dinner in the evening? This discipline, finding expression in his determination to respond to as many letters and emails as

possible has resulted in him perhaps being one of the greatest letter writers of our time.

Then there is his understanding and compassion, especially for animals. I was once in a car with him in rural Romania when we came across an accident, in which a horse, driver and cart had come off the road and ended up in a ditch. We were the first on the scene and, despite the anxiety of his close protection officers, he leapt out of the car and calmed the horse to make sure that no one was injured.

This sensitivity towards animals is matched by his remarkable ability to put people at ease and his extraordinary capacity to talk to each person he meets, leaving them feeling seen, heard and perhaps touched by an exchange in which he says something pertinent and meaningful that stays with them.

He likes to laugh, too. I have been reduced to tears by his anecdotes and mimicry, but never at the expense of others. I suspect that side of him—which goes back to his love of Spike Milligan and the Goons’ 1950s radio shows—is a release for all the huge responsibilities he has to reconcile in his role as King.

There is no doubt that his extraordinary dedication to service connects to his awareness, since childhood, of his destiny eventually to become King. Now that he has acceded to the throne, his role must rightly restrict his interventions. However, I doubt that this restraint will prevent him from continuing to be an important influence. This is because, during his long apprenticeship, he has earned such enormous respect from international leaders. Consequently, he has become, without question, the world’s greatest convener.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI).

This was launched by the then Prince at Davos in 2020, inspired by his conviction that only if the world’s business community is fully engaged will it be possible for humanity to act at sufficient speed to harness the necessary resources to avoid catastrophic climate change and the breakdown of ecosystems.

As a participant in two SMI task forces, I have witnessed The King evoke a sense of higher purpose in world leaders, which has forged new friendships and trust. These new bonds are vital at this precarious time when, only through collaboration, will we pass on our planet in a fit state for future generations.

I know I speak for many when I say that His Majesty is a truly remarkable human being, dedicated to lifelong and selfless service, for which I believe we all have cause to be deeply grateful. God bless The King!

Long live The King!

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‘She’s the best listener in the world’ Whether she’s highlighting domestic abuse, championing literacy, dining with pensioners or quietly supporting her husband, our new Queen is excelling in her royal role, says Jane Wheatley

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Country Life Picture Library; Getty; Millie Pilkington/Country Life Picture Library

HERE was once a little girl called Camilla, whose father read stories to his children every night, instilling in her an enduring love of books and the imaginative adventures they promised. He did all of us a great favour, because, when his daughter grew up and married the man who would be King, she determined that all children should have the opportunity to lose themselves in a good story.

Soon after she became Duchess of Cornwall and assumed her role as a working royal, the author Michael Morpurgo was invited to Buckingham Palace to talk about literature for children and what the Duchess could do to help. ‘It was quite early on when she first appeared on the scene and she was mightily sincere about it,’ he recalls. ‘She was very authentic and clearly understood the importance of libraries and books for children.’

They went on to meet often and, on one occasion, he tells me, the two of them sat together in a tent at the Hay Festival in Wales and read stories to assembled children.

The then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are amused on a tour of New Zealand

in women and girls writing, and a reception at Clarence House, inviting people It’s what she does interested we needed someone of her stature to mark involved in the field of combating sexual moment,’ remembers Mrs Mosse. ‘Back violence from the Home Secretary downbest, bringing people the then, she was still a controversial figure and wards, many of whom had never met each came from people who had never other. It’s what she does best, bringing people out of silos and making objections met her, but we stuck to our guns.’ out of silos and making common cause.

Once considered the most hated woman As one charity boss told me: ‘She is so much common cause in Britain by some people, branded as a ‘rott- more than a name over the door.’

These days, as The Queen, she has her own charity and Instagram account, The Queen’s Reading Room, sharing books she loves with children and adults around the world and recruiting well-known actors and authors, including Sir Michael, to give readings and recommendations. ‘She is raising the flag for literature,’ he enthuses. ‘I don’t think any member of the Royal Family has been so involved in the culture of the country since Prince Albert.’

In 2010, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, its founder, novelist Kate Mosse, asked the then Duchess of Cornwall to present the awards. ‘People had told me she was a big reader, who was

weiler’ and home-wrecker for her long relationship with the married Prince of Wales, excoriated in the press, isolated and voiceless, the former Mrs Parker Bowles had a rough time of it. ‘She has weathered it all with great dignity and grace,’ observes Mrs Mosse. ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, women being silenced is common to everybody and I admire how she has ploughed her own furrow.’

Since her marriage in 2005, The Queen has taken on a full calendar of royal duties, but much of her work and interests has developed under the radar, following up with people she’s met and often bringing them together informally. After an undercover visit to a rape crisis centre in 2009, she held

After meeting Jude Kelly, founder of the Women of the World Festival (WOW), the then Duchess gave a lunch at Clarence House and told Mrs Kelly that she was free to invite anyone she chose. Conversations rose like balloons, covering topics from rape as a weapon of war to the education of girls, as The Duchess worked the room. ‘She was unafraid to talk in depth about FGM [female genital mutilation],’ Mrs Kelly disclosed to royal biographer Penny Junor.

The Duchess later became president of WOW and the lunches continued: ‘People go away feeling really respected and feel the warmth of her personality,’ adds Mrs Kelly.

‘She’s lived her life, some of it in public, April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 185

and that’s got a deeply painful aspect to it— she’s obviously transferred her difficulties into a greater compassion for others.’

In 2016, The Duchess visited the charity SafeLives—which works with survivors of domestic abuse—and met Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna had been murdered by her estranged husband (‘I’m terrified of him finding me when he gets out’, July 13, 2022). Visibly appalled by the stories she heard, she became a staunch ally of the charity, of which she has been patron since 2020.

Two years later, she told presenter Emma Barnett on BBC Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour how deeply shocked she had been by what she had learnt at that first meeting: ‘I don’t think in those days I knew much about domestic abuse,’ she admitted. ‘It was a very hush-hush subject, taboo. It’s talked about much more now.’ She had ‘zoned in’ suggested Mrs Barnett: ‘Quite correct,’ nodded The Duchess. ‘I shan’t let go now. I hope I shall be doing [this work] for a lifetime.’

With her, it’s like meeting an old friend.

And she’s so good for The King Traditionally, on overseas trips, members of the Royal Family might go to the ballet, view a military parade or attend a remembrance service; The Queen likes to pop into a women’s refuge. From Bahrain to Lagos, wherever possible, she will seek out survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault and hear their stories. As The King once said of her, ‘she’s the best listener in the world’, and, in the process, her visit will raise the profile of each service and its need for support.

In Rwanda in June last year, she gave the keynote speech at a conference on violence against women and girls before spending time with children at Kigali public library, stocked with books sent from the charity Book Aid International, of which she is patron.

Although these are the two causes closest to her heart, they are among 100 patronages and presidencies she has taken on. Some were inherited from her mother-in-law, the late Queen, including Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (‘Give a dog a home’, July 13, 2022)— she has two Jack Russells, Beth and Bluebell, that were rescued by the charity—where she met the late comedian and fellow dog lover Paul O’Grady. ‘We hit it off straight away,’ he told me. ‘I met the Queen many times and used to get a bit nervous, but with the new Queen it’s different, like meeting an old friend; I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but 186 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Above: United in love and purpose: Charles and Camilla on their wedding day in April 2005. Facing page: Former consorts of English kings, from Eleanor to Elizabeth she’s so approachable. And she’s so good for The King, the two of them together, that should have happened years ago.

‘Of course she was a pariah at one stage; I think she survived it so well because she’s very true to herself. As me Mum used to say, “a steady hand is needed to steer through stormy seas”.’

Back in those wilderness years of the 1990s, a poll suggested that half the British people thought the Prince of Wales’s relationship with his mistress had damaged the monarchy beyond repair. How things progress: in February last year, the Queen said it was her ‘sincere wish’ that Camilla should

be known as Queen Consort when Charles became King; three months’ later, she became a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry, and, in July, she made the pages of Vogue.

When the team arrived for the shoot, she said: ‘Sorry you’ve got to photograph an old bat this morning,’ adding, after looking regretfully at her hands: ‘I did have some nails, but I lost them all gardening yesterday.’ The photographer snapped away, calling out ‘beautiful, ma’am’ and making her chuckle.

As someone once said of her: ‘She has a deep and infectious laugh and often seems to be the one having the most fun in the room.’

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The Queen and the much-missed Paul O’Grady, who shared her love of dogs, at the COUNTRY LIFE 125th-birthday party in 2022

Helena Kennedy has known The Queen since before her marriage, when Baroness Kennedy was chair of the British Council and spent a weekend at Sandringham: ‘We talked about an Anne Tyler novel we had both read and I realised she was a real book person. When I chaired the Booker Prize, I asked her to present the award, which she did for several years; we would send her the final six, she had always read them and was always keen to meet the writers.’

As do others I spoke to, Baroness Kennedy admits she is a big fan of The Queen: ‘She is down to earth, human, compassionate and a great champion of women’s rights. I was recently involved in an operation to evacuate women lawyers out of Afghanistan and I did an interview in The Sunday Times, in which I said that I desperately needed help chartering 188 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

I did an interview three-course lunch for isolated elderly in the community. ‘The next day, and said I needed help. people I got a call from Clarence House, saying that: Duchess would like to come and have The next day, her “The lunch with your OAPs.”’ Was the author surprised? ‘Well, yes, a bit; but, of course, office got in touch I said I would arrange it. local pub in Devon putting on a weekly

planes. The next day, her office got in touch to say: “The Queen Consort would like to make a donation.” Later, she suggested that I bring some of them to Clarence House for tea. I brought three judges and she was wonderful and they all adore her.’

It seems that The Queen is quick off the mark when she comes across something of interest. Sir Michael tells me that, during the pandemic, he spoke on Radio 4 about his

‘Then there was another lockdown, so it all went away. However, a year or so later, there came another call: to say that she still wanted to come and that His Royal Highness would like to come, too. They did, they drove to deepest Devon and spent an hour and a half having lunch. It was a private visit; there was no press coverage and no one made anything of it.’

Under the radar; it’s where our new Queen likes to be.

A perfect 10 From one (crown) to 2,868 (diamonds), the coronation is a numbers game, finds Agnes Stamp

2,868 The Imperial State Crown (worn when the monarch leaves Westminster Abbey) is set with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls and 4 rubies

SIX

Three FORTIETH cheers for The King— hip, hip, hooray!

The King is the 40th Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey

90 minutes £5, £10, £20 & £50 The coronation ceremony is expected to be 1½ hours long

The coronation service falls into SIX parts: the Recognition, the Oath, the Anointing, the Investiture (which includes the crowning), the Enthronement and the Homage

FOUR new banknote designs (£5, £10, £20 and £50) featuring Charles III were revealed on December 20, 2022. The new notes won’t be in circulation until 2024

4lb 12oz

The solid gold frame of St Edward’s Crown (which is used at the moment of crowning itself) weighs 4lb 12oz

The fragrant chrism oil that will be used to anoint Charles III has been created using olives harvested from TWO groves on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, at the Monastery of Mary Magdalene and the Monastery of the Ascension.

The olives were pressed just outside Bethlehem and the oil has been perfumed with EIGHT aromatics:

sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin, amber and orange blossom

The King will be the FIRST reigning monarch to hold a university degree (he read History at Trinity College, Cambridge)

FIRST William III and Mary II were the FIRST (and only) couple crowned joint monarchs of England, in April 1689

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73

The King, at the age of 73, became the oldest person to accede to the British throne. The previous record holder was William IV, who was 64 when he became King in 1830

£3bn to £5bn The Crown Jewels have been estimated to be worth anywhere between £3 billion to £5 billion

This will be the THIRD coronation broadcast by the BBC The coronation guest list is restricted to about 2,000 attendees

2,000 The Sceptre with Cross features the 530.2-carat Cullinan I–or the Star of Africa–diamond

Four Prince Charles was FOUR years old when he attended his mother’s coronation in 1953.

The King’s children will be 40 and 38 years old when they attend their father’s

Country Life has reported on FOUR coronations to date.

The coronation of Charles III will be our FIFTH

It shouldn’t happen at a coronation

Things don’t always go to plan at a coronation, from stumbling peers to muddled clergy, dripping candles and even earthquakes, reveals Carla Passino

Getty; Alamy

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OHN, 1st Baron Rolle, must have believed in nominative determinism.

So roll he did, true to his name, and at the least appropriate moment— during the coronation of Queen Victoria. The elderly peer might have been relieved to discover that his mighty tumble was hardly the only blunder to take place at a coronation.

Britain is great at pageantry, but its ultimate, most meticulously planned ceremony has so often been riddled with mishaps that they have almost become a tradition in their own right.

It all started with William the Conqueror and a misunderstanding. It was Christmas Day in 1066 and the King was about to be crowned. Asked whether William should take the crown of England, Norman and AngloSaxon notables roared their assent in their respective languages—but the soldiers stationed outside Westminster Abbey took the din for a sign of English betrayal and set fire to some houses nearby. A tumult ensued and many involved in the service fled. Only a handful of ecclesiastical officials kept their cool as Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, crowned a fearful William amid the flames.

Thankfully, most other coronation debacles weren’t quite as tragic (with the exception of the massacre of Jewish people that marred Richard the Lionheart’s crowning). Nineyear-old Henry III had to put up with wearing one of his mother’s corollas at Gloucester Cathedral in 1216, because most of the royal jewels had been lost, probably in a bog, when his father, John, fled his barons’ rebellion.

It clearly didn’t do Henry any harm: he went on to become medieval Britain’s longestreigning king. Another boy king, Richard II, wasn’t so lucky. The courtiers planning his coronation in 1377 vastly overestimated the endurance of a 10 year old—according to late-medieval chronicler Thomas Walsingham’s Historia Anglicana, the King was so exhausted by the end of the proceedings that he was carried ‘in humeris militum’ (on the soldiers’ shoulders) to his chamber so that he could muster enough energy to attend the banquet. Not that the courtiers minded when, The day of marital strife: George IV shut the abbey doors on his estranged wife

as Walsingham reports, in the middle of the Royal Palace stood a hollow marble column topped by a gilded eagle, from the feet of which ‘wines of different kinds flew for the entire Coronation day’. Richard II perhaps ought to have taken his fatigue as an ill omen: quickly becoming an unpopular monarch, he was eventually deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke.

When it comes to portents, nothing beats Charles I’s coronation: from the tainted Archbishop of Canterbury, who had killed a gamekeeper in a hunting accident, to the earthquake that shook the ground during the ceremony via the left wing of the dove that broke off the sceptre staff, it was a catalogue of disasters. Even Charles didn’t help himself by breaking with tradition and choosing to wear white satin instead of the customary purple. The only redeeming quality of the day was that ‘it was one of the most punctual Coronations since the Conquest,’ according to Charles MacFarlane’s Cabinet History of England. There have been greater feats.

Removing his gigantic wig would have been a fashion crime, so he put up with a wobbly crown Not many Stuart kings enjoyed hitch-free coronations—notably James II, whose crown refused to sit properly on his head. Removing his gigantic wig would have probably done the trick, but constituted a fashion crime, so he put up with wobbly headgear instead.

What to do with the crown also troubled George III, albeit for different reasons. Should he take it off to receive Holy Communion?

He quizzed the Archbishop, who, in turn, asked the Bishop of Rochester, ‘but neither of them could say what had been the usual form,’ according to the Gentleman’s Magazine. As party planners go, George III’s were appalling: apart from being evidently uninformed on matters of Royal Communion etiquette, ‘in the morning they had forgot the

sword of state, the chairs for the King and Queen and their canopies,’ that old busybody Horace Walpole noted in a letter. ‘They used the Lord Mayor’s for the first and made the last in the Hall.’ Despite all that, George III’s coronation was less awkward than that of his grandfather, George I, in 1714. Fresh from Hanover, the King spoke as much English as his new Court spoke German: nil. Cleverly, one bright spark saved the day by celebrating the service in Latin—thereby ensuring that no one understood anything.

Nonetheless, the most disastrous coronation was, by far, George IV’s. The King detested his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, to such an extent that he refused to have her crowned alongside him and even banned her from the service. Determined to attend, she arrived in full regalia, only to find all the doors closed and Sir Robert Inglis awaiting with an unequivocal message: ‘It is my duty to inform you that there is no place provided for your Majesty in the Abbey.’

Whether by coincidence or instant karma, however, the ceremony was also an ordeal for George IV. Already struggling with the heat of the day before he entered Westminster Abbey—which, having been lit by more than 2,000 candles, was not cool, either—the monarch was soon close to overheating. Swathed in gold and velvet clothes that made him look like ‘some gorgeous bird of the east’, according to Benjamin Haydn, the King was found—in the words of a 19th-century Dean of Westminster, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley—‘cooling himself, stripped of all robes, in the Confessor’s Chapel and, at another part of the service, was only revived by smelling salts’. The rest of the congregation was feeling the heat, too, ‘for occasionally large pieces of melted wax fell, without distinction of persons, upon all within reach’. The ladies’ hair ‘lost all traces of the friseur’s skill long before the ceremony was concluded’ and the choir, possibly outdone by the suffocating temperature, left too early.

When the King headed to Westminster Hall, the Barons of Cinque Ports, who were meant to bear the canopy over his head, visibly shook. Conscious that getting tangled in silk, however richly embroidered, was perhaps not the best way to mark his coronation, April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 193

George IV found a fresh spring in his usually plodding step and hastened ahead—but the Barons, determined to do their job, tottered behind him, the massive canopy swaying ever more perilously close to the King. No wonder that, when he arrived at the hall, ‘his Majesty was evidently fatigued’, according to A Brief Account of the Coronation of His Majesty George IV published by D. Walther in 1821.

The booklet also reports that those present ‘never saw him in better spirits’, but, when later recalling his coronation, he’s said to have muttered: ‘I would not endure again the sufferings of that day for another kingdom!’

The Archbishop, who was almost blind, put the crown on the King’s head the wrong way around It’s a feeling his niece Victoria must have shared and not merely because of poor Lord Rolle’s unfortunate accident or the Duke of Wellington’s social faux pas of exposing his boots when he descended the steps from the throne after swearing allegiance. The Queen had a more ‘gripping’ problem. Goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, had made a coronation ring to fit her pinky, but it was meant to fit her ring finger. The Archbishop forced it on anyway, so poor Victoria not only had to soldier through the day with a pinched digit, but also ‘had the greatest difficulty’ in prising the ring off and eventually only managed ‘with great pain,’ as she noted in her diary.

Not that it ever matched the pain suffered by her son, Edward VII, who came down with appendicitis two days before his big day on The day of faux pas: Victoria’s coronation ring had been made for the wrong finger (left) and the Duke of Wellington allowed his boots to be seen (above), not to mention the 1st Baron Rolle, who lived up to his name and took a tumble

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June 26, 1902. The event had to be postponed to August so the King could undergo surgery, but, despite the extra practice time, on the day itself, the ancient Archbishop of Canterbury, who was almost blind, still put the crown on the King’s head the wrong way around.

More than 30 years after they had had to make do with a delayed coronation, the British were treated to another surprise ceremony when Edward VIII abdicated after less than a year on the throne. With preparations already under way for his crowning in May 1937, his brother, George VI, decided it made no sense to start anew: ‘Same date, different king,’ he is said to have quipped. The day itself was hardly flawless—the elderly Dean of Westminster fell and nearly sent the crown flying, the Archbishop of Canterbury struggled to place it on George VI’s head and a bishop

The day that never happened: Edward VIII gave up both the crown and his crowning

The delayed day: Edward VII contracted appendicitis two days before the intended date

The penny-wise king

With little liking for pomp and circumstance, William IV— who became King in difficult economic times—considered ‘whether the Coronation could not be dispensed with’, according to Arthur Penrhyn Stanley’s Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey. Forced to go through with it, he plumped for a pared-down ceremony that cost £42,298 3s. 9d altogether, according to Hansard—less than what George IV had splurged on his robes and banquet alone.

Many MPs hated what they called ‘The Half-Crown-ation’, but the wider public appreciated the King’s frugality.

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stepped on the King’s train, not to mention the fact that the lengthy service induced several peers to seek solace in the arms of Morpheus.

However, this can hardly have mattered to a man that rose and met his greatest challenge: speaking in public. ‘Not a moment’s hesitation or mistake!’ the King reported triumphantly to his speech therapist in a letter that was unearthed a few years ago.

At his daughter’s coronation, it was the meteorologists who got it sorely wrong: they had suggested June 2 as the perfect date because, statistically, it was the day most likely to have sunshine. It turned out to be so drizzly and cold that the Royal Mews staff had to tuck a hot-water bottle in the Queen’s carriage to keep her warm. Overall, however, Elizabeth II’s ceremony went without a glitch. Here’s hoping the same holds true for Charles III.

Let the celebrations begin

Catching a glimpse of the procession, cooking the quiche or camping far away, everyone has a different way to spend the coronation weekend Words by Kate Green. Illustrations by John Holder The patriotic policeman Disgracefully, some of Ron’s colleagues have been wondering how to get out of working on May 6 and he knows at least one who is planning to ‘develop’ flu, but he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Yes, it’s a long day on your feet and the weather is a lottery (he got stung by a wasp at the Platinum Jubilee), but the great thing about mass gatherings such as this one is that everyone is in a good mood. He loved the London Olympics for the same reason. It makes a change from apprehending discourteous oiks and mopping up after drunks—the wearying daily round of the bad, the mad and the very sad—and any protesters hanging around the fringes will simply be considered pathetic.

He hopes none of the younger ones is going to get silly and shed its rider, but there’s always one He’ll have his photo taken with some Americans, a small child will try his helmet on, he’ll find a place on the railings for a nice old lady on a shooting stick who will offer him a paste sandwich and at least five people will be grateful to be helped after fainting. He’ll also have a front-row view of the procession.

When Ron gets home, he’ll watch the whole thing in comfort, cup of strong tea, feet up— apart from standing for the National Anthem, of course—and spot himself on the telly.

The ceremonial horse Montgomery has seen and heard it all before.

Trooping the Colour, the Platinum Jubilee, the State Funeral, Royal Windsor Horse Show, flypasts, fireworks, cannons and affectionately wiping your nose on the Queen when she gives you a carrot—he’s heard that the new Queen knows a thing or two about horses, too, so that’s good news. Then there’s hanging around having your picture taken by tourists, standing patiently as some wetbehind-the-ears bombardier tries to put your bridle on or a maniac tourist waves a balloon in your face—you name it, he’s done it.

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The trick is to get plenty of kip, conserve energy and watch the world go by, because these big occasions can take it out of you. With any luck, he’ll get to carry that nice lightweight chap fresh out of Pony Club with the kind hands and not Lt Wobbly who feels like a sliding sack of turnips on one’s back. He hopes none of the younger ones is going to get silly, canter sideways and shed its rider, but there’s always one.

The early birds William and Anne could write a book about meeting the Royal Family. It all started years ago when they were on holiday in Norfolk and a kind lady-in-waiting ensured that the Queen received their daughter’s posy outside Sandringham church. Since then, they’ve camped near Balmoral and exchanged a joke with Prince Philip about the midges, said ‘that was an exciting match’ to the Duke of Kent at Wimbledon, queued for an ice cream behind Zara Tindall at Gatcombe Horse Trials and, amazingly, shaken the lovely Duchess of Edinburgh’s hand at the Bath & West Show when they were mistaken for tradestand holders.

They’re still in touch with the American couple they met at Charles and Camilla’s wedding.

After camping on a pavement for days before Kate and William’s wedding, there’s nothing they don’t know about sleeping-bag weight, comfy shoes, insect repellent, potties or cooking a casserole on a Primus. Anne will make industrial quantities of flapjacks and William will bring the sheet music for Land of Hope and Glory—it gets everyone going.

The under-prepared television presenter The King and Queen are nowhere near Westminster Abbey yet and Willow has already

run out of things to say. She only got the gig for Featherweight Productions because her brother went to the same prep school as Charles—obviously not at the same time— and she’s, like, totally overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that she hasn’t exactly got a front-row seat—there’s a row of Portaloos and a big Texan hat in her line of vision; her first interviewee was six and burst into tears, then the second was some old man who droned on unintelligibly about how he’d been at a coronation in, like, 1953! Surely that’s not possible?

The internet connection keeps coming and going so she can’t even look up on her iPhone

what on earth this blessed ‘orb and sceptre’ thing means. Why, why, why didn’t she pay more attention to those revision tapes of lovely, calm Huw Edwards? He won’t be uttering inanities about jasmine oil, wearing Union Jack eyeshadow and a gold paper crown.

The born volunteers There has been, it must be admitted, some village apathy around the Coronation, which seems to have caught everyone on the hop after the Platinum Jubilee, never mind a punishing schedule of Lent Lunches, church spring clean, jumble sale for Ukraine,

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Easter-egg hunt, litter pick, tree-planting and staging of The Pirates of Penzance. The ever-reliable Sylvia and Derek are rising to the occasion, however, as everyone prayed they would, although disappointingly few turned up to Derek’s history-club lecture on coronations of the Plantagenet era.

He’ll be ringing bells and she is in charge of tea urns and making sure someone collects Col Pepper Derek used to work for a well-known electrical firm and has somehow blagged the use of a big demonstration screen on which to show the coronation (let’s hope the electrics don’t blow like they did for the World Cup).

He’ll be ringing bells first, then playing the accordion, and Sylvia is in charge of tea urns, the sandwich-making line—she’s already got 200 scones and six Victoria sponges in the deep freeze—and making sure someone collects old Col Pepper in his wheelchair.

On Sunday, there will be church-warden duties and a mammoth coronation quiche to assemble, but—and they haven’t broken this to the village yet—they’ll be high-tailing it to Windsor Castle before the washing-up commences. They’re trying desperately not to be smug about getting lucky in the ballot for tickets to the Coronation Concert, but Sylvia has made up for it by washing and ironing all the tea towels so the system doesn’t fall apart without them.

The collector Mildred has to admit that her cleaner, Mrs Broom, has a point: dusting is becoming tricky, not to mention downright perilous—she’s just noticed that one of the china corgis has lost an ear, dust has accumulated around the Buckingham Palace jigsaw she’s stuck on and there’s a cobweb across the George V coronation mug. She never meant for all this stuff to spread beyond the dining room, but things keep on happening—weddings, funerals, jubilees and coronations—and the souvenirs are irresistible. She can barely fit on the sofa for all the crown-embroidered velvet cushions, the fridge door-handle is almost covered by magnets and lord knows when she’ll use the coronation placemats she’s got on order.

Unsurprisingly, she’s on first-name terms with the nice people at the Royal Collection Shop.

Margaret swears tea tastes nicer out of her ‘longest-reigning-monarch’ mug; the Windsor 200 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

The republican Steve isn’t exactly a republican—he’s got a lot of time for Charles and his environmental work—but he can’t stand the earnest talking heads, the painful dragging out of everything and he doesn’t give two hoots about who is and isn’t on the balcony. He doesn’t do Christmas, office birthdays, street parties or elections either, has no idea what Spare is about and has managed to be walking in the Alps for the last two royal weddings and his nephew’s christening. He’s booked himself into a Landmark Trust cottage up a stony track in Snowdonia—no internet or television, no neighbours and, please, no awful bunting— and is not expecting to see any other life apart from sheep and buzzards. He has packed binoculars, Ordnance Survey maps, a secondhand copy of I Bought a Mountain, a cooked ham, giant fruitcake and a case of beer, because, no doubt, pubs are to be avoided too, even in Snowdonia. When he gets home, it will be to 206 unread messages from the neighbours’ coronation WhatsApp group.

Castle shortbread-biscuit tin is terribly useful for loose change and rubber bands and she’s never going to part with the 1953 tea caddy, but she must remember not to answer the door wearing her tiara or the neighbours will laugh.

The Badminton regular Victoria couldn’t believe they could schedule the Coronation on Badminton Horse Trials weekend—surely Camilla realised and what on earth did Anne say?—but, now she’s got her head around it, it should be rather jolly.

She’s been coming to Badminton ever since a trip on the Pony Club bus in 1962, when her idol Anneli Drummond-Hay won on Merelya-Monarch, and the event is now her annual holiday; she books a caravan so she can bring her Jack Russell, Albert, who knows the form and goes rabbiting when no one’s looking. She’s decorated her shooting stick with bunting and has packed a flag, a Union Jack tea towel, smoked salmon and a bottle of English fizz.

She won’t miss a single dressage test because the organisers are cleverly starting early on the big day, so she and Albert will settle down to have their picnic in front of the big screen and watch the ceremony.

And it gets her out of washing up after tea in the community hall at home—by the time they’re doing that, she and Albert will be walking the cross-country course.

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The King and I George VI’s coronation was lavish, with sparkling diamond coronets, clergy wrapped in spectacular copes, foreign notables in pearl-encrusted caps and the young King and Queen in their gleaming crowns, as Dorothy Maltby’s record reveals

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to be in the second gallery, with a perfect view of the centre of the Abbey, where there was a raised dais covered with cloth of gold, with two scarlet thrones in the middle.

‘The Abbey’s dark marble pillars and the light grey stone were set off by the very fine blue and gold brocade with which the temporary galleries were hidden. The gold carpet on the floor was a pale yellow, and the scarlet of the thrones and uniforms and peers’ robes glowed and shone. We sat on little stools with blue velvet seats and blue velvet bars along the rows made backs to lean against.

We never left our seats for the full nine hours, as we were fascinated by everything that went on ‘We never left our seats for the full nine hours, as we were fascinated by everything that went on. In our block were Mr and Mrs Winston Churchill, the latter very lovely, but getting to look old; Lady Diana Duff-Cooper, rather in the same category; and Major and Mrs Gwilym Lloyd George, the latter one of the loveliest women I have ever seen.

‘We got an exceptionally good view of the arrivals and there wasn’t a dull moment.

Some of the peers and peeresses managed their difficult robes as if they lived in them, others were evidently most embarrassed and bundled them up as if they were carrying the washing. The coronets were sometimes carried in the hand, sometimes dangled by four white ribbons, like baskets.

‘The Abbey doors were shut at 8.30am and the procession of the clergy and choir went down with the regalia from the high altar to the annexe. The little children of the Chapel Royal wore red and gold coats, rather like heralds; the choirboys had scarlet cassocks

Alamy; Getty; Sydney Wells/Wells archive

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OMPARED with the pared-down coronation expected on May 6, George VI’s in 1937 looked like a grand, if monochrome, affair in the newsreels. However, artist Dorothy Maltby—wife of Bedford MP Sir Richard Wells—experienced it in full, blazing colour from her seat in Westminster Abbey and chronicled it all in a newsletter that she typed for her children, as kindly given to us by her grandson, Mike Wells. Here’s an extract from her engagingly detailed report: ‘Mary, the housekeeper, called us at five o’clock and we had breakfast at six. I managed to dress my own hair—Dick gave me a sweet little “pearl” tiara, the feathers and veil were set in a comb, and, with two hairpins, I was quite secure all day. I wore the blue lace dress I was presented in five years ago and, as things turned out, I’m thankful I didn’t get a new frock. With a white fur tippet and long white gloves, I was quite snug and warm all day.

‘We had fun the night before preparing supplies; no cases or parcels were allowed in the Abbey; neither were opera glasses to be used. So Mary made up tiny packets of sandwiches in envelopes; I had Horlicks tablets and plain chocolate drops and we all provided ourselves with little smelling salts.

All these had to go into my silver evening bag, which consequently bulged.

‘We alighted at Poets’ Corner and there was no crush at that hour. We were lucky

and white surplices. The clergy had gorgeous copes, mostly white and gold, but four of them had green and gold ones, which were a great touch among all the white, red and gold.

‘At 9 o’clock, the various processions began with a fanfare of trumpets; two heralds appeared, then the gentleman ushers, followed by the Carisbrookes, Milford Havens, Lord and Lady Maud Carnegie, and several less important members of the Royal family. Next came the procession of foreign Royalties and representatives

of foreign states, who were seated in the choir out of sight to our left. Various ushers and attendants of these notables filed past us—Indians in beautiful turbans, Arabs in white burnouses and, quite close to our left, a Nepalese in his pearlcovered cap, with a whole bird of paradise waving above.

He frequently took it off during the service; I imagine it weighed a great deal.

‘At 10.15am, there was another fanfare of trumpets, more heralds, then the Princess Royal with the

Above: Cardboard periscopes are hoisted aloft in a bid to catch a brief glimpse of the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret on the way to their father’s coronation on May 12, 1937. Left: A souvenir coronation button two little princesses on each side of her; they looked so tiny and very sweet. At 10.35, came Queen Mary and the Queen of Norway; Queen Mary looked quite splendid and so regal, with her lovely white hair surrounded by a coronet of diamonds. She had the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Ampthill and Dowager Lady Earlie in attendance, with a lot of pages to bear her train.

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Left: The account of Dorothy Wells, née Maltby, pictured with the first two of her nine children and dog, Sailor, paints a vivid picture of the pomp and ceremony of George VI’s coronation.

Below left: A souvenir pinback button.

Below right: The golden cover of a 1937 Daily Express Coronation Souvenir Book ‘At 11am, the greatest procession of all began; headed by the Abbey Beadle, who looked quite medieval in a white highnecked gown, bearing a huge cross. The clergy and prelates came first, including the Free Church representatives, who were dressed in long black gowns with Geneva bands and took their places in front of the peeresses opposite us. This was rather a beautiful effect—the rows of black made a foil for the shimmering white robes of the peeresses; in spite of their crimson trains, from the front, the general impression was of white, with here and there a flash of diamonds. Then came the crosses of York and Canterbury, with their respective Archbishops, and the Queen’s regalia borne by various nobles; next the Queen herself, looking so sweet and young, with her dark little head bare and her immense train carried by six beautiful girls all dressed like in white.

‘The King’s regalia made a procession in itself, with the nobles and bishops and their pages, heralds and attendants. Last came the King, wearing a velvet cap of state, with the bishops on either side and his train borne by nine scarlet and whiterobed pages.

‘From where we sat, we couldn’t see the Coronation chair, but the whole thing was very well relayed. The Archbishop of Canterbury came down to the theatre and stood at each corner, with the words: “Sirs, you see before you 206 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

your undoubted King, George.” After which the shout of “Long live King George”, led by the Westminster schoolboys, echoed up in the Abbey—very thrilling. The King took the oath and his voice hardly faltered at all. When the moment of the crowning came, all the peers put on their coronets; we had the Viscounts below us and saw that very well.

The King and Queen looked so young, and one felt what a mighty burden had been laid on those two ‘Lord Hailsham, the Lord Chancellor, was standing below us in the theatre, and we were much amused at his efforts; he wore a huge grey wig and had an outsize coronet, and had some difficulty with his heavy robes in getting his arms up to his head; the coronet on top of the wig was very like a birthday cake.

‘The King was led down to the theatre below us and enthroned.

Then came the Homage. First, the Archbishop ascended the steps and made his vows, kissed the King’s left cheek and touched his crown; then came the Royal dukes and each senior of the orders of nobility. When each was paying his homage, all the rest of the

nobles of that order took off their coronets and knelt down where they were. We saw all the Viscounts below us paying their homage en masse. At the end, there was a roll of drums, the trumpets blew, and we all shouted “God Save King George”.

‘The Queen’s ceremony was shorter. We admired her four Duchesses, who had to carry the golden canopy—a real feat, as they walked up bearing the poles of the canopy and trailing their long velvet trains behind them. This cannot have been easy to do with grace, but they managed it perfectly. When the Queen was crowned, all the peeresses opposite us raised their white gloved arms and put on their coronets; some of them

seemed to have no trouble, but others were struggling for some seconds to adjust the queer, top-heavy little things.

‘The Queen came down from the altar and made a beautiful obeisance to the King on his throne before ascending her own; the six girls managed her train so well and the little Queen sat on her throne with a sceptre in either hand, looking very dignified and solemn. The King and Queen’s crowns looked almost black compared with the bright red of the peers’ coronets. Once I caught such a gleam from the King’s crown, it looked like first a red light, then a green and then orange burning on his head. The Queen sat very still, and her diamond crown glittered faintly.

‘The King and Queen looked so young, and one felt what a mighty burden had been laid on those two.

As the King walked down the nave, we all sang “God Save the King” and I feel sure many eyes had tears in them, like mine. Queen Mary walked away with the two little princesses on either side, wearing their little gold coronets and looking very sweet.

We were sitting next to a Labour MP and his wife, and we agreed—the wife and I—how impossible it would have been to have had Mrs Simpson in that great ceremony.

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‘After the ceremonial was over, we had to wait in our seats. One little lady was munching away the whole time! I suspected chewing gum, until we saw her produce an enormous white satin bag, out of which came packets of sandwiches and even a flask. We were more discreet and only sucked an occasional

Above: The Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, acknowledging the crowds after the coronation of George VI. Below: Coronation Bells March sheet music Horlicks tablet or chocolate drop. At last, we went down the stairs to the covered entrance; that was the worst part of the day, as there was a terrible muddle about the cars and it was pouring with rain.

We were jammed up like sardines— I had a little Japanese lady by me, and we grinned at each other cheerfully.

One bad old lady lit a cigarette, which I thought was positively dangerous, with all our tulle veils and feathers so squashed up. Another poor little lady was almost weeping as she told us her husband’s uniform would be quite ruined, as he was in the procession.

This was when I congratulated myself on not having got an expensive new dress, although I stood most of the time with my silver shoes in a puddle, as the wet had soaked through the carpet.

‘We got back to The Boltons and had a welcome tea, rested and I confess I went fast to sleep. After dinner that evening, we listened to the Coronation broadcast and so ended a day we shall none of us forget. I do not think there can ever have been a Coronation which went off so perfectly.’

Britain’s greatest masterpieces

The Gold State Coach

by William Chambers, Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Joseph Wilton and Samuel Butler

Golden grandeur met modern technology when the Queen appeared in hologram form for the Platinum Jubilee procession of 2022

F

EW objects reflective of the fairy-tale allure and pageantry of the monarchy exert a greater visual impact at ground level than the Gold State Coach. Some of the most evocative images of Elizabeth II’s reign include those of her being transported in this extravagantly gilded confection through London’s streets as onlookers cheered.

Wheeled out for major ceremonial and state occasions, this remarkable and, by all accounts, remarkably uncomfortable conveyance was first used in 1762, when George III was driven in it to attend the State Opening of Parliament. People were so eager to see what it looked like, reported the Daily Advertiser, that ‘several rooms in and near Parliament Street, are taken, at Two Guineas each, by Gentlemen and Ladies, to see His Majesty pass to the House in his new State Coach, which is thought to be the finest that 210 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

The glittering new carriage is unlikely to have disappointed the crowds of onlookers in 1762 was ever built’. Journalistic hyperbole aside, the glittering new carriage is unlikely to have disappointed the crowds of onlookers gathered by the roadsides.

It had been ordered by the young King soon after he succeeded his grandfather George II to the throne in 1760. By that time, the existing Baroque-styled State Coach, built for Queen Anne and subsequently used by both George I and George II, was looking

distinctly passé and was something of an embarrassment in comparison with the grand new coach of the Lord Mayor of London.

Although several designs were received, the project was handed to William Chambers, a rising star in royal circles at this time. He had been George’s tutor in architecture, when the latter was still the Prince of Wales, and had designed the follies for the gardens at Kew Palace for the Dowager Princess Augusta (Masterpiece, January 18).

According to Chambers’s biographer John Harris (Sir William Chambers: Knight of the Polar Star, 1970), the full extent of the architect’s involvement in the design of the State Coach is not known. However, the most finished version among the sketches of it to have survived was signed in 1760 by Chambers and Giovanni Battista Cipriani, the Florentine painter, draughtsman and

Gilt-edged facts

The Gold State Coach, first used in 1762, is the third-oldest surviving coach in Britain, behind the Speaker’s State Coach (below, 1698) and the Lord Mayor of London’s Coach (1758) It was such an unseasonably wet and cold day for the Coronation of Elizabeth ll on June 2, 1953, that Royal Mews staff reportedly strapped a hot-water bottle under the seat for the young Queen Made of giltwood (a thin layer of gold leaf over wood), it is only for the use of the Sovereign, although it has been used in pageants without passengers

Weighing four tons, the coach is drawn by eight horses, traditionally Windsor Greys, with postilions riding the near-side animals, and never travels above walking pace

designer who, as a friend of the architect, had been domiciled in England since 1755.

The sculptor Joseph Wilton, another of Chambers’s closest associates, was asked to create a wax model of this drawing, and given responsibility for the carvings. Somewhat awkwardly, the task of building the carriage fell to Samuel Butler, the royal coachmaker, who had already been involved with a rejected proposal submitted by his nephew, the Mayfair cabinetmaker John Linnell.

Getty; Alamy

The decorations emphatically declare the glories of the British monarchy The State Coach’s decorations emphatically declare the glories of the British monarchy.

Two tritons above the front wheels appear to be blowing conch shells to announce the arrival of the sovereign. Alongside eight gilded palm trees framing doors and windows, the cab ornamentation includes a symbol of

The State Barge

Designed in 1731 by William Kent, and built by John Hall, for Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–51), the (now retired) Royal Barge is probably the only other means of royal transportation to rival the Gold Coach in its extravagant ornamentation. ‘From the ornamental rudder to the forward flagpole, the barge is nothing less than a riot of crisp woodcarving,’ wrote Geoffrey Beard in William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain.

The green-roofed cabin is extravagantly gilded inside and out, carved with festoons and floral and other motifs. Rowed by 21

oarsmen, the barge’s official launch was from the south bank of the Thames opposite Whitehall in July 1732, but, although primarily for pleasure and ceremonial purposes, it was also used to transport furniture between the Prince’s residences.

It continued in royal use into the 19th century: William IV and Queen Adelaide travelled in it to Greenwich and Victoria and Prince Albert used it to visit the newly opened Thames Tunnel in 1843.

The barge was taken out of service in 1849 and now resides at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, SE10.

the union of England, Scotland and Ireland on the roof in the form of three cherubs bearing the Imperial crown. Cipriani’s seven painted panels include one at the front depicting an enthroned Britannia on the banks of the Thames being presented with laurels

by Victory, with Religion, Justice, Valour, Fortitude, Commerce and Plenty in attendance.

The interior is lined with velvet and satin.

Housed in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, the carriage’s immense weight has limited its suitability for anything other than the grandest of occasions. Yet, although it has been used at every coronation from George IV onwards, it has not been popular with its occupants. William IV, ‘the Sailor King’, likened it to a boat ride in rough seas.

Victoria found it so uncomfortable she eventually refused to use it. George VI described his journey in it to his coronation as one of the most uncomfortable he’d ever had, a sentiment shared by Elizabeth II after hers. No doubt Charles III will be well prepared.

Jack Watkins

Smiling, despite the uncomfortable ride: the Queen at her Golden Jubilee in 2002

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If the ceremonial hat fits Known as ‘Jane the Hat’, milliner Jane Smith has been dressing some of our most famous actors’ heads since the late 1960s and her creations are about to take centre stage at the coronation, finds Simon Fenwick Photographs by Richard Cannon

Preceding pages and above left: Jane Smith at work amid the tools and tales of her trade. Above right: Bringing Harry Potter to life

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EREMONY and pageantry are things at which Britain excels— as if they were a part of the constitution or a natural instinct that runs in the nation’s blood. A film of the late Queen’s 1953 coronation shows various members of the Royal Household wearing regalia that represent their status in the hierarchy of uniformed attendants. It is hoped that the coronation of Charles III, almost exactly 70 years after that of his mother, will be similar to its predecessor.

Bicorns—the ceremonial hats worn by army and naval officers from the late 18th century onwards—will be worn on the day by the Garter King of Arms and the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl Marshal of England. Most of them will have started life in a Victorian terraced house in Battersea, the base of Jane Smith —the nation’s bicorn-maker-in-chief.

The door-knocker to Ms Smith’s south London home is a ship in full sail. She says it represents Sailing By, the theme music for the shipping forecast, a reminder that she is often still at work when the BBC is winding down for the night. A door from the hallway opens into the studio, which is a curiosity shop full both of intriguing instruments of the hatter’s trade and of trinkets and treasures salvaged from sets when the final curtain has fallen—topper blocks; hat stretchers for both ladies and gentlemen; a string of straw hats given to her by a friend; a basket of painted silk flowers; the plaster capital of a Corinthian column 216 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

(rescued from a Royal Opera House stage set); portraits of Henry VIII’s six wives (which once formed a Madame Tussaud’s tableau) and a straw hat commissioned by Playboy magazine. There are also 19thcentury bicorns on display, which, together with swords, date from when they were worn by courtiers. Looking at her surroundings, it seems fitting that Ms Smith has crafted hats for both the ‘Harry Potter’

films and Game of Thrones—re-creating strangely magical fantasies of times gone by.

‘Jane the Hat’, as she is known in the profession, has been working with costume designers for theatre and film since 1968.

She was born in a cottage in St Ives,

Left and right: Seasonal takes on the top hat, for an Edinburgh fashion show

Cornwall, during the Second World War. Her mother was a midwife, her father, Gregory Baird Smith—a wartime conscientious objector—was a production manager in the film industry and changed his daughter’s life when he suggested that she apply for a job with the period costumier L&H Nathan in Drury Lane. She started in the stockroom —sorting petticoats and pairing up boots when they came back from West End shows or film sets. One day, in an emergency, she was asked to make a simple Tudor hat for the double of the Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, who was playing Anne Boleyn in the 1969 film Anne of a Thousand Days. After that, her career quickly took off.

In an emergency, she was asked to make a simple Tudor hat and her career quickly took off

The Queen Consort wearing the garter bonnet Ms Smith made for the ceremony in 2022

Ms Smith now divides her time between creating hats for the performing arts and making formal headwear to accompany legal and civil robes, as well as mortar boards for university chancellors. She made a garter bonnet for The Queen Consort, too, when she became a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter.

A bicorn, she explains, takes three days to make or four with plumes. Her most recent pieces have been for the new Governor of the Falkland Islands, the first woman to hold the post, and for the Earl Marshal, a hat that was worn at the state funeral of Elizabeth II and will be worn again at the coronation.

Nevertheless, it’s her film work that we are most likely to have seen—she dressed the heads of Dame Judi Dench in Victoria

As mad as a hatter

A lotus hat, as worn by the rowers in The King and I

A dog mask made for The Wolfman

The terms hatter and milliner are not synonymous. Hatters were responsible for making the body of the hat, until, during the Renaissance, silk was plaited together to make trimmings in Milan— hence ‘milliner’ (velvet also began to be widely used during this time). Both hat girls and hatters would occupy the same premises and often in the same Dickensian conditions, the girls in a garret on the upper floor and the men downstairs. Hat-making frequently used felt products, which might be treated with poisonous mercury and caused insanity, hence ‘mad as a hatter’.

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A conquering hat

Keira Knightley sports wild 18th-century excess with a fox-tail hat in The Duchess

The bicorn became fashionable in the 1750s and was consequently illustrated and ridiculed by the cartoonists of the day for being the absurdly impractical hat it undoubtedly is. The hat had evolved from the tricorn (right), which had been worn for more than two centuries by both men and women, rich and poor. The tricorn (which is still worn for ceremonial occasions by the Lord Mayor of London) was a cocked hat with three corners. When the front of the brim was pushed up against the crown, the hat became the two-cornered bicorn, part of the first uniform ordered by George III for his fast-growing British Navy.

It was fashionable from the start in Europe and soon adopted by the French army—most famously by Napoleon, whose image was painted and promoted wherever he went. Although officers wore the hat with cockades and edged with gold, when it rained, the folds of the bicorn acted like gutters and poured water down the back of the neck. This made the headgear so unpopular with French soldiers that they adopted the kepi instead.

As the hat evolved, it was worn both fore and aft and in different ways. In the British Empire, it was framed with long ostrich feathers; in Austria-Hungary, vulture feathers were preferred. The headgear of choice for highly fashionable statesmen of the day, the bicorn was ideal for making its owner look important—the Duke of Wellington became as well known for his hat as for his boots. It remained part of the full-dress uniforms of the Army and Navy of many countries and was a high-fashion item for men until the early 19th century, when it was superseded by the glossy, plush-covered top hat. Yet, the bicorn is still worn as part of the Court dress of the House of Lords, governors and ambassadors representing the British overseas and various guilds and ancient orders, such as the Watermen, who still monitor the use of the Thames.

In America, the religious and fraternal order of the Knights of Columbus wear bicorns, as do, among others, graduating students at French naval colleges.

Dame Judi Dench in Victoria and Abdul

218 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

For Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, fitting Margaret Thatcher’s hats was worth the effort

straw hats. Yet, perhaps the greatest thrill was working on the latest Disney ‘Pinocchio’ with Tom Hanks at Pinewood Studios. Mr Hanks was playing Geppetto, which required him to wear a charming, but rough-ish wool felt, soft green hat, devised by the leading costume designer, Joanna Johnston. Ms Smith

had to make several identical copies of the hat, as, in one scene, the character is heavily rained on when wearing one. Mr Hanks, who had his hair cut short, because he would be wearing a grey wig for the part, loved his headgear. Swivelling around on his chair, he declared: ‘This is it!’

Alamy; Getty

and Abdul; Carey Mulligan in Far from the Madding Crowd and Kate Winslet in Ammonite. Of the many stars she has made hats for, Ms Smith was especially impressed by Meryl Streep, who played Mrs Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She recalls Mrs Streep being very friendly when they met, calling out: ‘Where do you want me?’ There were problems fitting her hat and wig and, despite a long day of filming and the fact she was still wearing prosthetics, Mrs Streep was prepared to sit up ‘until the early hours of the morning’ as Ms Smith and hair stylist J. Roy Helland fixed everything in place with pins.

The milliner also enjoyed working with the actress Keira Knightley, when she was filming The Duchess, in which the magnificent 18th-century replica costumes designed

by Michael O’Connor called for huge hats that teetered atop the towering wigs of the period. Ms Smith created a fox-tail hat for Miss Knightley and, later, two flower-decorated

Time for change Known for his striking bronzes, sculptor Martin Jennings is the man behind the image on The King’s new coins. He tells Timothy Mowl how he captures the essence of his subjects and why this Royal Mint commission is so special Photographs by Mark Williamson 220 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

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RAVELLERS hurrying for trains across the upper concourse of London’s St Pancras Station cannot fail to catch sight of the bronze statue of Sir John Betjeman. It is an intensely humane, sensitive portrait of the nation’s favourite poet. He wears a shabby overcoat, his waistcoat bulges a little due to an incipient paunch and he carries a shopping bag. With a hand on his crumpled trilby, he looks up to the cast-iron Victorian roof, which, as an ardent conservationist, he had campaigned to save from demolition. It is as if he has just taken a breath in wonderment at the beauty of it all.

This conscious lifting into the air of the weight of a sculpture is a particular artistic

as if confronting head on some of the personal resistance she had constantly to battle’.

We met recently at his favourite café by his workshop, which is housed in a former schoolhouse at Chalford, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. The move to this semiindustrial Cotswold valley has been felicitous, in that Mr Jennings now has huge spaces to accommodate big commissions and the studio is next door to the Pangolin Editions foundry that casts his sculptures. Over hearty soup and toasted sandwiches, Mr Jennings conveyed his passion for sculpture: ‘I love it when something breaks out of its early structural stage and begins to take on a life of its own.’

A vital part of this process is concentrated research. ‘You have to embed yourself in the life of your subject and choose a pose that best expresses their essential self’.

One of his latest commissions is for a bronze of John Keats to be sited in Moorgate, London EC2, close to the poet’s birthplace. For this, Mr Jennings has decided against an idealised realisation and has taken instead the poet’s life mask for his model. The finished sculpture will be twice life size and set on a slender plinth. He has been reading the poet’s Odes to get a feel of the man and to choose an appropriate inscription; most of his sculptures are enhanced with quotations from their subjects’ works. The lines from his Ode on Indolence will convey Keats’s tenet that poetry is founded in a state of being halfway between wakefulness and sleep.

Mr Jennings is, without question, the most gifted figurative sculptor of his generation.

He came to sculpture in the 1980s after attending a course at the Sir John Cass School of Art in Whitechapel. Commissioned by many national institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, the University of Oxford and the National Memorial Arboretum, he won

signature of Martin Jennings, who fashioned the statue. It gives a seemingly inert artwork that dynamic sense of animation, of movement. At Broadcasting House, Mr Jennings’s George Orwell wags his roll-up cigarette at the passer-by from his plinth-soapbox —‘Big Brother is Watching You!’— and his Philip Larkin, gabardine mac flapping, dashes from Hull’s Paragon Station to make his Whitsun train journey to King’s Cross. In his most striking sculpture to date, the Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole strides out at St Thomas’s Hospital, in the sculptor’s words, ‘marching defiantly onward into an oncoming wind,

the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association Marsh Award for his Women of Steel sculpture in Sheffield and for his George Orwell at the BBC, a bust taken from which is in the library at Eton College in Berkshire.

His latest artistic endeavour is in an entirely different field, that of numismatics, having been asked last year to design the effigy for Charles III’s new coinage. Kevin Clancy, secretary of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee and director of the Royal Mint Museum, remarks that it is ‘an amazing achievement to create such an accomplished portrait from a standing start’. Unlike most medal and coin designers, Mr Jennings had little experience of the art form, but he had previously entered a Royal Mint competition and was known to the director through Dr Clancy’s support of the Society of Portrait Sculptors, of which Mr Jennings is a member.

He had, therefore, been in the Royal Mint’s sights for some time and was a natural choice when it became clear that the Prince of Wales would soon ascend to the throne.

It will be seen and held by people around the world for centuries to come The commission was for a bare-headed portrait effigy of The King facing left, encircled by an inscription. Successive monarchs have traditionally alternated left-right, apart from Edward VIII, who wanted to show his best side on the coinage. Mr Jennings made preliminary drawings for a bas-relief sculpture, which was then modelled in ‘plastilene’, a soft, oil-based compound, which we know from our school days as plasticine, on an MDF disc, to produce a cream-coloured relief of the effigy. The size of the model is that of a large dinner plate, or as Mr Jennings puts it, ‘an outstretched hand that, when reduced for the coinage, becomes the size of a fingernail’.

The Royal Mint has moved from a complex analogue process for producing coins, which involved rubber moulds that were plated with nickel and backed up with copper, to a fully digitised system in which the artwork is photographed and three-dimensional computer packages are used to manipulate the image and align it with the surrounding inscription. The cutting machine is powered by lasers to produce a negative Far left: Sculptor Martin Jennings with The King’s coin in his studio near Stroud.

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Queen Mother’s true grit

Martin Jennings’s bronze bust of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (below) was commissioned by the Friends of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1998 to mark her approaching 100th birthday. The Queen Mother had been the patron of the group, which had grown out of the St Paul’s wartime Fire Watch, since 1952. One of the most memorable images of the Blitz in London is the 1944 Pathé newsreel of the Queen, as she then was, walking with her husband, George VI, through the charred and smoking ruins of the capital, mixing with bombed-out Londoners, giving ‘a smile of sympathy and a word of cheer’. Speaking at the time of the unveiling of the bust in the Cathedral, Mr Jennings said that the Queen Mother ‘is often represented in a slightly saccharine way, but this does not reflect the grit in her personality’. The bronze, which Mr Jennings feels ‘displays her resolute good humour’, was created after a series of sittings she gave him at Clarence House.

die, from which the coins are minted. Mr Jennings was particularly concerned that the effigy should integrate seamlessly with the inscription. He worked with the Royal Mint’s in-house designers to lay out inscriptions for all the denominations, using a robust font and ensuring stylistic coherence throughout—the sculptor stresses that the entire venture has been one of artistic collaboration with the Mint’s design team and its ‘remarkable fabrication process’.

Mr Jennings crafted the effigy from photographs and it was then sent to The King for his approval after the death of the Queen.

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happy with the image. Indeed, the design has been used for the new stamps of the realm.

There is a further link between Mr Jennings, Betjeman and the national coinage. The poet was a member of the Mint’s Advisory Committee on the Design of Coins, Medals, Seals and Decorations. This is a Government body of advisers, which was chaired by the late Duke of Edinburgh during Betjeman’s tenure.

When Arnold Machin was chosen in 1964 to design the new decimalisation coinage, which was eventually introduced in 1968, Betjeman, in a typically arch aside, told Machin that his effigy of Elizabeth II ‘made her look a bit sexy’. This humanising of the symbol of monarchy is something that Humphrey Paget

achieved with his effigy for Edward VIII, coins of which were never in general circulation, and his relief design for George VI. Mr Jennings had Paget’s effigies very much in mind when he designed his relief for Charles III, aiming to give warmth to the portrait, making The King more human and accessible. Taking Paget as his inspiration also seemed appropriate in that his effigy of Charles III relates back to The King’s grandfather and, as such, displays distinct family likeness.

The coin effigy is the smallest work of art that Mr Jennings has created and he feels awed to know ‘that it will be seen and held by people around the world for centuries to come’.

Martin Jennings; Norman McBeath

Mr Jennings working on his statue of George Orwell, now at BBC Broadcasting House

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Let the power of the music carry you Music has, for centuries, been key to the tone of a coronation. Charles III’s will be no exception, says Andrew Green, and will reflect the changes in British culture over the past seven decades

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NE of Elizabeth II’s maids of honour, Lady Willoughby de Eresby, in later years reflected on how, during the long coronation ceremony in 1953, ‘the power of music carried you through’. Matthias Range, author of the definitive study of this dimension to British coronations, agrees: ‘In the best examples, like 1953, the quality and variety of the music has underlined the significance of what’s going on at any one moment in the service, emphasising the structure of the occasion.’

Music will surely ‘carry us through’ on May 6.

Our new King, who takes his music seriously, has personally shaped this dimension to the coronation, as have musical monarchs before him: at a rehearsal for the preposterously lavish 1821 coronation, the sharp-eared George IV insisted the balance of choral and orchestral forces be radically and rapidly revised.

In 2023, we can look forward to groundbreaking soundscapes that reflect changes in the character of British society and culture over 70 years. Diversity and inclusivity are watchwords, observable in the introduction of girl choristers and a gospel choir, plus a Welsh royal harpist, Alis Huws. Alongside classic repertoire by Byrd and Handel will be new items from, among others, Judith The most lavish of all: The Coronation of George IV at the Time of the Recognition

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Weir (Master of the King’s Music) and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose anthem will hopefully be a show-stopper. ‘Being true to tradition means not only tapping into the great inheritance of repertoire from the past, but ensuring the tradition of embracing change, which has always typified coronation music, is kept alive,’ observes Martin Neary, former Westminster Abbey Organist and Master of the Choristers.

‘The music for each occasion has always been thought out afresh,’ Dr Range agrees.

Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Parry’s magnificent I was glad are rare examples of commissions that have gained a foothold across multiple coronations, although a clear constant has been the all but exclusive showcase given to British composers (German-born Handel gained citizenship here in 1727). This bias towards native talent is natural enough, says conductor Paul McCreesh. ‘It would have been somewhat perverse,’ he suggests, ‘to invite nonBritish composers to provide music for a coronation rite unlike any European equivalent.’

Charles III’s service breaks with tradition and returns to it Occasionally, music from abroad has crept in: an adaptation of Wagner’s Kaisermarsch in 1902 for Edward VII, for example, or, notes Mr McCreesh, ‘the inclusion of music by the likes of Saint-Saëns, Mussorgsky and Brahms in the 1937 pre-service orchestral music that greeted the arrival of foreign dignitaries [for George VI].’ But the exceptions prove the rule.

The roll call of British coronation composers includes celebrated figures Purcell, Elgar and Vaughan Williams, plus Jeremiah Clarke, William Boyce and Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Less well-known examples include

The King’s top 12

The 12 composers chosen to contribute to the coronation Patrick Doyle (Coronation March) Prolific, Oscar-nominated composer of film scores, including Henry V, Gosford Park and Death on the Nile Andrew Lloyd Webber (right, Coronation Anthem) The creator of Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat needs no introduction Iain Farrington (organ solo) Pianist and organist, who wrote

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Debbie Wiseman, composer in residence at Classic FM, is much loved by listeners

William Knyvett, Francis Pigott and James Kent. Another constant is that time-honoured coronation texts were the basis for their music. There were Zadoks before Handel’s, several settings of I was glad before Parry’s; a string of composers has tackled the words of Confortare (‘Be strong and of a good courage’) from the Book of Joshua.

Charles III’s service both breaks with tradition and returns to it. The restriction on numbers means no room for the hundreds-strong bodies of singers and orchestral players that

A Party with Auntie for the Last Night of the Proms in 2022 Sarah Class Emmy-award-winning creator of scores for multiple naturalhistory films, including Sir David Attenborough’s programmes, and Rhythm of the Earth, commissioned by The King for COP26 Nigel Hess A great-nephew of Myra Hess, former RSC house composer; numerous television scores include New Tricks, Wycliffe and Just William

have typified a good few coronations. No need this time for specially constructed galleries —Sir Christopher Wren was charged with running them up in 1702, for Queen Anne. The presence of only two choirs with boy choristers —Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal — means a revisitation of historical precedents. British women (in virginal white) sang in 1838 for Victoria, but not in 1953, when native noses were reportedly put out of joint by the select band of female professional singers from ‘the Dominions’ invited to sing.

Paul Mealor Prolific choral composer, who wrote Ubi Caritas et Amor for Prince William’s wedding in 2011

Shirley J. Thompson Influential campaigning composer of Jamaican descent, who wrote Psalm to Windrush

Tarik O’Regan London-born composer based in San Francisco, California, US, whose work spans Renaissance to Minimalist

Judith Weir The Master of the King’s Music Roderick Williams Charismatic baritone, who will be both singing and composing

Roxanna Panufnik Creator of multiple works, including the Westminster Mass for Cardinal Hume’s 75th birthday

Debbie Wiseman Classic FM’s composer in residence, voted most popular living composer; scored Wolf Hall Notable performers include bass Bryn Terfel and conductors Sir Antonio Pappano and Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Zadok is hard to beat

Left: Prof Shirley J. Thompson with her OBE. Right: Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music Historians are doubtless pondering how they will describe 2023 as a product of its time.

One clear ‘tradition’ is that coronation music has often played a part in underpinning change, especially of a political and/or dynastic nature. Consider the 17th-century sequential discontinuities of the Restoration in 1660 (with Charles II’s reinstatement of the Church of England); the accession of the unflinchingly Catholic James II in 1685; then the hand-brake turn of Protestants William and Mary coming to the throne after the 1688 Glorious Revolution, which established the notion of constitutional monarchy. The tricky matter of the Hanoverian succession wasn’t far over the horizon. In all cases, musical splendour was a crucial affirmatory ingredient.

The music for James II’s coronation, some of the most sumptuous ever programmed, is a colourful example of a personal agenda. ‘As a devout Catholic in a country where the established church was Protestant Anglican, James knew his position was weak,’ Dr Range explains. ‘He clearly set out to use his coronation to impress, not least through music.’ James began the (continuing) tradition of boys from Westminster School bellowing acclamatory ‘Vivats’, a rent-a-crowd measure to ensure an approximation of public approval for his enthronement. It has been suggested that the sheer brilliance of the 1685 anthems My heart is inditing (Purcell) and I was glad (possibly a Purcell/John Blow collaboration) represented an attempt to safeguard the

place of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey as Protestant musical institutions.

At the other end of the scale was the reluctance in 1831 of William IV to countenance any pomp at all. He finally agreed to a pared-down affair. The ‘sailor king’, who apparently engaged in a silent protest by wearing naval uniform under his robes, was surely delighted that Thomas Attwood’s anthem O Lord, grant the King a long life included reference to Thomas Arne’s briny Rule, Britannia.

Commentators have traced echoes of the Imperial mindset for the coronations in 1902, 1911 (George V) and 1937. Dr Range notes: ‘In 1937, some of the music had a conspicuously martial tone, perhaps in reaction to the pomp of the Fascist European dictatorships.’ These three coronations, culminating in the lavish musical mix for 1953, progressively benefited from the dramatic flowering at last of British composing talent: Parry, Stanford, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Howells, Bax and Walton.

That 1953 music helped encourage the popular notion of a bright, optimistic second Elizabethan Age to lighten the drabness of post-war Britain. Television made it a ‘democratic’ coronation like none before, a concept also suggested by congregational singing (beyond the National Anthem) for the first time, with Vaughan Williams’s grand setting of All people that on earth do dwell.

‘Is there another country in the world that could boast such variety and inspiration for these great occasions?’ asks Mr Neary. And Mr

Handel’s Zadok the Priest has featured at all coronations since its debut at George II’s ceremony in 1727. The text, from the First Book of Kings, describes the anointing of King Solomon by the priest and ‘Nathan the Prophet’. Given the repetition of ‘God Save the King’, this was the title popularly given to the anthem in its early days. When William Boyce was commissioned to write a new ‘Zadok’ for George III, he declined, saying the text ‘…cannot be more properly set than it has already been by Mr Handel’.

When Hubert Parry was commissioned to write a new I was glad for Edward VII, consternation ensued.

Why would Thomas Attwood’s muchloved 1821 setting for George IV not be used? Parry went to great lengths to structure his new anthem to reflect the stages of the entrance of the King in procession. However, although it made a deep impression, the man in charge of the music, Sir Frederick Bridge, almost caused chaos by seriously mis-timing the delivery of Parry’s bold ‘Vivats’, scored for the King’s Scholars from Westminster School.

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Choral composer Prof Paul Mealor on song

McCreesh argues that, especially in the course of that 20th-century renaissance of British music: ‘Composers have been so good at combining the ceremonial, liturgical and musical dimensions for coronations. Parry’s I was glad is a particularly brilliant synthesis.’

Charles III and his performers will doubtless be delighted with a verdict that says the music was an ideal blend of tradition and adventure.

We might also conclude that, given the tenor of our times, it helped to cheer us all up.

Alamy; Getty; Katherine Johnson; Justin Sutcliffe

Is there another country in the world that could boast such variety and inspiration for great occasions?

The King’s gardens Alan Titchmarsh considers the new monarch’s extraordinary contribution to British gardening, which is always underpinned by organic methods and a strong belief in husbandry and stewardship

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VER the past century, our Kings and Queens have made their own mark on British gardens and gardening. Queen Mary, consort of George V, took great delight in pulling ivy away from tree trunks when she stayed at Badminton House in Gloucestershire during the Second World War. George VI was keen on rhododendrons, working with Sir Eric Savill to develop the Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe to design a series of garden rooms at Sandringham in Norfolk. His widow, Queen Elizabeth, created her own sanctuary, after the King’s death, at the Castle of Mey in Caithness and closer to home at Royal Lodge in the Great Park, where she spent her weekends.

Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh left their own stamp on the gardens at Windsor Castle where, as Prince Philip informed me, he ‘redesigned the East Terrace, including the fountain in the middle’, and supervised the laying out of a ‘sitting-out garden’ beneath the terrace walls. At Balmoral, he ‘redesigned almost the entire garden, except for the formal rose beds directly west of the castle’.

All these endeavours contributed to the personal enjoyment of the sovereigns and their consorts, but they also emphasised The King below the steps at Birkhall, close to Balmoral. A royal favourite, the lively and productive garden was made by his grandmother Queen Elizabeth

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the importance of gardens and gardening, regardless of rank and stature. Gardening has always been a great leveller and, whether the participant lives in a castle with thousands of acres or in rented accommodation with a nearby allotment, growing plants to enrich our lives both mentally and physically and, in so doing, benefiting the natural world is undeniably life-enhancing.

A century on from Queen Mary’s active, yet rather limited participation, we find ourselves with a new monarch whose influence on gardens, horticulture, conservation, sustainability, organic growing, rural craftsmanship, art and design is far and away the most comprehensive contribution to British gardening by a sovereign that this country has ever experienced.

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It is a childhood garden and all I’ve done, really, is enhance it a bit Charles III is no mere figurehead. In his current role, his opinions might not be so freely expressed, but, as Prince of Wales, he left no one in any doubt as to his passion for the environment, the wider landscape and gardens in particular. He was not a figure given to making hollow pronouncements; instead, he became actively involved in encouraging sound horticultural practice—

I chaired one of several seminars he attended on plant health and have seen him in action at both local and national level, where, with The Prince’s Foundation and The Prince’s Countryside Fund, he makes a practical and positive contribution to the perception of horticulture in all areas of society.

This love of gardens and gardening is plain to see in the gardens he himself has created and the people whose guidance he has sought and whose skills he has championed. Never has the world of horticulture been so well represented by the Crown.

Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh are owned by the Crown.

Sandringham House and estate in Norfolk, Balmoral Castle and estate in Aberdeenshire

and the Castle of Mey in Caithness are the Sovereign’s residences, handed down from generation to generation. The King has added to these with Highgrove in Gloucestershire, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and rented

by The King, and Dumfries House in east Ayrshire, which owes its survival and development as a centre of horticultural excellence to The Prince’s Foundation.

Wherever he finds himself, The King’s involvement in the gardens and grounds of each of these properties is clear to see. New designs, new plantings and the involvement of skilled craftsmen and women are central to his life.

As it does for most of us, the garden offers him solace from a frantic world, a chance to feel at one with Nature and to ensure the health and continued sustainability of the landscape.

Highgrove, Gloucestershire The King acquired the 18th-century Highgrove House in 1980 and set about restoring it, together with the surrounding parkland and neglected walled garden, which is now a practical and ornamental kitchen garden.

It was here that he brought up his family and it remains for him a sanctuary within relatively easy reach of London. He took advice from Miriam Rothschild in creating a wildflower meadow—forerunner of the Coronation Meadows he famously championed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s coronation, in 2013. The late Mollie, Lady Salisbury and Sir Roy Strong also had a hand in the design of the 15 acres of gardens and Julian and Isabel Bannerman made an important contribution with their imaginative and

Camassias and tulips fill the Highgrove meadow, inspired by Miriam Rothschild

romantic garden structures crafted from timber and stone. Organic growing features in all The King’s gardens and estates—a belief in those old-fashioned tenets of ‘husbandry’ and ‘stewardship’ that seem so often to be neglected in today’s quick-fix world.

Birkhall, Aberdeenshire Situated close to Balmoral Castle, Birkhall has been used by The King since the death of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth. Given to their son Edward by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1852, that particular Prince of Wales visited it only once before opting for the more spacious accommodation of nearby April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 233

Above: The restoration of the garden at Dumfries House has been an extraordinary undertaking. Below: One of the many rustic follies commissioned by The King, this beguiling example in the Ayrshire garden was designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman.

Right: The path in the sheltered walled garden of the Castle of Mey with cosmos and marigolds (left) and candelabra primula (right) Abergeldie Castle. Birkhall remains the favoured residence of The King and Queen, in preference to Balmoral Castle itself, and, having visited the gardens there, I can see why.

‘It is,’ says The King, ‘such a special place, particularly because it was made by my grandmother. It is a childhood garden and all I’ve done, really, is enhance it a bit.’ The claim is modest, for this is a garden not preserved in aspic, but vibrant and lively, running down a south-facing slope from the house towards the foaming waters of the River Muick, a tributary of the Dee. Birkhall is 600ft above sea level and, more than once, the waters of the Muick have wreaked havoc with the lower part of the garden, washing away a bridge and carrying beds and borders with it. ‘The river is the magic,’ says The King, knowing that it can also prove its nemesis.

The overwhelming feeling at Birkhall is of seclusion—a garden embraced by woodland—but by no means dark and drear. Twin borders on either side of the central path that descends to the river were planted at the time of my visit in July with a brilliant mixture of annual clary—Salvia horminum—in shades of pink and purple. The Bell Garden, named for its overall shape, includes beds of fruit and vegetables, as well as flowers.

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sensitive areas with strategically placed netting. Red squirrels have been known to come into The King’s home and rifle jacket pockets for nuts in his study. It is easy to see why this Scottish garden means so much to him.

Dumfries House, Ayrshire Undoubtedly the then Prince of Wales’s most impressive horticultural creation, Dumfries

House—and its rare collection of Chippendale furniture—was rescued for the nation in 2007 for the princely sum of £45 million (£20 million of which came from The King’s own charitable trust). When I toured the house and its five-acre walled garden with him in 2011, it was derelict, nothing more than an overgrown wilderness. A battalion of local people followed us, no doubt as daunted as

I was by the sight of this overgrown and untamed jungle of brambles and couch grass.

As does the garden at Birkhall, the land here slopes steeply to the south, which makes working the ground doubly difficult. Yet, only three years later, in 2014, a glorious garden was opened by the Queen and both the garden and the estate have, in the nine years since then, become established as

a beacon of excellence, as well as a valued local employer. Administered by The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust, the estate not only hosts a drawing school and courses, offering all kinds of instruction in skills as varied as textiles, hospitality, health and wellbeing, the built environment and building arts, but also in horticulture— the vital knowledge of growing skills.

Greenhouses run along the walls at the top of the garden and, beyond its confines a large arboretum with a lake has been established. Seeing the joie de vivre of those taking part in nurturing Dumfries and learning from its many schools of knowledge is an uplifting and enriching experience for individuals, but also for the local economy and the surrounding landscape.

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The Castle of Mey, Caithness Beloved of his grandmother, the walled garden of the Castle of Mey is enjoyed by The King as a summer bolthole during August. Of all his gardens, it is the most remote and the one most exposed to the elements. Within its high walls of pinkish local stone grow beds of roses, fruit and vegetables, further protected by a network of hedges. From here, The King can see Orkney across the Pentland Firth, make an excursion to the now deserted island of Stroma and paint and relax in the most down to earth of all his gardens.

Sandringham House, Norfolk Already this year, The King has initiated the construction of a formal Topiary Garden on the west lawn at Sandringham. He recalls visiting the house as a child and encountering ‘the most wonderful topiary garden Queen Alexandra, my great-great-grandmother, had established at the old dairy building. I can still remember being taken as a child, being wheeled in my pram even, and it was so special, these clipped animal shapes, peacocks, birds. I’ve never forgotten it. I would say it had a profound influence on me’.

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More than 5,000 yews and 4,000 herbaceous perennials and bulbs will go into the new ‘climate and insect-friendly’ topiary garden.

It will add enormously to the landscape on the west side of the house, hitherto rather plain.

If anyone doubted The King’s professed belief in the power of Nature and his urging

of our need to cherish our landscape and hand it on in good heart to those who come after us, they need only take a look at his gardens. Their very existence and the way in which they are managed prove the sincerity of the man and underlines the fact that they are in the most capable of hands.

John Millar/Country Life Picture Library; Highgrove/Photography by Jason Ingram; Andrea Jones; Alamy; Sandringham Estate/Landform Consultants

Above: An illustration of the formal Topiary Garden, which The King commissioned this year for the west lawn at Sandringham, inspired by childhood memories of the example made for his great-great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra. Below: Sandringham from the lake

Send him victorious, happy and glorious From France’s rousing, fiercely Republican La Marseillaise to Switzerland’s bucolic ‘Psalm’ and the proud, stately God Save the King, national anthems are a rallying cry for us all, says Charles Harris

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USIC is powerful, for it can beguile, annoy or inspire. One sentiment it readily inspires is patriotism—pride and love for one’s country. Thus, the world has followed Britain in adopting national anthems —a musical coat of arms, trademark or aural flag—for use on state occasions, sporting competition or in war. God Save the King will be the musical cynosure of Charles III’s coronation.

Such anthems were rare outside England when, in April 1792, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, 31, a French army captain, heard the mayor of Strasbourg lament the lack of a good revolutionary song. De Lisle, a man of action, overnight wrote words and music for a ‘chant de guerre’ for the army of the Rhine. An instant success (which saved him from the guillotine), it was christened La Marseillaise when adopted by Provençal irregulars marching to storm the Tuileries. It is a ferocious call to war.

‘Aux armes, citoyens… let the impure blood of our enemies water the furrows of our land.’ Although not perhaps what might be expected from a country of quiet cafés and ubiquitous romance, it is the epitome of a rousing national anthem—ideal preliminary to a rugby match or bayonet charge. Napoleon Bonaparte banned it as unsuitably Republican.

Countries emerging from dismantled empires in the 19th and 20th centuries acquired anthems almost as national birth certificates.

Now more than 200, they vary remarkably in style and merit, often favouring what Fanny Burney called ‘the delusive seduction of martial music’. Fatherlands, motherlands and homelands without gender utilise operatic marches, hymns, odes to natural beauty or melodic history lessons. Moving or turgid, ecstatic or sanguinary, some confirm, others contradict, their nation’s character.

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Bay. A young Maryland lawyer, Francis Scott Key, aboard HMS Tonnant to negotiate a prisoner release, dined with Admiral Cochrane and Maj-Gen Ross, then watched an ineffective bombardment of Fort McHenry, a protective redoubt. Rocket shells illuminated the night. As the sun came up, Key began to write what became the American

national anthem: ‘Oh say, can you see by the dawn’s early light’ the flag that ‘proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming’ is still ‘gallantly streaming’… over ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’. Key forgot the 1.2 million slaves then in the US, despite owning a few himself. Paradoxically, this anti-British song (formally adopted in 1931) was put to an English tune, from London’s Anacreontic Society.

The powerful Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles—now emolliently called the Deutschlandlied—is set to Haydn’s fine rolling melody used in Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken. The phrase ‘über alles’ (above all) was written—on Heligoland—by a politically minded poet in 1841 as a plea for 19th-century unification, not 20thcentury domination. Only the third verse is currently sung, the first being thought too redolent of war and the second being a tribute to German wine and women.

In a single day in 1847, Goffredo Mameli, 19, an acolyte of Garibaldi, wrote Italy’s unification anthem: ‘Italian brothers, Italy has awakened.’ Wounded at the siege of Rome in 1849, Mameli expired later that year. His brisk Republican march, with cheerful assertions of readiness to die, looks backwards —2,000 years to Scipio, Roman conqueror of Carthage. It was out of favour between 1861 and 1946 (a time of Italian kings); Verdi liked it and President Ciampi (1999–2006) said it made him ‘vibrate inside’.

Poland’s lilting Mazurka is a sombre, prescient historical tale of national dismemberment and hope. Ben Macintyre recounts in his book Colditz how Polish prisoners sang this on New Year’s Eve, bathed in tears. By contrast, the Caribbean island of Aruba has a cheerful waltz, perfect for a tea dance, with National pride: the endearing Creole lyric: ‘Even though you a First World War are small and simple, yet you are respected.’ postcard (left) Such adjectives would not suit China, where and British Bull- the brassy Oriental March of the Volunteers dog (facing page) enjoins people to use their flesh and blood

Anthems vary remarkably in style and merit, often favouring “the delusive seduction of martial music”

to build a new Great Wall. With music by a poet who drowned aged 23 and words by a playwright who died in prison, it was composed for a film based on the 1934 Japanese invasion of Manchuria, popularised by Paul Robeson and adopted in 1982. The anthem of neighbouring Taiwan is a delicate, ethereal call to ‘be earnest and brave, your country to save’.

Courageous Ukrainians, in their bombarded streets, also sing a fervent, soulful anthem: ‘Upon us… fate shall smile once more, our enemies will vanish like dew in the morning sun… we lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom.’ Many have done so.

Ethiopia, eternally riven with endemic warfare, sings of peace and love. But, in a happier part of Africa: ‘Word of beauty and of fame, the name Botswana to us came.’ Nature is a popular choice, too. Switzerland’s ‘Alps grow bright with splendour’ (in four languages) and South Africa praises skies, mountains and echoing crags in a reconciliatory, but awkward mixture of Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and English.

Waltzing Matilda (which means walking with a swag-bag) is more characterful than Advance Australia Fair Denmark has a rustic lyric, too, about ‘shady beeches, hills and valleys’, although these are credited to Freya, Viking goddess of love, fertility, battle and death: a portfolio of rather conflicting responsibilities. To be on the safe side, the Danes have another anthem, König Christian, of reassuring martial flavour. The King ‘stood by the lofty mast… his sword… through Gothic brain it passed’. Brazil modestly describes herself as an ‘intrepid colossus’.

Andorra counters ‘I am the… daughter of Charlemagne’, uniquely using the first person.

Some nations without statehood have memorable anthems, too—notably Wales.

Cambrian voices singing The Old Land of my Fathers are undeniably moving. A hymn to Welsh speech as much as to a Celtic past of warriors, mist and minstrels, it ends: ‘May the old language endure.’ This music will have irradiated the chivalric heart of our new King—for 64 years Prince of Wales.

Some songs are not official anthems, but almost were, such as Verdi’s powerful chorus of Hebrew slaves, for which Toscanini once conducted a choir of 800. Australia has the plangent Waltzing Matilda (which means walking with a swag-bag)—more characterful 242 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

The words of the rousing French anthem, La Marseillaise, are a ferocious call to war

than Advance Australia Fair. English candidates include Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory and the strange hymn Jerusalem: ‘bows of burning gold’ could never shoot anything, let alone ‘arrows of desire’—which are Cupid’s missiles, anyway.

God Save the King, whether of England, Britain, the UK, former Empire, or Commonwealth, is one of the world’s earliest anthems.

The original composer is unknown, but— arranged by Old Etonian Thomas Arne and first performed in modern style by three leading singers to tremendous acclaim at the Drury Lane Theatre on September 28, 1745—it began ‘God save great George our king’. It was the eve of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s invasion of

England, reflected in a now abandoned verse urging Marshal Wade ‘rebellious Scots to crush’.

In uninterrupted use for 278 years, it is neither a paean to liberty and independence, nor a national boast. It is a sturdy, confident song of constitutional contentment, a proud and stately hymn of adherence to successive monarchs. Rich in apt description: ‘gracious’ and ‘noble’, as was Elizabeth II; ‘long to reign’, as she, Queen Victoria and George III all were; ‘happy’, like Edward VII; and ‘victorious’, like George III, V and VI. For Charles III, there remains the lambent adjective ‘glorious’, which he so ardently desires for our architecture, our countryside and the future of his people.

May he achieve it.

Heil dir im Siegerkranz is the anthem associated with the German Empire, superseded by Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles

It takes all sorts to make a world

• Afghanistan forbids music. The Spanish anthem has no words • Harry Kane may have said ‘I sing it with pride, always do’, but many footballers don’t. Elgar, a Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter, wrote an alternative arrangement of God Save the King

• National anthems are not all the same convenient length. Greece has 158 verses, Uganda only nine bars. For the 2012 London Olympics, virtuoso composer Philip Sheppard—who regards them as ‘truly odd forms of musical expression’—was asked to arrange and record 205 anthems into under two minutes each. ‘Like doing six feature films at the same time in a very adrenalised state,’ he observed. But he ‘found the music easier than the politics’

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• Fatherlands: Germany, France, Mexico and Argentina. Motherlands: Brazil, Malta, Ukraine and Russia. Dragon Kingdoms: Bhutan • There are 206 sovereign states, 43 of which are monarchies variously been used by Sweden, the US, Iceland, Germany, Norway, Imperial Russia, Greece and, currently, Lichtenstein. It was once played at Weymouth in Dorset to accompany George III’s plunge from a bathing machine • Polymath Rabindranath Tagore (above) wrote the anthems for Hindu India and Muslim Bangladesh • The fiancée of Francisco Bocanegra locked him in a bedroom for four hours to draft the Mexican anthem’s lyrics

• Anthems remain surprisingly unamended to dilute the blood and death that often flow freely (for example in the French, Vietnamese, Algerian, Turkish) or to include women. Although ‘O Canada… true North strong and free’, has changed ‘sons’ to ‘us’, Italy has not added sisters to brothers • God Save the King was used to conclude theatre performances in Britain until the 1960s and is still played to close down Radio 4 broadcasts for the night with dignified solemnity

Liss Fine Art/Mary Evans Picture Library; Alamy

• Orders of seniority are arbitrary. Does time run from composition or conjunction of music or lyric, first performance, general adoption or official authorisation (sometimes, as with England, never effected)?

The Dutch anthem (an acrostic) dates from the late 16th century, but has not been used continuously and Japan’s surrealistic Kimigayo (uncertain both in provenance and meaning) has words from 920, but was only produced in roughly modern form by an Irish bandsman in 1870. God Save the King has been in uninterrupted use for longer than both and may properly be regarded as the world’s senior anthem. Its melody has

• Americans and sentimental Europeans put hand over heart during their anthems.

The English stand to attention

Luxury Notebook

Edited by Hetty Lintell

Eggcellent timing Famous for intricate jewellery eggs, Fabergé has designed two opulent pendants for the Coronation, one with a miniature carriage hidden inside (right) and the other with a crown. £12,960 each (www.faberge.com).

If the shoe fits Manolo Blahnik is launching a new men’s collection inspired by the splendour of coronations. Exclusive to the Burlington Arcade boutique, there are four styles, each featuring exquisite materials. ‘From opulent gold embroidery, contrasting baguette crystal buckles and divine English silks, each style has a dazzling extravagance celebrating traditional English ceremony and reminiscent of the elaborate flocked interiors of historical palaces,’ enthuses the shoemaker. From £725 (www.manoloblahnik.com).

Stick a pin in it I am bewitched by this striking pin from Elizabeth Gage, also made to mark the occasion. Diamondset tips represent royalty, power, immortality, glory and sovereignty and the deep-red spinel denotes devotion and longevity. This also references the Ruby Spinel or ‘Black Prince’s Ruby’ in the Imperial State Crown. The piece shows many of the jeweller’s signature styles: linen-texture background, gold-bead decoration and wire-twist-wire finishes; the receivertube at the base references her Templar band pieces. £10,500 (020–7823 0100; www.elizabeth-gage.com).

Flutter by

Musical heirs This limited-edition musical box from royal-favourite chinaware company Halcyon Days is hand-decorated in gold, mirroring the grandeur of Charles III’s coronation. On opening, it plays Handel’s Zadok the Priest, the anthem performed at every coronation since 1727. Coronation Gold Prestige Musical Box, £1,950 (www.halcyondays.co.uk).

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Paolo Loraso Photography

The King is famed for his love of Nature, so, to honour this, the jewellers at Hirsh London have designed a beautiful butterfly brooch, set with yellow diamonds and with wings that flutter. Price on application (020–7499 6814; www.hirshlondon.com).

Luxury Notebook Hair apparent To mark the coronation, pearl gurus at British company Yoko London have produced this rather spectacular tiara with 19 perfectly matched (no mean feat), lustrous, Australian South Sea dropshaped pearls, which undulate as the wearer moves.

With diamonds galore and such an intricate design, this cries out for an occasion—perhaps the local village street party?

Price on application (www.yokolondon.com).

High Five Raise a colourful glass to The King

Allegra Murano tumbler, £60, Rebecca Udall (01904 439658; www.rebecca udall.com)

Pink plait water glass, £28 for two, Maison Margaux (020–3818 3645; www.maison margauxltd.com)

Murano multi-coloured flower glass, £44, Daylesford Organic (01608 731670; www. daylesford.com)

Feeling spicy At the time of the Queen’s coronation, curry spices were a rare and exotic taste, yet curry is now the nation’s favourite dish and Lambton & Jackson has re-created a special Coronation Cure of its delicious salmon (the company made another for the Platinum Jubilee). The recipe is secret, but I hear coriander, allspice, cumin, fenugreek and turmeric are involved.

Devised by chef Adam Blackett from The Dorchester, it will certainly set the perfect tone for coronation celebrations. From £11 for 200g (01621 853710; www.lambtonandjackson.com).

Luxury (under £25)

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E’RE all hoping for a heatwave for the bank holiday, but, either way, lots of wine will be consumed. This rosé by Guy Allion sold

by Emile Wines—London-based, female-founded wine importer and retailer of restaurant-quality wines to enjoy at home—is pale, dry and has a lovely citrus tang.

Its Gamay grapes are grown in Touraine—full of limestone topped with flinty clay, yielding very fresh, mineral wines. Chin-chin. £15.50 (www.emilewines.co.uk).

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Blue Pom tumbler, £17, Issy Granger (07733 459702; www.issy granger.com)

Aller Dorset x Bias Editions Double Stripe glass, £34, Glassette (www. glassette.com)

A few of my favourite things

The actress, author and celebrated cake expert became famous as a child actress and went on to work in film, television and theatre. This year, she has been asked

by Royal Warrant holder Partridges to judge its World Chelsea Bun Awards Bake-Off Competition, supporting the Children’s Surgery Foundation. Jane Asher is the lead in Somerset Maugham’s The Circle at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, TW9, April 29–June 17. She lives in Sussex with her husband, illustrator Gerald Scarfe.

Words by Hetty Lintell. Illustrations by Ollie Maxwell There’s a tradition of marking first nights in the theatre with cards and even tiny gifts, and Alan Ayckbourn always comes up with something special. I’ve been in four of his plays and this teapot represents perhaps my favourite—I played two characters, one of them a robot, and whenever I make myself tea in this little pot it reminds me of the fun we had.

Theo Fennell designs such beautiful jewellery and my husband knows only too well how much I adore being given one of the lovely black boxes tied with pink ribbon…

Silver doesn’t suit my redhead’s pale, freckly skin, so this set of delicate gold earrings and necklace based on palm leaves is very precious to me (www.theofennell.com).

I have very simple tastes (!).

Some ice-cold Champagne will always keep me happy— it’s a luxury that genuinely lives up to its glamorous reputation —and one of my treats when we visit Scarfes Bar at the Rosewood hotel, London WC1 (where the walls are covered in Gerald’s paintings), is being handed a glass of Ruinart Brut.

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Interiors

How to be wowed

This year’s WOW!house offers a rare opportunity to see the work of some of the world’s leading interior designers brought to life. Amelia Thorpe offers a sneak preview

Above: Christian Bense’s De Le Cuona Bedroom. Below: Oak Leaf console, £16,080, Cox London (020–3328 9506; www.coxlondon.com)

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OR a heady dose of interior-design inspiration this summer, look no further than the 18 rooms that will be created by some of the world’s leading interior designers at this year’s WOW!house, which runs from June 6–July 6, at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, SW10.

Although show houses have long been a tradition in the US, there hasn’t been anything similar on this side of the Atlantic since the early 1990s, so last year’s inaugural WOW!house caused much excitement. This year’s event is set to be similarly inspiring.

De Le Cuona Bedroom

by Christian Bense RAND safari meets London townhouse’ is how interior designer Christian Bense describes his creative approach to the bedroom suite for the house. ‘This room is more

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of an escape than an everyday home, but it is also an entirely liveable space, rather than a safari-themed spectacle,’ he says. ‘I also want visitors to feel a sense of calm—an “exhale” moment in what will no doubt be a sensory overload of a show.’

The room is decorated entirely in fabrics by de Le Cuona, a leader in luxurious natural textiles for interiors, including stone-washed linen and wool bouclé, soft mohair velvet and finely woven paisley. ‘Fabrics are the star

of the show, but we have also mixed in a few well-sourced antiques and special bespoke joinery,’ he says. Pieces include a ‘Brutalist meets Africa’ desk made by the Galvin Brothers (www.galvinbrothers.co.uk), an antique Victorian faux-bamboo sleigh bed with brass fixings, a Safari armchair from Justin Van Breda (www.justinvanbreda.com) and an Oak Leaf console from Cox London (www.coxlondon.com).

Both Mr Bense and Bernie de Le Cuona, founder of the brand, hail from South Africa, and both now live and work in London— hence the cross pollination of ideas reflected in the palette of the room, which leans towards the earthy colours of Africa.

The architectural details, by contrast, feel English, including Georgian-style walls, cornicing and a classic fireplace. ‘The bestdesigned spaces are ones that look curated

Interiors and collected, which is achieved by variance,’ says Mr Bense. ‘What I hope people will take away from visiting this room is how to design a space that toes a line, but still feels unique.’

De Le Cuona (01753 830301; www.delecuona.com) Christian Bense (020–7537 7791; www.christianbense.com) Drummonds Principal Bathroom by Lucy Barlow and Joshua Sear, Barlow & Barlow NTERIOR designer Lucy Barlow of Barlow & Barlow chose ‘a captain’s bathroom on a spaceship in 1975’ as the escapist inspiration for her design. ‘We want to show that, although a bathroom has to be practical, it is also possible to think outside the box,’ she explains. ‘Of course, a “standard” bathroom can be beautiful, but WOW!house offers the opportunity to push the boundaries and show that one doesn’t have to use tiles in a bathroom —why not treat it with as much flair as you would any other room in the house?’

The starting point of the retro-meetsfuturistic design concept is a terrazzo-style floor, made with plaster flecked with tiny chips of mirror, rather than typical stone in concrete. Natural-coloured polished plaster clads the walls in smooth, rounded shapes, introducing another retro-inspired element to the room, with an elegant Meon bath from Drummonds set into a niche behind a curved entrance. It is screened by a silver-disc curtain, inspired by Paco Rabanne’s signature link design first introduced in the 1960s. More classic pieces from Drummonds, including a Taw vanity and large curved towel radiator, are featured in the room, alongside several

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The Drummonds Principal Bathroom by Barlow & Barlow, featuring the Meon bath with a polished exterior, £4,470, Drummonds (020–7376 4499; www.drummonds-uk.com)

retro elements: a vast Lava Lamp, celebrating the 60th anniversary of manufacturer Mathmos (www.mathmos.com), plus vintage pendant lights and a retro-inspired side table designed

by Barlow & Barlow. ‘We wanted to show that, although one might think the Drummonds products are traditional, they can be used successfully in many different schemes,’ says Miss Barlow. The design is completed with some cast plaster mushroom wall lights and a mobile made from plaster pelargonium leaves dipped in nickel, all by artist Jess Wheeler (www.jesswheeler.com). ‘Let’s celebrate escapism and the importance of the bathroom in our homes,’ she says.

Drummonds (020–7376 4499; www.drummonds-uk.com) Barlow & Barlow (020–3645 1427; www.barlowandbarlow.com) Martin Moore Kitchen by Henry Prideaux, Henry Prideaux Interior Design ENRY PRIDEAUX’S approach to this kitchen is appropriately ‘wow’. ‘It’s glamorous, exciting and a room to have fun in, but —being a Martin Moore kitchen—it is also very practical, with a considered layout and plenty of work surface for preparing and serving food, so it’s an excellent space in

H The Single Taw vanity with an Arabescato marble shelf, £5,070, Drummonds (as above)

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which to cook and entertain,’ he says. Featuring Martin Moore’s New Deco collection, the streamlined, elegant furniture is painted in a soft pink with raspberry island and skirtings, topped with dramatic green and pink Strata natural quartzite worktops and splash back. ‘The mood is warm and inviting, with plenty of impact,’ says Mr Prideaux. ‘After all, this is a space designed to be used in the evening, as well as during the day.’ More welcoming warmth comes from richly coloured, velvet-upholstered bar stools by Ben Whistler (www.benwhistler.com).

For added glamour, three amber-glass Sorrento chandeliers from Pure White Lines (www.purewhitelines.com) are suspended above the island, hung from a ceiling covered in Altfield’s Metal Leaf Gold (www.altfield.com).

Walls papered in a gold moiré complement a large gold mirror ball, offset from the island.

‘Kitchen discos were prevalent during lockdown, but the notion continues—we want to be able to kick back and have fun at home and people always gather in the kitchen at parties,’ he says.

Other features include a walk-in pantry and a cocktail-ready drinks cabinet, complete with built-in wine cooler and—for extra joy —a gold-sequinned ceiling and mirror-clad walls. ‘Although a kitchen needs to be

Interiors

The House of Rohl Bathroom by Studio Mica (above), with Edge freestanding bath, from £3,489, Victoria + Albert Baths (01952 221100; www.vandabaths.com) and the Langbourn exposed shower set (below), £4,254, Perrin & Rowe (01708 526361; www.perrinandrowe.co.uk)

Kitchen disco: there is an Art Deco feel to Henry Prideaux’s Martin Moore Kitchen

functional with enough prep space and a workable layout, it really doesn’t need to feel utilitarian,’ he says. ‘Don’t shy away from decorating the room to make it glamorous and enjoyable.’

Martin Moore (0845 180 0015; www.martinmoore.com) Henry Prideaux (020–8891 0990; www.henryprideaux.com) House of Rohl Bathroom by Studio Mica VOIDING any notion of a ‘typical townhouse bathroom’, interior designers Carolynne Shenton and Abigail Kendler of Studio Mica are aiming to transport visitors to a luxury resort spa in warmer climes for their room scheme. ‘We want to play with your senses the moment you step through the door,’ says Ms Shenton. She designed the light to be moody and soft, with a gentle shimmer created by a Japanese rice-paper screen. The space is divided into three zones: a central area features a massage bench clad in recycled black terrazzo flecked with golden colours; one end is devoted to a luxurious bath, the

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other to an alfresco-style twin shower. ‘The two ends of the room are designed to capture different feelings,’ continues Ms Shenton.

Step under a beam at one end to feel as if you are outside, with two shower heads mounted on a wall clad in brick slips in warm honey and dark tobacco colours, arranged in a geometric pattern. ‘We take everyday finishes and use them in a more crafted and detailed manner,’ she says. A freestanding mattwhite Edge tub from Victoria + Albert Baths (01952 221100; www.vanda baths.com) is set on a plinth at the other end of the room, creating the focal point of an intimate area, with brass Langbourn freestanding tap by Perrin & Rowe (www.perrinand rowe.co.uk). ‘The bath is set against the same palette of colours as the brick slips in the shower area, but in different materials to create a woven, layered effect,’ she explains. ‘A bathroom is no longer merely a functional room, it’s also somewhere

to relax,’ continues Ms Shenton. ‘We want to show that you can create an escapist atmosphere, even in a square box in Chelsea.’

House of Rohl (www.houseofrohl.uk) Studio Micah (020–7688 2582; www.studiomica.co.uk) The Legend Room by Nicky Haslam and Colette van den Thillart HE veteran interior designer Nicky Haslam is creating a contemporary library in the house, in collaboration with his former creative director Colette van den Thillart, who now runs an international design practice from Toronto, Canada.

‘It is the first room you see on entering the house, so we wanted to create an immediate thrill,’ says Mr Haslam.

The romantic scheme—with a touch of Hollywood silver screen—is anchored by a photograph by Cathleen Naundorf from her Future Couture-Surrealism series, inspired by Dada and the art of the early 1920s. Its colours are echoed in those of the palette of the room, which he describes as ‘air’ colours: mauvegreys and blues. Walls are upholstered in lavender corduroy. ‘Our idea of a dream,’ says Ms van den Thilllart. ‘Often, upholstered walls are done in quite a luxurious way, but although corduroy has acoustic, cocooning qualities, it has a more casual feel. It harks back to men’s suiting, it has a clubby

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Interiors feel—but, in lavender, it’s very definitely not clubby. Contrasting the expected is our signature.’ A sofa from their new furniture collection is upholstered in a bronze satin, teamed with a pair of chairs in tiger-fur velvet. Mirrored doors are topped with electrified hurricane lanterns to produce moody lighting, as columns, urns and lamps are made from white plaster, floors are made of burnt plywood and bookcases are wrapped in Mr Haslam’s Seafern linen in Clouded Lilac. ‘Many of the ideas are original and not necessarily expensive, such as the dark plywood floors used to set off the white plaster, wrapping bookcases in fabric and using corduroy on the walls,’ she says. ‘We always try to think of using materials in unexpected ways.’

(07960 479250; www.nh-design.co.uk) Gosling Library by Tim Gosling NSPIRED by a personal project—the restoration of a 57-room château in France —furniture designer Tim Gosling is basing his design on its elegant, tall-ceilinged rooms, with an added touch of splendour drawn from the Palace of Versailles. ‘I was lucky enough to find two fantastic French antique

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Hollywood glamour: the Legend Room by Nicky Haslam and Colette van den Thillart

corner bibliotheque sections,’ he says of the starting point for the cube-shaped room.

Dating from about 1880, each mahogany bookcase features gilded mounts and sits in front of mirrored panels that run up to the cornice. His workshop has made two more matching bookcases to adorn the other corners of the room in a similar fashion.

Working with the Rug Company (www. therugcompany.com), Mr Gosling has designed a new rug, handmade in Nepal, which will feature in the room. ‘It is a crisper interpretation of an 18th-century Savonnerie in faded blush pink, red, straw and Prussian blue,’ he says.

The same palette of colours is used on the walls, covered in printed linen reproduced from historic Aubusson tapestries at Leeds Castle by Zardi & Zardi (www.zardiandzardi.co.uk).

The central games table is a design created

by Mr Gosling, with backgammon board inset

A bespoke games table (above left), £30,000, Gosling (020–7498 8335; www.tgosling. com), is the centrepiece of a library (above) by the furniture designer Tim Gosling

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Nicky Haslam Seafern linen in Clouded Lilac, £184.80 per m, Turnell & Gigon (020– 7259 7280; www.turnellandgigon.com)

with sycamore to reflect the courtyard at Versailles. The Baccarat chandelier comes from his château and has been recently restored (‘a labour of love’), and the fireplace is from his two designs for Chesneys (www.chesneys.co.uk), this one featuring lion sculptures inspired by Pompeii.

‘I hope the room will encourage visitors to think about antiques in a different way,’ he says. ‘If you find something you love, you could have it copied to make a pair or adapted to suit your room—antiques make a sustainable choice, ready to be used imaginatively.’

Gosling (020–7498 8335, www.tgosling.com) WOW!house is open June 5–July 6, Monday–Saturday, from 10am, with last entry 5.30pm. Individual tickets cost £20, with two or more tickets for £16 each on weekdays. There is a 2-for-1 offer on Saturdays, so you can visit with a friend for £20. Student tickets are £10. For more details and to buy tickets, visit www.dcch.co.uk

Not just for mugs Love it or loathe it, royal memorabilia is big business. Huon Mallalieu takes a look at the commemorative souvenirs of the past and considers if they ever really make an investment for the future

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AST May, the then Duchess of Cornwall spent £1.50 at a charity shop to acquire a mug celebrating her mother-in-law’s 1977 Silver Jubilee. A quick internet search brings up several similar mugs by various makers, differing slightly in shape and detail. The now Queen may or may not have hooked a bargain, as the current price range runs from 99p up to £60. As she apparently has a collection of such royal souvenirs, her purchase will probably join some of the 20 to 25 lines of official merchandise authorised for her own comparatively low-key wedding in 2005.

There were about 1,600 for The King’s first marriage, 120 for the present Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s wedding, 700 for the Silver Jubilee and 800 for the Golden. Last year’s Platinum Jubilee brought a deluge of commemoratives from the elegant to the utterly naff, of which the most sought after may turn out to be any survivors of the junked Chinese order for 10,000 pieces of crockery inscribed ‘Platinum Jubbly’.

This was by no means unprecedented; ‘Jubilee Royal’, the 1977 exhibition organised by the Commemorative Collectors’ Society at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the then Queen, included many tasteful mugs, plates, figurines, tea towels, biscuit tins, toys, pencils, key rings and, of course, a variety of silver items, but also a number of much less likely tokens

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of the nation’s regard for its sovereign. The London manufacturer Sunarama, for instance, presented a range of fetching ladies’ socks, garters, bras and pants, all boasting the crowned Jubilee Appeal logo.

From classical times, rulers have issued medals to commemorate their triumphs and claims and, later, such things as glasses engraved with Jacobite symbols, bowls with anti-slave trade sentiments or electioneering slogans were often used to make political points.

The beginnings of a mass market in royal commemoratives had a similar political stimulus, as an expression of support for the restoration of Charles II in 1660. Medals were issued, but, more generally, pottery and pewter dishes were made with crude portraits or the Royal Arms, together with oak leaves and acorns, or such inscriptions as ‘Vivat Rex Carolus Secundus Beati Pacifici’ (‘Long Live King Charles II of Blessed Peace’).

The popularity of these encouraged more of the same for the restored King’s coronation and marriage. During the unsettled decades following Charles’s death in 1685, politics rather than commemoration came to the fore and medals were produced for William III and the Jacobites. Factories such as the Vauxhall Pottery in London happily supplied all parties with mugs and jugs decorated as required with busts of Charles, James, Anne, George I or George II with his

Queen Caroline. However, after half a century, passions abated and George III’s coronation in 1761 prompted straightforwardly celebratory portraits on ceramics.

Other than the late Queen (and James III for Jacobites), the only English or British monarchs to celebrate golden jubilees have been Henry III, Edward III, George III and Victoria, of which the first two occasions left little trace, although Edward III marked his by granting ‘Pardons and Graces to the commonality of his realm’. Although he, too, pardoned deserters, George III’s jubilee year, 1809–10, was a different matter and the lineaments of the modern industry are very evident. His birthday, June 4, was regularly marked in London, but, in 1810, it was celebrated with processions, bonfires, dinners and loyal toasts throughout the country, as the seven-year-old poet Marjory Fleming noted in Edinburgh:

Two days ago was the King’s Birthday And to his health we sang a lay Poor man his health is very bad And he is often very mad He was a very comely lad…

A favourite inscription on commemoratives was ‘A King Revered. A Queen Beloved’, which may imply some anxiety about the impending Regency of the Prince of Wales.

The Prince was widely loathed and his coronation as George IV 11 years later was commemorated rather differently, as the shenanigans of his desire to divorce Queen Caroline invited satire rather than celebration. However, his visit to Edinburgh, so brilliantly compèred by Sir Walter Scott, launched the tartan tide of souvenirs that has not stopped flooding to this day.

William IV and Queen Adelaide were remembered more with quiet affection.

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The list of 1953 commemoratives is almost endless, from sets of silver dishes to pencils by way of biscuit tins and jigsaws

True enthusiast: Margaret Tyler displays her astonishing assemblage of royal souvenirs

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No coronation collection would be complete without a model of the Gold State Coach, made for Elizabeth II’s day in 1953

celebrated on lapel badges, after the example of the 1896 American Presidential election.

Ceramics designed by Eric Ravilious for Edward VIII were later modified to celebrate George VI and Elizabeth II in their turn. The list of 1953 commemoratives is almost endless, from sets of sterling-silver dishes set with crown coins to pencils by way of biscuit tins, orb-shaped money boxes, lurid green and pink plastic salt and pepper sets, jigsaws, plates, mugs and glasses. Again, there were souvenir issues from newspapers and magazines—COUNTRY L IFE’s characteristically handsome contribution is currently listed from £4.50 to £45 on eBay, depending on condition—as well as service programmes and tickets. The 2,000 chairs and 5,700 stools used by the congregation in Westminster Abbey were very well made by a number of British companies, including B. North & Sons, W. Hands & Sons and Waring & Gillow and can now make remarkable prices. Also deriving from the ceremony itself were model state coaches and coronation chairs, together with replica anointing spoons. Toy coaches were made by a number of companies, Britain’s and Lesney probably being the best, and, as always, those that have retained their original boxes are the most desirable to collectors.

The Commemorative Collectors’ Society disbanded in the late 1990s and real fanatics are fewer on the ground nowadays, but they will try to acquire anything, in however dubious taste. No doubt, this coronation will produce both beautifully designed gems and real horrors, which is just as it should be.

Alamy; Getty; Museum of London/Bridgeman Images; Neil Watson; Historic Royal Palaces; Royal Collection Trust/© His Majesty King Charles III 2023

The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 was a comparatively smallscale affair, reflecting the bride’s wishes, and it provoked relatively little in the way of commemorative ceramics, all suitably seemly.

Engravings after paintings of the event were probably the most popular souvenirs. However, although the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863 was intended to be a private ceremony at Windsor in respect for the Queen’s wish ‘not to be gawped at’ in her grief following Albert’s death 15 months earlier, it was the first such occasion to be photographed and it prompted an outpouring of souvenirs in many forms. As well as the traditional plates, cups and mugs, there were Parian-ware busts and jugs, woven silk bookmarks, printed handkerchiefs, medallions, prints and special editions of periodicals and popular magazines from The Illustrated London News to The British Workman. Victoria’s jubilees were recognised in glass and ceramics.

Twentieth-century coronations and marriages have been eagerly commemorated.

The two that tend to excite collectors most are the two coronations that never actually happened: that of Edward VII in June 1902, which had to be cancelled two days beforehand due to his appendicitis, and that of Edward VIII, overtaken by his abdication. The first cancellation almost killed the great César Ritz, who had spent months working on a banquet.

When the ceremony finally took place six weeks later, it was notable as the first to be

Cream of the 2023 coronation crop

3 Cheers For King Charles III 4-mug teapot, £80, Emma Bridgewater (www.emmabridgewater.co.uk)

Embroidered Purple Crown Coronation Decoration, £15.95, The Highgrove Shop (www.highgrovegardens.com)

P&H Royal Commemorative Pair of Tea Towels, £20, Pentreath & Hall (www.pentreath-hall.com)

Treasure or trinket?

King Charles III Coronation Silk Scarf, £120, Westminster Abbey Shop (https://shop.westminster-abbey.org)

Whether you buy a commemorative mug for a chimneypiece or china for a dresser, you will be engaging with a long tradition of marking royal occasions with beautiful objects. ‘Creating commemorative ceramic wares for royal events has been at the heart of all good British potteries for at least 400 years,’ says Emma Bridgewater. ‘From the early days of the company nearly 40 years ago, I knew the importance of commemorative wares. We will all want to fly the flag, watch the ceremony and possibly gather family and friends to celebrate this rousing occasion—and there will be mugs!’ AS

Coronation Tree Planter, £75, Cornishware (www.cornishware.co.uk). Comes with a box of three acorns from Duchy Nurseries. £2.50 from each sale goes to Woodland Heritage

Hip Hip King Charles Egg Cup, £12, Daylesford Organic (www.daylesford.com)

Celebration of the Natural World 10in Presentation Plate, £425 (made to order), Halcyon Days (www.halcyondays.co.uk)

Limited Edition The King’s Swan Cushion, £60, Dog & Dome (www.doganddome.com)

King Charles III Coronation Commemorative Playing Cards, £6, Historic Royal Palaces (www.historicroyalpalaces.com)

The Coronation Set Of Spoons, £40, Royal Collection Trust (www.royalcollectionshop.co.uk)

Coronation Capers fine bone-china mug, £27.50, Eleanor Tomlinson Art (www.eleanortomlinsonart.co.uk)

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Mark the occasion

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T her workbench in Pimlico, Jessie Thomas has a well-thumbed copy of Bradbury’s Book of Hallmarks.

The compendium lists every mark of origin stamped on British and Irish silver, gold and platinum between 1544 and 1987, allowing Miss Thomas to date antique items based on a tiny likeness of a monarch and a leopard’s head. One of the earliest forms of consumer protection, these hallmarks are a pictorial language understood by jewellery’s inner circle. Future guides will include a new hallmark commissioned to commemorate next month’s coronation: a profile of Charles III that adorns creations by a number of British jewellers, including Miss Thomas.

Hallmarks were introduced in 1300 by Edward I to prevent goldsmiths committing fraud. He decreed that ‘any manner of vessel, jewel or any other thing of gold or silver’ must contain at least 92.5% pure silver or 80% pure gold (equivalent to 19.2 karats). Guardians of the craft certified purity by striking items with a leopard’s head, from the royal coat of arms.

Today, the Full Traditional UK Hallmark for gold, silver, platinum and palladium comprises five elements: a Sponsor’s Mark conveying who submitted the item; a Traditional Fineness symbol and the Millesimal Fineness mark to denote the metal and purity (the precious metal content in parts per 1,000); an Assay Office mark, indicating where the item was hallmarked (there are four UK Assay Offices, with the London office still represented by a leopard’s head); and the Date Letter, with font, case and shield shape representing a specific year. The London Assay Office hallmarks 2.3 million items each year, via either traditional hand punching or laser technology.

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History in the making: Lylie’s Dodola Diamond Pinkie Ring, £1,750, bears the new coronation mark (www.lylies.com)

The first commemorative hallmark was introduced in 1935, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary. The late Elizabeth II featured in five commemorative hallmarks: for her coronation in 1953, as well as her silver, golden, diamond and platinum jubilees—the last of which was applied to more than 70,000 items. An optional addition, the Charles III Coronation hallmark can be requested until December 31, 2024, at a cost of £1 per item on top of the usual hallmarking

It is history indelibly stamped inside a family heirloom

Top left: George III’s hallmarks. Above: The newly commissioned Charles III version charges. ‘We expect the requests for the commemorative coronation mark to match, or even exceed, those we saw for the Platinum Jubilee mark,’ said Will Evans, general manager of the London Assay Office.

Boodles is adding the Charles III coronation mark to all pieces created within the time period.

To celebrate the event, the house has created a one-off ring featuring two heart-shaped diamonds cut from a rough that was sourced from the Cullinan mine, famed for producing

the record-breaking Cullinan diamond. The largest cuts of the stone adorn the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the Imperial State Crown.

‘The coronation hallmark commemorates a special moment: it’s the only time in the reign of Charles III that it can be applied. In years to come, children and grandchildren will see history indelibly stamped inside a family heirloom,’ says Cassandra Goad, who is stamping all new pieces with the hallmark. It has personal significance to the jeweller; the artwork was designed by her friend Thomas Fattorini, based on a medal created by Ian Rank-Broadley.

All Asprey jewellery produced this year will bear the hallmark; as does the house’s limitededition lion’s-head decanter set. One of the 12 sets crafted in Asprey’s London workshop was presented to His Majesty as a coronation gift.

The hallmark features on 100 special-edition crown charms by Annoushka, too, who has re-created the St Edward’s Crown used at the moment of coronation as a gemstone-strewn locket. Hirsh has stamped The King’s head on a one-of-a-kind coloured diamond butterfly brooch, designed in homage to His Majesty’s love of Nature, and the hallmark features on the inside of three new Coronation Setting diamond rings by Pragnell. In a new capsule collection from 886 by the Royal Mint, the Charles III coronation hallmark is proudly displayed on the exterior of two limited-edition bangles.

For bespoke jewellers, the coronation hallmark offers the chance to add an extra-special touch. ‘We love the idea that if you are celebrating a milestone, such as your engagement, in a year when there is a significant national occasion, these can be forever linked by the commemorative hallmark,’ says Eliza Walter, founder of sustainable jewellery brand Lylie.

‘Hallmarking a piece of fine jewellery with a commemorative mark of a significant historical event can only add to its rarity and, therefore, its value.’

Alamy; The Goldsmiths’ Company

Jewellers are stamping new pieces with the hallmark specially created to mark the coronation of Charles III. Sarah Royce-Greensill explains its significance

Property market

Penny Churchill

Grade I-listed Hazelbury Manor stands in 182 acres of gardens, pasture and woodlands near the village of Box in Wiltshire. £9.75m

Manors maketh man The recent launch onto the market of three classic English manors underlines their perennial appeal to discerning buyers from many different walks of life

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UPERT SWEETING of Knight Frank’s country department (020–7861 1078) quotes a guide price of £9.75 million for Lot 1, Grade I-listed Hazelbury Manor and its surrounding estate. The lot comprises some 182 acres of organic gardens, pasture and broadleaf woodland near the popular north Wiltshire village of Box, on the southwestern edge of the Cotswolds AONB, three miles from Corsham and six miles from Bath.

Lot 2, the converted, one-bedroom Old Toll House in the south-west corner of the estate, is on offer at £250,000.

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The manor of Hazelbury was owned by the Croke family from about 1280 until the mid 15th century, when the last male Croke of Hazelbury died and the property passed, through one of his daughters, to her husband, John Bonham. Four generations of Bonhams lived there until, in 1575, it was acquired

by Sir John Yonge, a rich Bristol merchant.

In the early 17th century, the Yonges gave way to the Speke family, when, in 1613, Sir George Speke bought Hazelbury Manor for his son, Hugh, who extended the house and estate. In the early 18th century, Sir Edward

Northey, who was attorney-general to Queen Anne and later MP for Tiverton, bought Hazelbury Manor, which was then run as a farm for 200 years, although frequently used as a shooting lodge.

The history and architectural features of the house are chronicled in two articles in COUNTRY L IFE (February 20 and 27, 1926) that followed the completion of an epic, fiveyear-long restoration of the house and gardens

by George Jardine Kidston and the architect and archaeologist Harold Brakspear, who lived at Corsham. Kidston reputedly spent

Property market garden’. It was left to Pollard, who bought the estate in 1973, to repair and transform the complex Tudor house and create a mature, eight-acre garden ‘filled with hidden corners and surprises around high hedges, vistas, spectacles, and inventiveness… mirroring the layout of the house in extending from room to room’.

The garden is “filled with hidden corners and surprises around high hedges” The magnificent dual-aspect, first-floor drawing room at Hazelbury Manor in Wiltshire

£450,000 in rescuing the house and its 17thcentury gardens (originally laid out by the Spekes) from the dereliction in which he found them on buying the estate in 1919.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hazelbury Manor was again rescued from disaster by the late Ian Pollard, an eccentric architect and property developer with a passion for gardening, who was greatly impressed by his predecessor, as revealed in a third COUNTRY L IFE article (March 7, 1991). ‘Mr Kidston, who was a merchant banker and former ambassador, had a nice approach,’ the article says. ‘To obtain

new stone, he bought back the quarry which, long ago, had been sold off from the estate.

To ensure new English oak beams for the house were of the right quality, he purchased a timber company and then a haulage company to carry the timber and other goods to Hazelbury.’

Much of Kidston’s work was in vain, however, for, during the Second World War, Hazelbury again fell on hard times. From 1943–71, the house was a girls’ finishing school, which left the building in a state of serious disrepair and ‘almost finished the

Today, a rejuvenated Hazelbury Manor, built on a courtyard plan based over 2½ storeys, provides its own ‘hidden corners and surprises’. Its 27,000sq ft of historic living space includes a reception hall leading to the 15thcentury Great Hall, off which are located, to the west, a sitting room and family room; to the east, a dining hall with south-facing windows and an ornate fireplace; and, to the north, the kitchen, kitchen courtyard and four-bedroom Dower House—the latter originally built in the 17th century and linked to the main house by Kidston.

Stairs lead to the splendid, dual-aspect, first-floor drawing room, with access to a guest bedroom, three further bedrooms, three bathrooms, a family room, a study and an archive room. A side landing provides

East Down Manor is a striking centrepiece to more than 12 acres of gardens, grounds and woodland near Barnstaple in Devon. £2m

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Property market

Pristine Sharrington Hall occupies private, part-walled grounds in Sharrington on the fringes of Norfolk’s Glaven Valley. £4.75m

access to two further bedrooms and bathrooms and various service rooms. To the north, a second stairway leads to the indoor pool and pool house. There are six bedrooms and three bathrooms on the second floor, with additional accommodation in the Grade IIlisted Granary. A 17th-century courtyard of stone farm buildings includes a coach house, stabling, a nursery and a squash court.

Down in deepest Devon, James Carroll of Jackson-Stops (01271 325153) quotes a guide price of £2m for Grade II*-listed East Down Manor, near Barnstaple. The property stands in more than 12 acres of idyllic gardens, grounds and magical woodland on the edge of the pretty North Devon hamlet of East Down, in the foothills of Exmoor National Park, with expansive views across the rolling north Devon countryside.

Originally a Dower House serving Arlington Court, now owned by the National Trust, the striking Georgian-fronted house probably dates from the late 17th century, with some 18th-century remodelling. Currently in need of modernisation after 60 years of ownership by the same family, East Down Manor offers three main reception rooms, six bedrooms, three bathrooms and two self-contained, two-bedroom apartments.

Once part of a large Devon estate owned by the Pine-Coffin dynasty, the manor was bought in the 1960s by the family of Victoria 280 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Sharrington Hall has probably been the site of a manorial residence, possibly once moated, since the Norman Conquest Scott Brown, who recalls how her parents, then based in London, came to look at a twoup, two-down, cottage by the sea at Instow: ‘Unimpressed by the cottage, they were on their way home when Ma spotted an advertisement for East Down Manor in the local paper at nearly the same price, and immediately fell in love with the house. Pa, who trained as an artist in New Zealand, was an interior designer who gathered interesting and colourful paintings, furniture and ceramics from all over London. On our regular trips to Devon, the estate car would be loaded with children, while large paintings or furniture were carried on the roof.’

‘On one occasion’, she reveals, ‘a painting later identified as being by Devon artist Benjamin Haughton, who lived at East Down Manor in the early 1900s, blew off on Salisbury

Plain and was reclaimed somewhat the worse for wear. The painting of the manor garden still needs restoration and a little love, like the rest of the house, but it will remain with it as part of its history.’

Over in East Anglia, Tim Phillips of Savills country department (020–7075 2806) quotes a guide price of £4.75m for Grade II*-listed Sharrington Hall at Sharrington, a thriving small village on the edge of the Glaven Valley in dreamy north Norfolk, 3½ miles west of the Georgian market town of Holt and 10 miles east of Fakenham.

According to Norfolk records, the hall has probably been the site of a manorial residence, possibly once moated, since at least the Norman Conquest. The present house, built of flint and brick under a pantiled roof, is largely 16th and 17th century in date, although evidence exists of an earlier part to the west.

Altered between the 16th and 18th centuries, it fell into disrepair in the 19th century, before being restored in the 20th century and again in recent years.

For sale for only the third time since the 1700s, the immaculate five-bedroom main house, which stands in just over 1½ acres of private, part-walled grounds, is offered with an art studio, outbuildings, a Grade IIlisted barn and five separate Grade II-listed cottages, currently run as part of a successful holiday-rental enterprise.

Property Comment

James Fisher

Fit for a king With pioneering housing projects, both at his own home and on the Duchy estate, The King has led the way in creating a sustainable, Naturefriendly built environment

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Leading by example: making space for Nature is at the heart of The King’s approach at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, where meadows allow wildlife to flourish

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Deeds not words: The King’s ideas on architecture, planning and the environment are reflected in and articulated by Poundbury, built on Duchy of Cornwall land in Dorset

But as much as Poundbury is about traditional living and affordable housing, so, too, it is about that other great passion of The King —the environment. At his own home, Highgrove House, he has led by example of how to create space for Nature. At the time, he was considered something of an eccentric (to put it politely) for his decision not to cut the grass, to let things grow and to harvest using organic and traditional methods. Indeed, many then and some still now see Highgrove as a folly of royal privilege. But, what The King (and, indeed, others, such as Jake Fiennes, Isabella Tree and Charles Burrell) proved is that by making small adjustments and letting certain things just ‘be’, our wildlife can flourish. If we were all to make similar changes, such as letting the grass grow at certain times of year, sowing wildflowers at edges, double-glazing windows and appreciating a dandelion, we could recover so much.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that this passion should permeate into his projects, including Poundbury. The town is designed around people, rather than cars, at The King’s personal request. Homes are built with bird boxes, providing nesting spaces for swifts, which are currently being audited by the RSPB for future Government policy. It is a covenant of the site that windows must be built from timber, rather than plastic. Since 2017, every garage has been built with electric-vehicle charging capability. And, at Rainbarrow Farm, the Duchy produced the UK’s first biomethaneto-grid anaerobic digestion plant, producing enough renewable gas for 7,500 homes in midwinter and 100,000 in midsummer.

‘When I set out on this venture, I was determined that Poundbury would break the mould of conventional housing development in this country and create an attractive place for people to live, work and play,’ said The King. ‘Many people said that it could never succeed, but I am happy to say that the sceptics were wrong and it is now a thriving urban settlement.’ Indeed, such has been the success at Poundbury that a sister site, Nansledan, Cornwall, was begun in 2013 and welcomed its first resident in 2015. It will provide some 4,400 homes upon its completion and also focuses on traditional design, sustainability and local materials.

As much as he is The King, it might be beyond Charles III’s remit to provide a new town for everyone, everywhere. But the lesson we can learn from His Majesty, his home at Highgrove and towns such as Poundsbury and Nansledan is that our lived environment and the natural one needn’t be at odds—and we know that because he has proved it.

Alamy

OR the past 70 years, it has been the expectation that the monarchy should act in a similar way to Edwardian children—seen and not heard. When it comes to our King, however, it would be difficult to pretend that we are unaware of his opinions on, well, just about everything.

A polymath in a time of a specialisation, he is a rarity in more ways than one and, unlike his mother, we know more about him and his interests than perhaps any other monarch in modern times. And, unlike so many who have a wealth of opinions, he acts upon them with conviction. One such interest is the environment—the built and the natural—and his belief that the two can live in harmony.

In 1984, he described the extension to London’s National Gallery as ‘a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved, elegant friend’. As we know, words are easy, but, in 1993, he backed them up with deeds, when the town of Poundbury in Dorset was begun. Built in a traditional and local style, the town is a welcome reminder that not every new-build has to be quite so new and that the use of local and traditional materials and styles means not every extension to a town and village has to be quite so out of touch with the original.

Properties of the week

James Fisher

With a little help for our friends Lead the way with these properties that live alongside the land, rather than against it

Surrey, £2 million With an award under its belt for ‘excellence in architectural technology’, Fieldsend, near Sutton Green on the outskirts of Guildford, is an innovative and modern open-plan home that is a shining example of energy efficiency, boasting ground-source heating, a high degree of insulation and photovoltaic solar panels. The three-bedroom home makes the most of its south-facing aspect, with an almost entirely glass frontage that floods the reception areas, bedrooms and kitchen/dining area with natural light and allows potential owners to make the most of the views of the surrounding farmland. The gardens, which extend to about one-third of an acre, are mostly laid to lawn, with some surrounding woodland, and feature a rainwater-harvesting system used to supply a smart sprinkler system. Hamptons (01483 905242) Bristol, £1.2 million Situated on the outskirts of a local nature reserve near the village of Yatton, the delightful Henley Wood Cottage has a sense of total seclusion, as well as being at one with Nature. Set in almost four acres of gardens and grounds, the cottage sits unobtrusively on the hillside at the end of a country lane that becomes a bridlepath and footpath and great care has been taken to make the home as environmentally friendly as possible, both inside and out. The gardens are a special feature of the property and include large expanses of lawn, colourful shrub and flower borders, a wildflower meadow and mature specimen trees (including a 400-year-old yew), all of which can be observed from the elevated rear terrace. Inside, it has been finished to an excellent standard throughout, boasting solar panels, an Altherma air-source heat pump and double glazing. With four bedrooms and three reception rooms to boot, there is plenty of space for a family, as well as entertaining family and friends, and various outbuildings provide further opportunities for potential buyers. Savills (0117–933 5802) 286 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Properties of the week

Devon, £3.5 million Newly launched Knightstone Manor in Ottery St Mary is a beautifully presented, Grade I-listed manor house standing in some 18 acres of mature gardens, themselves surrounded by beautiful parkland in the Otter Valley. Offering nine bedrooms, the origins of the home date back to 1380, although it has undergone a number of remodellings during its 700-year history, most recently by the current owner in the early 2000s. The interiors of the property are ruthlessly traditional, with exposed beams, plaster and wood panelling throughout. One of the highlights must be the double-height great hall, with its decorative plaster friezes and wide, open fireplace forming the heart of the house. Another feature is the superb gardens and grounds, which surround the house. As well as formal areas, there is also a vegetable and cut-flower garden, whereas, further afield, there is streamside parkland, woodland, wildflower meadow and paddocks. The property also benefits from a detached threebedroom cottage and extensive estate outbuildings. Jackson-Stops (01392 214222)

Kent, £2.75 million Available for the first time in 40 years, Old Mumford Farm near Kingsnorth is a rare opportunity to acquire a small, Grade II-listed Kentish farmstead. Set in a highly accessible (yet rural) location, the property offers eight acres that contain the main house, two converted holiday cottages, a threebedroom detached barn and a mixture of formal and informal grounds. The main farmhouse itself dates from the 16th century, but was considerably altered in the 18th century and now offers six bedrooms and five reception rooms of period living. The gardens are a complete delight and designed as a series of ‘rooms’, each with their own style and character.

The highlight is the productive kitchen garden, next to the enclosed water garden, and there is also a pear and apple orchard within the grounds. Strutt & Parker (01227 473742) 288 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

London SE24, £2 million Designed by the acclaimed Knox Bhavan architects and completed in 2014, semi-detached 33, Elmwood Road is a distinctive contemporary twist on the classic Edwardian terraced home. The house, which offers between three to five bedrooms depending on your tastes, is situated in the heart of the North Dulwich Triangle and was also shortlisted for a RIBA award and Blueprint Design award in 2015. With living space spread over three floors and an EPC rating of B, it is both efficient and family friendly, with interiors finished to a very high standard using sustainable materials, such as bamboo flooring on the upper levels. A secluded garden offers space for entertaining guests and wildlife. Knight Frank (020–3815 9417)

Surrey, £1.6 million As well as being home to the medieval church that was made famous in the first scene of the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Betchworth is the location for the divine Mill House, a five-bedroom family home on the banks of a mill pond. This Georgian property operated as a flour mill until the 1920s and now offers a blend of history with modern design. Inside, the Grade II-listed house has been recently refurbished to a high standard, but has kept many original features, delivering the best of both worlds, and, outside, the magic from both the pond and the brook provide great spaces for entertaining or relaxing. The current owners have extended the garden by purchasing the orchard on the opposite side of the stream and the property also benefits from a groundsource heat pump. Fine & Country (07507 114672)

The face of Majesty Ever since Alfred the Great’s likeness was stamped on coins, royal portraits have marked the might of our monarchs, although–as Michael Prodger discovers–some are excessively flattering

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ORTRAITS of English monarchs are as old as the nation itself. It was Alfred the Great (848–899) who first dreamed of a united country and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons—although he never conquered the Danelaw, those parts in the east and north of the country ruled by the Danes. The first true ruler of a recognisable England was his grandson Æthelstan, who, after he captured York in 927, took the title Rex Anglorum—King of the English.

Nearly a century later, Cnut the Great, who reigned in 1016–35, became the first monarch to style himself ‘King of England’.

During Alfred’s own lifetime, coins were struck bearing his features. The images are crude—hardly a likeness at all—but, using the profile style inherited from Roman coinage, nevertheless show a beardless, straightnosed man with short hair neatly tied back by a band. So rudimentary is the portrait that it is doubtful that any of Alfred’s own courtiers would have been able to recognise their lord from it, but the penny made the royal visage familiar across his kingdom. Every subsequent monarch was memorialised and disseminated in the same way.

However, true royal portraits, with a proper resemblance to their subject, were a long time coming. By the time the Tudors won the throne, there were artists skilled enough to capture their individual features. The anonymous artist who painted Henry VII in 1505 portrayed a psychologically convincing figure—less an all-powerful monarch than a wily, mature man with a hint of judgement in his expression.

It was with Henry’s son Henry VIII that portraiture took on a prominent role in the practice of statecraft. The King was lucky to have, for the first time, an artist of real stature to portray him. When Hans Holbein arrived from Basel, he was fast-tracked to the Court: a recommendation from Erasmus brought him to Thomas More, who, in turn, presented him to the King. He would go on

to portray Henry VIII as a resplendent, if ox-headed, alpha male—massive, stern and not to be crossed. Here, at last, was a king who looked regal and whose gaze could inspire both fear and obedience.

As well as numerous portraits of courtiers, Holbein also painted Henry’s only son, the future Edward VI, as a miniature of his father —front on and born to his state. And it was, of course, another royal portrait that led Holbein to feel the chill of Henry’s displeasure.

When the painter travelled to the Continent to paint Anne of Cleves, to show the King what his potential bride looked like, he seemingly flattered her to the extent that, when Henry finally met her, he refused to consummate the marriage. Anne may have been no looker, but, according to the French ambassador, was nevertheless ‘of middling beauty and of very assured and resolute countenance’.

Henry’s daughter Elizabeth I had no artist of Holbein’s quality to call on and her portraits depict her status rather than her individuality. A series of emblematic pictures show her portrayers following a pattern and giving her allegorical meaning—the ‘Armada’ portrait presents her as the Queen triumphant, the Phoenix Portrait as a symbol of a resurgent England, the Sieve Portraits as the Virgin Queen. It was the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard who saw behind the mask. For his jewel-like portraits, he stared at the royal face longer and more intently than perhaps anyone else ever dared: the commoner from Exeter scrutinising the face of majesty.

By the time Anthony van Dyck arrived on these shores in 1632 and painted Charles I, flattery was once again in order. The King was a small man, even with his head on he stood only 4ft 8in to 5ft 4in tall, so van Dyck finessed his stature by painting two huge portraits depicting him on horseback, adding a few inches to the royal legs and spine

It was with Henry VIII that portraiture took on a prominent role in statecraft

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The ruler of the known world: Elizabeth I’s ‘Armada’ portrait makes her status clear

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for good measure. In the painting of 1633, Charles, accompanied by his riding master and equerry Monsieur de St Antoine, enters the viewer’s orbit through a triumphal arch, a magnificent figure dressed in armour and with an implacable gaze. No hint here that, off his noble white animal, he would stand little higher than a child and need steps to mount and dismount.

A mere artist, once viewed as simply another craftsman, could be ennobled Van Dyck owed the King his very best efforts.

The previous year, Charles had knighted his portraitist—an extraordinary recognition both of van Dyck’s importance in spreading such potent images of the Stuart monarchy and of the changed relationship between royalty and its painters. A mere artist, once viewed as simply another craftsman, could now be ennobled. Perhaps Charles was inspired by the story of a much more powerful ruler, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and his great portraitist Titian (whose equestrian portrait of the Emperor was the inspiration for van Dyck’s work). When Titian was painting Charles V, he dropped one of his brushes and, in a moment of etiquette-breaching noblesse oblige, the Emperor picked it up. ‘Sire, I am not worthy of such a servant,’ protested the mortified painter, to which Charles replied: ‘Titian is worthy to be served by Caesar.’

In 1635, van Dyck painted a revealingly intimate image of Charles I, a triple portrait —showing him front on, in profile and in

There is no hint of Charles I’s diminutive stature in van Dyck’s hands, only revered majesty

Roles reversed: Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, stoops to pick up Titian’s brush

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three-quarter view—to be sent to Rome so the great sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini could make a bust from it. In each of the aspects, Charles, with that rheumy-eyed look that van Dyck captured so well, wears a different costume, although the Order of the Garter remains constant. A legend immediately attached itself to the painting. According to one later commentator, when the painting was unboxed, Bernini, ‘with an anxious eye’ declared: ‘Something evil will befall this man, he carries misfortune on his face.’ To add to the frisson, a hawk supposedly pursued a dove into the sculptor’s studio, caught it and sprayed the bust with blood. These are illomened tales after the fact, but Bernini’s bust, one of the greatest of all royal artworks, did,

in fact, suffer a fate as grim as its subject: it was destroyed when the Palace of Whitehall burned down in 1698.

It was perhaps George III who was the luckiest monarch when it came to his portraitists. He had a clutch of magnificent artists at his disposal and was painted by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, Johan Zoffany and Thomas Lawrence, among others. In the Charles I-and-van Dyck tradition, both Reynolds and Lawrence were knighted.

The artists’ approaches were very different.

In 1779, Reynolds, the King’s official painter, although the Royal Family much preferred the less stuffy Gainsborough, showed a freshfaced George enrobed and enthroned in a scene that could have come straight off the stage;

Alamy; Getty; David Dawson. All rights reserved 2023/Bridgeman Images; Camera Press; Mark Williamson/Country Life Picture Library

Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) royal subject of all, Holbein’s gold-clad Henry VIII challenges anyone to defy his kingship

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 295

When the Queen met the king of art There was an inevitability behind Lucian Freud’s 2001 portrait of Elizabeth II—the world’s most famous woman and the world’s most famous painter. By this point in his career, Freud was celebrated for his huge pictures of naked, sprawling and fleshily overwhelming models, but condensed the Queen into a tiny, 23cm (9¼in) face-only portrait, somewhat incongruously pairing the Imperial State Crown with a blue meet-and-greet jacket. Freud usually required multiple sittings, innumerable hours, tricky for this particular sitter, so this was a relatively quick portrait, too.

The Queen was supposed to visit Freud’s studio for the sessions; but, shortly before they were due to start, a newspaper editor standing behind Freud at a red-carpet event overheard the painter let slip the information and published it, so Freud had to take his paints, brushes and easel to St James’s Palace. The Queen’s response to the portrait, which—to many eyes —looks more like Freud himself than Her Majesty, is unknown.

She seems to have restricted herself to noting simply, if unnervingly: ‘I’ve very much enjoyed watching you mix your colours.’

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Intimate, but still royal: Freud painting the Queen with his characteristic discernment

Zoffany, in 1771, showed him informally, almost indecorously, manspreading and with his hat and sword put to one side; Gainsborough, in 1781, forsook his usual vivacity and freedom to show him stiff and uncomfortable by a parkland colonnade; and, in 1792, Lawrence, the ultimate glamoriser, managed to give red-cheeked and occasionally raving ‘Farmer George’ both swagger and film-star presence.

Thanks to the length of her reign and the fact that it coincided with the age of celebrity, Elizabeth II was depicted by more artists than any of her predecessors. Photographers, not least Cecil Beaton, captured and buffed the beauty of the young monarch and, as she aged, she relentlessly attracted the camera lens. Artists were enticed by her every bit as much. The Italian portraitist Pietro Annigoni made her into a Renaissance princess in his 1955 painting, showing her wrapped in her Garter robe and staring into the distance. He settled on the look on her face only after she told him: ‘When I was a little child, it always delighted me to look out of the window and see the people and traffic going by.’

Remote and regal, yet romantic: Annigoni’s 1955 portrait of the newly crowned Queen

There is no traffic in this painting, but rather destiny on the far horizon.

Andy Warhol turned her into a screenprint, as he did other women who transcended the ordinary mortal sphere—Jackie Kennedy,

Far from the imposing figure of his bombastic predecessors, the seated George III is almost a relaxed figure in Zoffany’s portrayal

Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Chris Levine transformed her into a larger-than-lifesize hologram using the 10,000 photographs he took of her during sittings at Buckingham Palace. Her stillness is a reflection of their discussion about breathing techniques as an aid to meditation. In 1977, Golden Jubilee year, Jamie Reid even gave her a punk twist when he co-opted her portrait for the Sex Pistols’ single God Save the Queen.

Lawrence, the ultimate glamoriser, gave red-cheeked “Farmer George” film-star presence

Now, artists’ attention turns to the new King. The first official images of Charles III have already appeared and hark back more than a millennium to Alfred the Great. The sculptor Martin Jennings (page 220) has adapted the royal profile for the first coins —and postage stamps—of the latest royal age. Even in the chip-and-pin era, everyone can have a portrait of the monarch in their purse or pocket.

April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 297

Art market

Huon Mallalieu

Of coronets and kings Where did I leave my coronation hat? In a Christie’s New York sale, perhaps

I

F, by chance, you happen to be an earl, countess or viscount with an invitation to Westminster Abbey, but no idea what has happened to your coronet since its last outing, then you may be in luck. Three came up in an online auction at Christie’s in New York—perhaps the auctioneer could put you in touch with the buyers. Those of the earl and countess appeared to be in good order and ready to wear, but a needy viscount would have to move fast and find a goldsmith; although his had its 16 ‘pearls’, actually silver balls, it lacked its gold-tasselled crimson velvet and ermine cap of maintenance.

The coronets were part of what, for sale purposes, was known as the ‘Orange Blossom’ collection of sculptural silver and works of art, which must have been daunting if it was ever displayed in toto. Many had belonged to a remarkable collecting couple, C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love, who met in the 1920s on a slow boat to China where he was secretary to the American ambassador.

Fig 2 left: A George V coronet. $11,340. Fig 3 above: An 1838 Victorian coronet. $4,788 Fig 1 above: The Countess of Lonsdale’s coronet from the coronation of William IV in 1831. $6,048

Mrs Love, who died aged 100 in 2003, was a Guggenheim and they were generous in lending and donating items from their collection to American and European museums. Much was dispersed over three sales in 2004.

Fig 4 left: A silver Hopkins-Searles centrepiece dating from the 1880s. $163,800 This time around, the most expensive of the coronets, at $11,340 (£9,448), was one marked

by Carrington & Co in 1910 for an unnamed earl or countess presumably attending George V’s coronation (Fig 2). The Countess

Fig 5: An unknown coronation is depicted in this work attributed to English School, 17th century. $630 298 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

of Lonsdale’s coronet (Fig 1) for William IV in 1831, which was made by Robert Hennell and came with its painted metal carrying case, reached $6,048 (£5,039), and the vicecomital relic, made

by Paul Storr for the Victorian ceremony in 1838 (Fig 3), made $4,788 (£3,989). Because they are essentially for carrying and doffing, they are small, with diameters of 6in (earl), 5½in (viscount) and 4in (Lady Lonsdale).

There were few paintings in this collection, but one among them was of an actual coronation. The 28¾in by 45¼in canvas showed a monarch crowning his wife in the presence of various allegorical figures (Fig 5).

It had been downgraded from an attribution to Sir James Thornhill to mere English School, 17th century, and it is difficult to attach it to an actual event, as William and Mary were joint monarchs and each crowned by the Bishop of London. Perhaps the new owner, who paid $630 (£525) for it, might enjoy some research.

Art market The most expensive lot was, to my mind, also one of the ugliest. I like many things that were designed by or for Tiffany, but the Hopkins-Searles silver centrepiece with its six candle arms (Fig 4), probably designed by Charles T. Grosjean in the early 1880s, looks like a horror-film creature from the swamp. Nonetheless, it sold for $163,800 (£136,477). It may, however, be a key to the fate of a famous, vast—and indisputably horrific—painting currently listed as ‘whereabouts unknown’.

The centrepiece originally belonged to Mary Hopkins, widow of a founder of the Central Pacific Railway, who built a wonderfully over-the-top mansion on Nob Hill, San Francisco. She filled it with suitably opulent art, but, after her death in 1891, her second husband and adopted son battled over the inheritance, and then the mansion burned down in 1906 following the great earthquake. The now lost Suppression

Pick of the week

of the Indian Revolt painted in 1884 by the Russian war artist Vasily Vereshchagin, showing Indian Mutineers about to be blown from the muzzles of guns

by British soldiers, was photographed dominating a palatial room in the Hopkins mansion.

The ‘Orange Blossom’ collection included a number of modern silver items that would have fitted in well at Nob Hill. The largest was a 10ft-high, silver-gilt palm tree with illuminated coconuts (Fig 6), made by Mazzucato of Milan during the second half of the 20th century, which sold for $60,480 (£50,392). More restrained was a leather-cased gold knife, fork and spoon set carrying the arms of the French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (Fig 7). It was the work of Martin Guillaume Biennais of Paris, about 1830, and made $81,900 (£68,239).

Next week Good in Tents

Whatever happened to The Larder Invaded? In 1822, the 20-year-old Edwin Landseer was awarded a £150 prize (more than £17,000 today) by the British Institution (BI) for his painting with this title. The work itself has disappeared, but, in 1847, his elder brother, Thomas, made a mezzotint from it, copies of which are in the Royal Collection and museums, so the composition of an intruding cat being challenged by a guard dog is known. Unlike the Vereshchagin, it may yet be found.

People have sometimes wondered how Landseer managed to capture the actions of his animal subjects so well and now evidence has emerged as to his working method, at least in this case of the spitting cat. The London dealer Nicholas Bagshawe has a 30in by 25in painting by John Hayter (1800–95), which shows the scene in Landseer’s studio when he was working on The Larder Invaded. Hayter himself has loosed his terrier (not Landseer’s hound Brutus II, the real model), but is ready to catch it if it goes for the enraged cat before the pose can be sketched. Landseer must have been a quick worker, and his fierce concentration is evident, although not to a critic at the BI exhibition, who thought that the artist ‘is apparently lost in some mental abstraction of his art’.

The Hayter brothers were good friends and neighbours of the Landseers in the artists’ area around Newman Street, north of Oxford Street. If this studio looks rather splendid for a painter of Landseer’s youth, that is because he was living with his family in a building that housed his father’s highly successful engraving business. The BI prize enabled him to move to his own studio in 1824. Mr Bagshawe (www.bagshawes.com) is asking £75,000 for the Hayter, which has been in an American collection. Perhaps its rediscovery might strike a spark of recognition and lead to the reappearance of The Larder itself.

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Fig 6 right: A 10fthigh silver-gilt palm tree with illuminated coconuts. $60,480.

Fig 7 far right: A gold knife, fork and spoon set in a leather case carrying the arms of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. $81,900

Exhibition

All creatures great and small

The radical integrity of Il Poverello– humble, compassionate, pacifist–shines out The Kent mural is testament to the saint’s early reach, together with drawings of the friar with his brothers made on the manuscript Chronica Maiora by Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk at St Alban’s Abbey in Hertfordshire. It spread abroad even within his own lifetime—the first Franciscans to thrive outside Italy established a house in Canterbury in 1224 (the so-called Greyfriars).

In the century following his death, the Franciscans fostered the cult of their founder through an astonishing body of panel and wall paintings that, paradoxically for one who renounced all earthly possessions, would play a formative role in the development of early-Renaissance art.

Over the centuries, artists have reshaped the life and legends of the Italian mystic.

In the years following St Francis’s death, pictorial emphasis of his posthumous miracles—healings, exorcisms, visions—helped to keep the flame alive. In about 1290, Giotto, with collaborators, painted his innovative 302 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

A saint for 20th-century England: Stanley Spencer’s St Francis and the Birds, 1935

cycle of frescos in the upper church of San Francesco in Assisi in central Italy, chronicling the story of St Francis as a spiritual and earthly journey set in real landscapes and architectural spaces.

Sixteenth-century masters, such as El Greco and Caravaggio, reflected the Counter Reformation’s focus on the mysticism of its spiritual hero in their portrayals of the saint in ecstasy. Zurbarán’s St Francis in Meditation shows a bleak and intense, somewhat disturbing, solitary figure transported into

a trance-like contemplation of death; Rembrandt’s is a wild, bearded hermit praying beneath a tree. Painters in the 19th century returned to a more tender image of the saint and his associations with music and Nature.

For the illustrators of a 1980 Marvel comic, he is a superhero, Brother of the Universe.

Many of these works will soon be on show in a new exhibition at the National Gallery in London, which explores the art and imagery of St Francis through changing tastes, politics and religious thinking.

Tate/Tate Images; Private Collection c/o Sothebys New York; Lindenau-Museum Altenburg, Germany/photo: Bernd Sinterhauf; National Gallery of Ireland;

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RESERVED on a splayed window in a small Kent church is a littleknown image of St Francis made only a few decades after his death.

This fragment in the chancel of Doddington parish church is unique among English 13thcentury wall paintings in that it depicts the saint with his stigmata. St Francis, wearing his emblematic habit and triple-knotted girdle, stands on bleeding feet with hands raised in prayer. Overhead is a wing of the celestial seraph, who is described as having hovered over him, ‘fiery as well as brilliant’, imprinting his body with the wounds of the crucified Christ. The unprecedented miracle, which was revealed on his death in 1226, elevated Francis into a Christ-like figure; he was canonised two years later.

Jerwood Collection/Bridgeman Images; Photographic archive of the Sacred Convent of S. Francis in Assisi, Italy; Gift of Mr and Mrs Henry H. Timken/Bridgeman Images; Alamy

The story of St Francis of Assisi has captured the imagination of artists, musicians and poets for 800 years. Mary Miers discovers that the saint who befriended animals was also a radical reformer, whose teachings have a timely relevance

‘Saint Francis of Assisi’ at the National Gallery

In Frank Cadogan Cowper’s 1904 work Saint Francis of Assisi and the Heavenly Melody, the hollow-cheeked saint is lost in rapture

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Exhibition

The vivid colours of the Sultan’s court offset the humble robe of the barefoot saint in Fra Angelico’s Saint Francis before the Sultan, 1429

The visual narrative is paralleled by an extensive hagiography, from the first account by his disciple Thomas of Celano, The Life of Blessed Francis (1228–29), and the theologian St Bonaventure’s authorised text that guided Giotto, Legenda Maior (1263), to books by Hermann Hesse (1904) and G. K. Chesterton (1923). The personality that emerges is full of contradictions, yet the radical integrity of Il Poverello—humble, compassionate, pacifist, Nature-loving— shines out. For believers and non-believers alike, Francis has many lessons to teach us today and, for the thousands of pilgrims who flock to his shrines, relics in the form of autographs and a letter in his own hand, patched and threadbare habits preserved from his lifetime and vita-retables painted 304 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

with his likeness shortly after his death provide a captivating tangible connection.

Foremost among those shrines is Assisi on the flank of Mount Subasio, visible from afar across the Italian plain of Umbria. It was in and around this ancient hill town that Francis grew up, lived most of his life and died, and he would recognise much of the landscape today, with its walled settlements terraced above olive groves, sentinel cypresses and clay-tiled farmsteads backed by wooded hills. The recorded spot of his stigmatisation in the rocky wilderness of La Verna has been enveloped since the 15th century in a profusion of glazed della Robbia terracotta, but the remote sanctuary is still a desolate place in winter mists and snow. Wolves may no longer roam the hills above Gubbio, but, even when biting

winds sweep down from the Apennines, birdsong is ever present in the Valle d’Umbra.

Assisi’s little Baroque Chiesa Nuova is said to mark the site of the house of his parents, Pietro di Bernardone, a silk merchant, and his French wife, Giovanna. Francis grew up in a climate of violent rivalry between neighbouring cities and, as a flamboyant youth, aspired to become a knight. His ambition was tested when he was captured in battle and imprisoned for a year, later making several failed attempts to join an Eastern crusade. Disillusioned and in poor health, he became a loner and a pilgrim, experiencing mystical visions and becoming estranged from his father.

He lived as a beggar, wandering the countryside as a penitent, helping lepers and repairing churches. He was joined by a brotherhood,

who observed his ‘primitive rule’ as itinerant preachers, embracing poverty and spreading the message of Christ. Calling themselves the Friars Minor, they were officially recognised as an order in 1210 and attracted a growing following, including a branch of sisters led

by Chiara Offreduccio, the Poor Clares.

Francis the ascetic, who threw himself into a thornbush when troubled by sinful thoughts and willingly ‘married’ Poverty, may be difficult to empathise with today. Yet he was also the peace-maker who travelled to Egypt and befriended Saladin’s nephew, Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, when he was being besieged by Christians, and the social reformer who embraced the outcast. At Christmas in 1223, he got the villagers of Greccio to bring their livestock to the midnight vigil and re-created the Nativity scene with a manger, establishing the tradition of the Christmas crib.

Francis made a pact with a marauding wolf, rescued rabbits from traps and worms from roads However, it is for his legendary rapport with animals that we hold him in greatest affection. Many of the stories come from The Little Flowers of St Francis, a collection of folklore made in the late 14th century. Calling all creatures his brothers and sisters, Francis made a pact with a marauding wolf, befriended

Mortality is inescapable in Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1590–95, by El Greco

Left: Alone with the birds in Craigie Aitchinson’s take on the legend. Right: St Francis and his miracles in one of the earliest vita-retables April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 305

Exhibition a falcon, rescued rabbits from traps and worms from roads, built nests for doves and preached to the birds. ‘They listened, fluttered, throttled up/Into the blue like a flock of words,’ wrote Seamus Heaney. Artists, from 13th-century masters of fresco and stained glass to Stanley Spencer with his portly old man in slippers leading a gaggle of hens and ducks, have been inspired by the allegory to produce some of the most delightful images of St Francis.

His final years were troubled by a spiritual crisis as the order, with some 30,000 friars across Europe and no longer under his leadership, came increasingly under the influence of the politically charged and worldly Roman Church. In 1226, soon after he had dictated his Testament, Francis died at Portiuncula on the plain below Assisi, blind, weakened and nursed by St Clare. That night, a flock of skylarks flew up and wheeled above the house.

Thomas of Celano describes them ‘singing with tearful joy and joyful tears’.

‘Saint Francis of Assisi’ is at the National Gallery, London WC2, May 6–July 30 (www.nationalgallery.org.uk)

God’s poet

Still affecting, nearly 1,000 years later: Giotto’s St Francis Preaching to the Birds

The life and times of St Francis 1181/82 Is born in Assisi, Umbria

1202 Is captured at the Battle of Collestrada 1205–06 Undergoes a radical conversion

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The year before his death, St Francis composed his acclaimed hymn to God’s Creation, Canticle of the Sun. The saint saw God reflected in Nature and, in his beautiful poem, repeats the phrase Laudato si (‘praise be to you’), exalting the radiance of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, the sustenance of the elements and ‘our Sister Mother Earth, who feeds and governs us’.

In 1979, Pope John Paul II acknowledged Francis’s guiding example in showing respect for the natural world by declaring him the patron saint of ecology.

Pope Francis borrowed the phrase Laudato si for his 2015 encyclical letter,

which focused on the future of the planet: ‘This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.’

Giovanni Bellini’s St Francis in the Desert (c.1476–78, above) shows Francis as a hermit communicating with the Divine, his upturned hands imprinted with the stigmata. The beautifully observed landscape, full of creatures and plants, is a principal theme and we can almost hear Francis singing his Canticle as he stands open armed and in mid flow on the rocky ledge. The painting influenced 19th-century depictions of the saint in communion with Nature. It also inspired Antony Gormley’s body-cast, Untitled (for Francis), 1985.

1209 Visits Pope Innocent III in Rome, who duly approves his brotherhood’s ‘primitive rule’ and, a year later, sanctions the founding of the Franciscan order

Benedictines provide a chapel, Portiuncula (the tiny portion)

1226 Dies on October 3 and is buried at San Giorgio, Assisi 1228 Is canonised by Pope Gregory IX

1210–11 Bases his fledgling order, known as the Friars Minor, below Assisi, where the

1219 Travels to the Holy Land during the Fifth Crusade and is received by the Sultan of Egypt 1224 Undergoes the miraculous experience of the stigmata when on retreat at La Verna

1230 His body is entombed in the crypt of the newly built Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi, which is consecrated in 1253

From the fields

John Lewis-Stempel

As fresh as a daisy As he sets out to look for wandering sheep on a bright April morning, the sight of abundant sticky cleavers, golden dandelions and a galaxy of daisies transports John Lewis-Stempel back to the country games of his childhood Illustration by Michael Frith The shepherd on his pasture walks The first fair cowslip finds, Whose tufted flowers, on slender stalks, Keep nodding to the winds.

And though the thorns withhold the May, Their shades the violets bring, Which children stoop for in their play As tokens of the Spring.

‘April’, from the ‘The Shepherd’s Calendar’ by John Clare

A

N emerald wave-splash of cleavers up the hedge. When hurrying along the lane yesterday, I grabbed a handful of the cleavers’ Velcro-y tendrils, balled them up and threw them hazily over the gate to the waiting donkey. She has a taste for them. I misjudged the afternoon’s sailing sweet breeze slightly, she moved slightly and the bunched cleavers landed on top of her head, to sit like a green bird’s nest. She was not amused. I’m not one for diminishing the dignity of animals, but I confess to the difficulty of keeping a straight face at her comic headwear. As I leaned over the gate to restore her normal nobility, I was overtaken by one of those floods of memory of such vivid intensity that the effect is a physical arrestation. I was seven again, walking with my grandmother along the lane at Withington, and I dawdled behind to attach a strand of cleavers onto the back of her gabardine mac. A childish prank, known to generations of country kids; Galium aparine ‘cleaves’ to clothing and hair, hence the plant’s folk names ‘sticky billy,’ ‘gentleman’s tormentor’ and ‘sticky back’.

As I emerged from this reverie and continued on my way, I thought of all the flower games of childhood. And I wondered, are they lost to children today? The springtime verge yesterday, resplendent in April flowers and luxuriant grass, provided all the necessary aides-mémoires. There was dandelion, the stalk of which, when picked, indicated the height to be gained over the idle summer 308 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

holiday. (Curious how David, the tallest of us children, always found the longest stem.)

The gold mops of dandelions, when they transformed into fluffy seedheads, were our ‘clocks’, because, by counting how many puffs it took to blow all the fruits away, we knew the time of day. A puff equalled an hour.

An airborne parachute-seed of dandelion caught in the hand was a wish granted.

Ribwort plantain was “pop-gun plantain”, the deadliest weapon in the hedgerow arsenal, with an effective range of a whole three yards All along the verges of the lane, as I walked whippet-quick (there was talk of loose sheep, possibly mine), were galaxies of daisies, the stuff of daisy chains. It was the work of a moment back in childhood to make a ‘link’ —by using the thumb nail to make a small split in the stem and poke the next daisy’s head through—but an absorbing hour for the making of a chain for a necklace or a crown.

For village girls, Bellis perennis was also an oracle of love, the delicate white petals plucked whimsically to the rhyme ‘he loves me, he loves me not’. (The French have the same tradition of ‘effeuiller la marguerite’; but with the Gallic twist that the depetalling indicates the degree of love, from tout to pas de tout.) Ox-eye daisies and buttercups were similar love-diviners, although buttercups were more usually held under a play-mate’s chin, as he or she was interrogated by a tot of a Torquemada on their liking for butter.

A yellow glow on the skin meant you did.

The quicker I walked yesterday in the lemony sunshine, the thicker and faster came

the wildflowers, each species a memory trigger. At the bend, I could have daringly ‘grasped the nettle’. Patience rather than pluck was the key in childhood to pulling dogwood leaves apart to expose the elastic connecting tissues, a notional musical instrument. Ribwort plantain, meanwhile, was ‘pop-gun plantain’, the deadliest weapon in the hedgerow arsenal. The trick was this: you looped the wiry stem tight behind the flowerhead and tugged sharply: the brown, cone-shaped inflorescence shot off like

a bullet, with an effective range of a whole three yards.

If bored with shooting Plantago lanceolata’s hard-headed flowers, we could play a sort of conkers with the plant, which explains its local names of ‘soldiers’ and ‘fighting cocks’. The flower power, the floral armoury of the country child, was completed by the distinctive spiky heads of mouse barley, which were darts to pierce the armoured jumper of any putative knight. The greatest amusement, however, to be derived from

Hordeum murinum was placing the flowerspike head on the sleeve of a jumper near the cuff; this ‘mouse’ then crept up the arm by virtue of its retrorse barbs. Or, if in a competitive mood, the ‘mouse’ could be induced to race by swinging the arms backwards and forwards.

Then I saw ahead of me, where the lane starts to climb beside the oaks, two escaped sheep grazing. White sheep. We have black sheep in our family. However, I thought I should herd them home to their neighbour.

It seemed appropriate yesterday afternoon,

my mind wandering over the lost games of childhood, to gain their attention by making a grass whistle. So, I plucked a blade of wild oat, held it taut between my thumbs in hands clasped as if in prayer and blew. The rude vibrato bass notes sounded up the lane and over the hill.

Twice crowned victor of the Wainwright Prize for Nature writing, for ‘Where Poppies Blow’ and ‘Meadowland’, John Lewis-Stempel’s latest book, ‘Nightwalking’, is out now (Doubleday, £ 9.99) April 26, 2023 | Country Life | 309

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Did you know?

White Park-type cattle were once a form of currency when paying fines in Wales in medieval times

AYNOL cattle, which can be described as semi-feral in personality and sometimes suspicious of humans, are among the rarest of the rare. Most of the current population (measured in the low hundreds), which was originally established at Vaynol Park near Bangor, north Wales, in 1872, is now owned by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), of which The King has been patron since 1986— some of the animals are kept at his Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire. There is also a small herd grazing the flood meadows of the Duke of Westminster’s Eaton estate in Cheshire. However, the main herd remains at Leeds City Council’s Temple Newsam Home Farm in West Yorkshire, one of the largest rare-breed farms in the UK, having been

310 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

moved there after the sale of Vaynol Park in 1980. The RBST is responsible for the herd book.

These small, primitive, predominantly white, light-bodied cattle, with attractive black ears and noses and upswept horns (some are entirely black), are not especially commercial; their main use is in conservation grazing. Vaynols —as are the White Park, the logo of the RBST, and the wild Chillingham herd owned by Sir Humphry Wakefield at Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, where tourists may view them from a respectable distance—are descended from the ancient white cattle that long ago roamed the forests of Britain (the White Park was once known as the White Forest) or adorned medieval parks. KG

Alamy

Native breeds Vaynol

My favourite recipe

Tom Parker Bowles

Shrimply the best Scampi evokes easy pasta dishes or deep-fried pub grub, but call them langoustines and you have a dish fit for a king–or, indeed, The King, says Tom Parker Bowles

Oeufs Birkhall

Oeufs Drumkilbo was said to have been invented at the eponymous home of Lord Elphinstone, a handsome white building deep in the depths of Perthshire. One night, some guests arrived late, with dinner long gone. However, Madame Vodka, the cook, went through the icebox and found a cooked lobster, a brace of hard-boiled eggs, some prawns and a couple of tomatoes. She added anchovy essence, fish stock, mayonnaise and some aspic—and a great dish was born.

Lord Elphinstone happened to be the Queen Mother’s nephew and, after one bite of Madame Vodka’s new creation, she asked for the recipe, to pass on to her chef. Now, as ever with 312 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

nicotine-stained plaster cornices and sunbaked parasols alike. Scampi, the Italian plural, has long been adored in pastas and risottos, deep fried, too. As ever, the British were late to catch on to its manifold charms, with fishermen right up to the 1950s seeing them as bycatch, to be thrown overboard.

Or at best, as a treat for the crew. They’re also known by another name, Dublin Bay prawns.

Not because they were fished in Dublin Bay —rather, boats entering the harbour would flog them to Dublin street vendors, the likes of dear Molly Malone.

A langoustine is an Italian aristocrat in Loro Piana, flirting with aged Contessas But it was Young’s Seafood—according to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the late Nick Fisher, in the magisterial River Cottage Fish Book—that developed scampi as we know it for The Ritz in Piccadilly, soon after

the tales of certain dishes, some details might have been embellished. Indeed, I was quite rightly reprimanded by one of Lord Elphinstone’s descendants, who said the truth was rather more prosaic. Still, ‘it was one of my grandmother’s favourites,’ The King told me. And one of his, too; it’s still a regular starter at Birkhall. So, in honour of the coronation, I’ve changed the lobster to langoustines and replaced the parsley with tarragon, one of The King’s favourite herbs. I do hope Madame Vodka would approve.

Method oak gelatine leaves in iceS cold water to soften. hop langoustine tails and C prawns into small chunks and put in a large bowl. Dice the

the Second World War. In time, these deepfried nuggets moved from silver salver to pub platter and their production—the tails separated from the head, frozen to break down the membrane that attaches meat to carapace, thawed, shelled, cleaned, dipped, crumbed and refrozen—morphed from hand-cooked to industrial. We still devour more than 900 tons of those plump beige commas a year.

And although British food-labelling laws insist that only Nephrops norvegicus may be used, I’m pretty sure a few mountebanks slip in.

If you can, buy them live, always creelcaught, rather than trawled. Freeze for a few hours, then drop into lustily salted boiling water and cook for about four minutes.

As ever with crustaceans, the flesh can move from sweet bliss to mushy pap in a matter of seconds, so I always tend to slightly undercook. Eat warm with garlic butter or cold with mayonnaise. Or cut them in half, slather with garlic and chilli butter and put under the grill for a few minutes or atop the barbecue.

Otherwise, buy them freshly cooked from a decent fishmonger.

Oh, and don’t forget the claws. Hidden inside is the sweetest flesh of all.

egg and add, together with the diced tomato. arm the fish stock until just W simmering, then squeeze out the gelatine leaves and stir them into the stock. When dissolved, remove from heat. ix the mayonnaise, tomato M sauce, anchovy essence, Worcestershire sauce and a third of the fish stock. Gently fold this sauce into the seafood mixture, add herbs and adjust seasoning. Spoon into four ramekins or small glass bowls and smooth the tops with a palette knife. hill in the fridge for an hour C before glazing with the remaining fish stock/aspic mixture, then return to the fridge to set. catter with chervil leaves and S serve with hot brown toast.

Ingredients Serves 4 3 gelatine leaves

500g Scottish langoustine meat 75g peeled prawns 1 hard-boiled egg

3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced 100ml clear fish stock 100g mayonnaise

25ml tomato sauce

Splash of anchovy essence Splash of Worcestershire sauce 10g tarragon, chopped Few pinches of chives, chopped Salt and pepper

Chervil leaves, for decoration

StockFood

W

HAT a difference a name makes.

On the one hand, there’s scampi, breaded and deep fried, yours for less than a tenner, preferably presented in a basket, with a fistful of proper chips and a couple of sachets of tartare sauce so sharp it strips the enamel from your teeth. The sort of pub grub that would accuse you of spilling his pint and challenge you to a fight in the car park, before planting a smacker on your cheeks and announcing that you’re his very best mate.

Langoustines, on the other hand, are served whole, with fresh mayonnaise, or hewn in half, chargrilled and anointed with a herb- and garlic-infused dressing. They cost north of £20 each, serious restaurant food, elegant, but understated, like a minor Italian aristocrat, clad head to toe in Loro Piana, who flirts with aged Contessas and is a total stranger to socks. Two ends, then, of the culinary spectrum, but both exactly the same beast.

Nephrops norvegicus, to be precise, or the Norway lobster, found from Iceland down to Morocco and the Mediterranean, too.

And I love it in all its forms, from Wetherspoons to The River Cafe, devoured under

T

HE hum of bees is the voice of the garden,’ wrote Elizabeth Lawrence.

Certainly, there is no sound so evocative of a pastoral British summer than the rumbling baritone buzz of the bumblebee. For ‘the red-hipped bumblebee’ (as William Shakespeare styled him in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), it always appears to be Sunday afternoon. Although the honeybee is a perpetually revolving cog in an industrial machine, the bumblebee meanders lazily around. It never appears to be in a rush. Bumbling and tumbling in the flowerbeds, it seems a little sozzled, perhaps the consequence of all that amber nectar slurped with its long and hairy tongue from lime blossom and borage, blackthorn and honeysuckle. You feel that, if the bumblebee could talk, it would sound like The Fast Show’s Rowley Birkin QC.

You feel that, if the bumblebee could talk, it would sound like The Fast Show’s Rowley Birkin QC Like Mr Birkin, the bumblebee is hairy and rather dishevelled. Its feet—as Raymond Bradbury noted—‘are dusted with the spices of a million flowers’ and its shaggy, rotund body is at times so coated in pollen it looks like a water spaniel after ransacking a familysized box of honey-nut cornflakes. The bumblebee whirls and undulates, falls from petals and bumps into walls. Portly and unflustered, it appears happy with life. Perhaps William Blake was right when he said: ‘The busy bee has no time for sorrow.’

Appearances can be deceptive, however. The bumblebee is Nature’s upper-crust amateur, the C. B. Fry or Prince Ranjitsinhji of the insect world, making everything appear effortless, yet working like a demon. It may look and sound like a lazy, rotund, loafer, but, in flight, its powerful chest muscles vibrate like a plucked guitar string, beating its four wings about 200 times in a single second. It moves at a slow and awkward pace, but it is not for want of effort.

Similar to many burly creatures, bumblebees do not like hot and humid conditions. They prefer high altitudes and northern latitudes.

About nine million years ago, most likely in the Himalayas, they evolved from wasps.

That bothersome predator transformed Calling carder: the common carder bee is likely to be found in gardens across Britain

314 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

The bumblebee’s knees It may look a little sozzled and slow, but one bumblebee is all it takes to make a prairie and its buzz is the soundtrack of a thriving world, finds Harry Pearson

into an amiable vegetarian that fed its young on pollen. Unlike its ancestor, the bumblebee is universally popular, celebrated for its industry and as a symbol of good fortune. American poet Emily Dickinson might have likened the bumblebee’s body to a hearse and its hum to a funeral dirge, but most people across history and cultures have welcomed its appearance with a smile. Zeus made it golden in colour and gave it the strength to fly in the gusting winds that blow off the Aegean; in Rome, they were creatures of the Muses; to the Celts, messengers from the heavens. A bumblebee flying into your house is a portent of an important visitor, a bumblebee landing on your hand is a sign that you are about to come into money. They bring luck and sweetness.

The pleasingly descriptive genus Bombus was assigned to the bumblebee by the great French entomologist Pierre André Latreille, a former priest, who had honed his skills as a naturalist when imprisoned by French revolutionaries. The bee’s English name varied across the centuries. Charles Darwin called them humblebees, a term common in Victorian times, but which fell from favour in the 20th century. In Old English, the bumblebee was called the dumbledore. J. K. Rowling chose it as the name for her Hogwarts headmaster 316 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

because of his love of music. The author pictured a sturdy figure, meandering around the school corridors humming to himself.

The bumblebee’s buzz—so entertainingly rendered by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in his operatic interlude The Flight of the Bumblebee —may sound like the absent-minded noises of a contented man, but serves a greater purpose: the vibrations can dislodge sticky pollen from a flower, helping the earless bee to communicate with his fellows.

The dance of the honeybee is Strictly Ballroom, the dance of the bumblebee is “dad at a wedding” The bumblebee forages at dawn and as dusk begins to fall. It can travel almost a couple of miles in search of nectar. The returning bee may signal to his fellow workers that he has found a source of food by a series of erratic and uncoordinated movements.

For if the waggle dance of the honeybee is

Strictly Ballroom, the dance of the bumblebee is strictly ‘dad at a wedding’.

Bumblebees don’t make honey. They have no need for it. Unlike the honeybee, they are not here for the long haul. They are not building an empire. The bumblebee lives in small colonies of between 50 and 200 insects (the hive of a honeybee can contain 50,000 bees—a Fritz Lang metropolis of honey and wax). A queen honeybee lives for many years, the queen bumblebee for a mere 12 months.

The workers live a fraction of that. They are creatures of a single summer.

Inside the nest, the queen makes a ball of pollen and nectar and fashions pots from it in which nectar can be stored. These food reserves will sustain her when she’s laying eggs and will feed the newly hatched larvae.

Nectar provides energy, pollen the fat stores.

The first batch of larvae are male worker bees, the next female workers, in the final one the new queens are born. Once the male bee has mated with them, his work is done.

For him, there will be no unwinding years sitting around complaining about the softness of modern life; at the first sign of winter, he curls up and dies before you can growl ‘snowflake’.

Getty; Shutterstock; Alamy; Fiona Osbaldstone/Country Life Picture Library

Quick off the mark: the buff-tailed bumblebee puts in an early appearance in comparison with the majority of Britain’s other 23 species

Bumbling along

There are 24 species of bumblebee in Britain, of which the following seven are widespread White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) Commonly found in gardens, this is a large and robust species. Its substantial nests can hold more than 200 workers Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) One of the first bumblebees to appear, it is a big species that lives in many different habitats

Dropping in: the large and robust white-tailed bumblebee is a common garden visitor

In late summer, you may see one of the young queen bumblebees digging in loose soil or leaf litter, hollowing out a warm and sheltered burrow in which to spend the winter. Only the young queens hibernate; the older queens, like the workers, die when the weather turns cold.

In the spring, the young queen emerges from her slothful bed. She tunes up her stiff muscles with an elaborate warm-up routine of dips and stretches, then heads off house hunting. She looks for somewhere dark and dry. When a bumblebee comes tapping on your window in April, it is likely one of these young queens attracted by the shade she sees through the glass. She is looking for a hole, crevice or notch; the base of a drystone wall, perhaps, or the cleft in a tree. Often, she will settle on an old mouse burrow. Doubtless, this is what is in Babbity Bumble’s mind when she flies into Mrs Tittlemouse’s underground home in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse. Babbity resists the house-proud woodmouse’s attempt to shoo her away and instead takes up residence among the untidy dry moss in an empty store cupboard. Later, Mr Jackson the toad tries to chase Babbity away, but fails, complaining to his hostess: ‘I don’t like bumblebees,

they are all over bristles.’ Potter’s toad is unbothered by Babbity Bumble’s sting, although we might be wary. Only the female bumblebee has a stinger (the males are all noise) and, because it is unbarbed, she can sting a foe multiple times. However, she rarely bothers, for the bumblebee has little to fear in Britain.

Although some blue tits and great tits have lately learned to avoid the sting by only eating the bumblebee’s head, the bumblebees’ traditional enemy is the great grey shrike. The predatory ‘butcher bird’ can detect a buzz from 100 yards away, but is so rare in England these days that to be eaten by one might be considered a signal misfortune for a bee on a par with a human being flattened by a steamroller.

Despite the lack of natural predators, however, Britain’s population of bumblebees has fallen alarmingly over the past decades.

Rising temperatures may be to blame. This is a problem for more than merely aesthetic reasons. Dickinson noted that it only takes one clover plant and one bee to make a prairie.

The bumblebee is one of Nature’s greatest pollinators, helping in gardens and wild places and on our farms, too. Since 1992, for instance, domesticated bumblebees have

The bumblebee is one of Nature’s greatest pollinators, in wild places and gardens and on farms

318 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) Found in gardens from Scilly to Shetland, this bumblebee has two yellow bands on the thorax and one on the abdomen, plus a white tail Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) One of Britain’s most common species, it has a distinctive orange-red tail (although this is not unique to the species) and lives in large nests, with 150 or more workers Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) This small black, brown and white bee originally comes from the Continent, where it’s linked with woodland habitats, but, here, it can also be found in urban gardens Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) Found in many habitats, this is a small species, whose face is as long as it is wide. The early bumblebee queens are some of the first to fly in early spring Common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum) Very adaptable and distributed throughout Britain, this ginger-brown bee is often found in gardens been pollinating pretty much all the longseason tomato crops of the UK. Without the bumblebee, the widest prairie soon becomes a desert. The lazy, amiable hum of the bumblebee is not only the sound of our summers, it is the song of a healthy world.

In the garden

Time for a clear out

Don’t throw your unwanted garden plants away, pot them up to give to friends and family—or take them along to the local fête

his meticulous garden diaries, which stretch from his retirement in March 1945 to his death in June 1962. I don’t use his tools —they are too heavy for me— but knowing his diaries so well, how could I throw them away?

Occasionally, a very clear message rings out, ‘That must go’, but it is most likely to apply to things that one had nothing to do with in the first place. It happened to me 20 years ago, when we left the rectory and came to our present garden. Between the house and the view out over the steep valley was a purple plum (Prunus cerasifera ‘Pissardii’). Ever since I started gardening, I have harboured an irrational hatred of

Horticultural aide-mémoire Prune forsythia

Many gardeners make the mistake of pruning certain spring-flowering shrubs in summer and are then mystified when they fail to bloom the following year.

This is because summer pruning in such instances removes all the flower buds. Prune shortly after flowering and all will be well. Forsythia is a classic example, flowering currant another. When the new shoots extend and wander about after flowering, cut them back until the shrub assumes an orderly, but not pincushion-like appearance. Take the opportunity to remove any ungainly older shoots, but don’t get too carried away and don’t use shears. All things in moderation. SCD

320 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

purple-leaved plums. Before the removal men had even finished unpacking their vans, therefore, a handy son-in-law found the tools I had brought over the previous day and single-handedly felled and cut up the plum. Joy, undiluted joy.

In the decades since that first day, I have found it much more difficult to get rid of things.

In the new garden were plants I hadn’t grown in the old, so they needed time to show me what they could do. Some, such as Clematis armandii, did far too much. My RHS Encyclopaedia gave its spread as 6ft–10ft, but this specimen had already covered 50ft of the house front.

For every day that the young foliage looked its glossy, burnished best, there were at least 20 when the leaves looked battered and ugly.

I almost pardoned it when, the first spring, curtains of vanilla-scented flowers swayed in front of the windows. But, and it is a big but, it is a bully and it was completely swamping the wisteria, the vine, the honeysuckle and everything else we inherited here on the long south

front of the house. In the autumn, we cut out its great tentacles from among the other climbers and then dug out the root, the guilt assuaged to a great degree by the knowledge that its companion plants would now have a much better chance of surviving themselves.

We inherited, too, some pretty terrifying daffodils, doubles that flower about this time of year, with orange bits tucked in between bright-yellow petals. I have never got round to the labour of digging them out of the grass, but, as soon as they come into bud, I pick them and, visually at least, they cease to exist.

There are not the hours to pot up every spare scrap of pulmonaria Some perfectly decent plants end up on the compost heap. It’s a waste, yes, but there are not enough hours in the day to pot up every spare scrap of brunnera or pulmonaria. And we need a great deal of compost in our garden, so the surplus plants get used, albeit in a different way. The very best solution to the difficulty of getting rid of things has emerged in the shape of two of our daughters. They both have large gardens that need filling and have become mad keen gardeners. Self-sown hazel saplings? Gone. Seedling hollies? Gone. Yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)? Gone— although with a health warning.

And, in return, I have some beautiful seed-grown cobaeas in the greenhouse. Perfect.

The Seasonal Gardener

by Anna Pavord, published

by Phaidon, is out now Next week Succession

Alamy

I

HAVE a whole drawer full of odd socks in the bedroom.

But why? It’s not as if their partners are suddenly going to dance out from behind the washing machine for a joyous reunion.

And behind the mahogany doors of the wardrobe is a cavalcade of 30 years of fashion, including bell-bottom trousers from the first time they came around. I find it extremely difficult to get rid of things.

It’s the same in the garden. I can make a case for the Pisa-esque towers of plant pots in the potting shed. Plastic, yes, but recycled.

Endlessly. From time to time, some will float off to a fête, planted up with divisions of cymbidiums and Spuria iris, although not often enough to make a real difference. Fortunately, plants are now most likely to come from swaps with friends, swaddled in newspaper rather than plastic.

The towers may not be shrinking much, but at least they have stopped growing.

Leaning against the wall in one corner of the potting shed is a clutch of hoes of different sizes, a mattock, a pitchfork… all with heavy wooden handles. They belonged to my father’s uncle, a schoolmaster of a type that perhaps does not exist now: tall, solitary, ascetic, a mountaineer, formidably well read. He kept a fine orchard, a huge vegetable garden and grew splendid auriculas. As well as his tools, I have

Anna Pavord

Books

Edited by Kate Green

Making sense of the East-West divide Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949–1990 Katja Hoyer (Allen Lane, £25)

A

324 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Emotion and austerity: Katja Hoyer offers a rare glimpse of life Beyond the Wall in post-war Berlin

stature. As she took a final bow, she flung her arms wide and her kimono flew undone to reveal total nakedness. The audience roared with delight. Humans after all.

Katja Hoyer, a young research fellow at King’s College, London, was born in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and is, she says, ‘a confused German trying to make sense of my country’s past and its place in Europe and the world’. This means confronting her GDR past, too, for ‘consensual reunification does not mean that life in East Germany deserves to be forgotten or filed away as irrelevant history’.

She, therefore, traces the ‘arc of the state’, from Stalin’s planting of German Marxists exiled by Hitler, to the fall of the eponymous wall. Her book is humane, deeply historically informed and compelling. That said, not all is easy reading. It is now reckoned that, in 1945, the Red Army raped some two million German women. The author deals with this better than

Reunification does not mean life in East Germany deserves to be forgotten any I have read and asserts: ‘The terror of the spring and summer of 1945 would resonate through East German memory for decades.’

Indeed, Miss Hoyer makes clear just how much the GDR can be understood only through the prism of the Second World War. She has interviewed scores of former citizens, from functionaries to hausfrauen, and drawn on numerous unpublished sources. The picture is mixed, including, for instance, the literally chilling, yet strangely admirable conditioning of GDR youth in the heyday of the 1960s and 1970s: ‘Many older East

Germans remember with a mixture of nostalgia and discomfort how they began a day of lectures with a shivering hour in a draughty swimming pool at 7am.’ Most touching is her account of the approach of reunification and of how East Germans emerged blinking into the sunlight. In November 1989, Ines Stolpe, a young kinder-garten teacher, goes across the now open border into Bavaria simply to have a look at the other side. Although puzzled by some of the materialism and embarrassed by the West German government’s generosity (she receives a 100 Deutschmarks gift on first-footing), she is struck by how welcoming people are.

How much ‘nostalgia and discomfort’, however, remains with the GDR’s former citizens in today’s confused Germany? That is the question. For, as Miss Hoyer concludes, reunification is no more the end of history than unification was in 1871.

Allan Mallinson

Ddrbildarchiv.de; Getty

S did many a soldier in the British Army of the Rhine, I went to East Germany numerous times in the 1970s and 1980s. Or, rather, I went through it, by road or military train, to get to Berlin. There were only a handful of permitted routes and the authorities didn’t allow stopping. Some of us, of course, would manage to pause at an autobahn raststätte with the excuse that a child needed the loo, but the experience did nothing for the appeal of Communism, even in the most affluent of the Soviet satellite states.

We could go into East Berlin— the Soviet sector—as long as we were in uniform, for, under the four-power arrangements frozen in time since 1945, we and the Russians there were still officially allies. In all these forays, however, I never managed properly to converse with an East German.

They seemed to recoil from a British uniform and they didn’t smile much either—except, of course, the children, until their teachers scolded them back into line after they’d shown interest in non-Communist soldiers.

I began to wonder whether they were all chronically constipated or if Marxism made everyone behave like Alec Guinness playing the Bolshevik policeman in Dr Zhivago.

Then, one day at the opera, the mask slipped. We’d gone to see Joachim Herz’s staging of Madam Butterfly. The audience, as usual, kept their distance (perhaps they associated us with the faithless Pinkerton). Applause at the end was respectful, but hardly enthusiastic. Cio-Cio-San, ‘Butterfly’, was played not by a slip of a girl, but by a mature lady of Rubenesque

Books Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Edited by Lawrence Booth (John Wisden & Co, £57)

T

HIS year’s Wisden anchors itself firmly in its time, with an obituary of Elizabeth II, an article on the war in Ukraine and repeated references to covid.

The obituary is a lengthy one, considering Her Majesty had little interest in cricket beyond her formal duties, such as that of MCC patron. More bizarrely, there is a full-page obituary of Queen Victoria, who ‘expressed little interest in sport’ and ‘found cricket baffling and dull’.

Ukraine was expected to receive associate membership of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s global governing body, last July. The game came into the country with university students from India and was adopted by locals ‘because Ukraine is always interested in Hands of Time: A Watchmaker’s History of Time Rebecca Struthers (Hodder & Stoughton, £22)

T

ED, could you pass me my record collection?’ says Dougal, in one of my favourite scenes from the comedy series Father Ted. ‘Okay, here it is.’ Ted passes him a single record. ‘Dougal, you need more than one record for a collection. What you have is a record.’ What I have is a watch (a decent watch, as it happens, but still only one) and yet halfway through Hands of Time I found myself searching eBay for a onedollar, 1896, Ingersoll Yankee (40 million sold, which did for personal timekeeping what Ford later did for personal transport) and poring over forthcoming luxurywatch auction catalogues for, say, 326 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Jonny be good: the explosive England batsman Jonny Bairstow

ideas that help it to identify with cultures that aren’t Russian,’ says the president of the Ukraine Cricket Federation. ‘Cricket helps connect Ukraine to India, Pakistan, Australia, England... in Russia, cricket isn’t even officially recognised as a sport. It is classed as a hobby, the same as knitting or backgammon.’ But then history intervened and the ICC denied the membership as ‘there is currently no cricket activity taking place in Ukraine’.

Covid pops up repeatedly. In the Test match between South Africa and Bangladesh at Port Elizabeth last April, ‘Glenton Stuurman and Khaya Zondo became international cricket’s first Covid substitutes; Zondo did not bat or bowl on what counted as his Test debut, and fielded for less than an hour’.

Tanya Aldred contributes a piece on how the game attracts children with autism for, as Tasha Alach of the Autism Association

one of the first ever wristwatches, an antique Cartier Santos Dumont.

I contemplated trips to see the oldest-surviving verge escapement in the world, completed in 1386 and housed in Salisbury Cathedral, and to Israel to see the most valuable watch, created by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Marie Antoinette.

Like clockwork: learn what makes a watchmaker tick in Hands of Time

Watchmaking is a critically endangered skill More surprisingly, I developed a genuine interest in sand clocks and detached lever escapements, complications and fusee chains.

In short, I became time obsessed.

Watchmaking is listed as a critically endangered skill on the UK’s Heritage Crafts Red List. There are only about a dozen watchmakers left, producing, between them, fewer than 100 watches a year.

Dr Struthers (she has a doctorate

in horology), who is among their number, has written an extraordinarily beguiling book. She begins by exploring the nature of time itself. Time is, apparently, the most used noun in English and yet in

of Western Australia explains: ‘It is such a great match... the sport has clear rules and expectations, opportunities for social interaction, like when waiting to bat, and it is not a fast sport.

It gives the child time to think about how to play.’

Modern Wisden loves creating awards. The latest, the repurposed Wisden Trophy, is for the outstanding Test performance of the previous 12 months. The inaugural winner, Jonny Bairstow, was Wisden’s first Schools Cricketer of the Year (2008), Wisden Cricketer Of The Year (2016) and won Wisden Book of the Year (2018) for his autobiography, A Clear Blue Sky. If Wisden creates an award for most awards won, Bairstow would win this, too. However, its most famous accolade has always been its five Cricketers of the Year, which players can only win once. This year’s quintet are Tom Blundell, Ben Foakes, Harmanpreet Kaur, Daryl Mitchell and Matthew Potts.

Roderick Easdale

many languages there are no words for time-related concepts, such as waiting. She goes on to consider how the invention of timekeeping altered human societies, making Einstein’s theory of relativity comprehensible in the process.

The history of timekeeping itself is treated with a light touch, consisting of one fascinating and frequently romantic story after another, from the 40,000-year-old Lebombo Bone to Mary, Queen of Scots’s skull watch, and the invention of Greenwich Mean Time to a life-sized elephant water clock.

This book is also a memoir, a highly personal account of Dr Struthers’s own work and fascination with watchmaking. She brings the craft of making and repairing watches to life and even the glossary is an engaging read. Be warned, however: if Hands of Time affects you as it has me, you may find yourself taking up what could be an extremely expensive hobby.

Jonathan Self

Crossword A prize of £25 in book tokens will be awarded for the first correct solution opened.

Solutions must reach Crossword No 4777, Country Life, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR, by Tuesday, May 2. UK entrants only

ACROSS 7 Dictionary definition of going by the book? (14) 9 Dilemma when daughters are in bother (6) 10 Chlorine colour scale (7) 11 Bear to stop by river (6) 13 Dungaree pattern is too young (8) 14 Writer says Saul’s son joins fleet (8,5) 16 Douse using replacement blend (8) 18 Bacterium flees from foreseeable disaster (6) 20 Period in canteen agency (7) 21 Awkward when left in France (6) 23 Throwing it out of a window sent federation away (14)

DOWN 1 Supply speech with nothing left out (6) 2 Small sweet potato (4) 3 Humble troops take time in cellar (8) 4 Lewd queen and empress naked (6) 5 Hide barrel store for soldier (10) 6 Acceptable that nothing left (3,5) 8 Incentive to act on merengue recipe (13) 12 Not recorded that burned menu dish (10) 14 Excursion I took with former monarch was more jolly (8) 15 Kidnap chicken (8) 17 University lecturer can be patron of library (6) 19 Losing seat (6) 22 Group is part of the community (4)

4777

TAIT

SOLUTION TO 4776 ACROSS: 1, Understandable; 9, Overdo; 10, Cockatoo; 11, Clutch; 12, Northern; 13, Tandoori; 16, Trumps; 17, Static; 19, Norsemen; 21, Parapets; 22, Lesson; 24, Vendetta; 25, Thesis; 26, Forward-looking. DOWN: 2, Novella; 3, Egret; 4, Sloth; 5, Ascension Island; 6, Decorator; 7, Boathouse; 8, Ego trip; 14, Dittander; 15, Orchestra; 18, Tea leaf; 20, Emotion; 22, Lotto; 23, Sheik.

The winner of 4775 is Robert Harries, Denbighshire

330 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

Bridge Andrew Robson H ERE are my two favourite boards of the 2022 Gold Cup—in which my team lost in the semi-finals. First, a pleasing declarer-play challenge.

Plan the play in Four Spades on the nine of Diamonds lead— East’s bid suit.

Dealer South Neither Vulnerable

Our second Gold Cup deal is a defence—adopt the role of West.

You lead the King of Clubs, declarer winning the Ace. At trick two, declarer leads up a Spade and you win your bare Ace. You now cash the Queen of Clubs and all follow. What next?

Dealer East East-West Vulnerable

AK1097 9 A653 983

K1052 Q953 107 843

864 1043 KQJ108 106

32 N QJ54 W ✢E 9 S AQJ742 QJ5 AK862 742 K5 South 1

Pass

2 (3)

J87643 J AKQ4 A2

West

North

Pass

Dbl(2) Pass

2

Pass

East

Dbl(1) 2 4

Q7 K876 J9863 97

A N A1042 W ✢E 52 S KQJ1065

End

1) A Two Spade bid may appear more obvious and, while North is worth Two Spades, he is keen to ‘right-side’ the Spade game to protect his partner’s putative Club holding. The negative double shows Spades, but typically only four (unless too weak to bid Two Spades, which shows at least five).

2) See (1). This values-showing double has the same goal in mind—partner declaring Four Spades.

3) Knows his partner will not read him for four Spades, given his failure to bid Two Spades the last round.

You have eight top tricks and there’s little possibility to score a sixth Spade trick. You need instead to make a long Heart and the King of Clubs and here’s the way to do both.

Win the Ace of Diamonds (and know from the bidding West has no more Diamonds), cross to the Ace-King of Hearts (throwing either minor), ruff a third Heart and draw three rounds of Spades, finishing in hand. The scene is set.

At trick eight, lead a fourth Heart and let West win the Queen, discarding (either minor) from dummy.

West has only Clubs remaining and, say, cashes the Ace and follows with the Queen. You win the King and can now enjoy the fifth Heart. That’s nine tricks in the bag, with a Spade to come nestling in dummy. Game made.

South

West

North

East

1

2

2

Pass

Pass 4

End

Unless declarer has a seventh Spade, there is no need to switch to Diamonds, fearful declarer will discard a Diamond from hand on a late Heart winner in dummy (if declarer holds say King-Knave doubleton of Hearts and Acelow of Diamonds). In fact, with partner as dealer having not preempted in Diamonds (including a Weak Two), declarer will surely have at least three Diamonds and probably four. If partner has King-Queen of Diamonds, he will always score a trick. If declarer has two losing Hearts, they will not run away.

So does it really matter what you as West do? Well, yes it does in one precise scenario—the actual layout. Have you spotted the winning defence?

It may appear best for you to lead a third Club, enabling East’s now-bare Queen of Spades to be promoted. However, if you lead that third Club at trick three, declarer will succeed, for although East’s can ruff with the Queen of Spades, declarer will discard his losing Heart from hand.

First, you must cash the Ace of Hearts then lead the third Club.

And note that, despite holding the King of Hearts, East should discourage on the Ace of Hearts, as he wants you to lead that third Club next, knowing it will defeat the game.

Take a gold star if you found the correct defence.

Spectator

T

HIS should be a very good week for the man who first constructed the coronation service, for King Edgar in 973.

He happens to be my favourite homegrown saint and Archbishop of Canterbury, plus the feistiest blacksmith in the history of England. St Dunstan, who died in 988, was for years the most revered saint in Britain, until his cult was eclipsed by Thomas Becket. The latter, it is true, was assassinated in grievous circumstances, at the sanctuary of his own altar in Canterbury Cathedral, but I have always found him hard to love.

At school, we learnt how Becket became the boon companion of Henry II. They roistered together, drank too much, and fooled around.

When Henry wanted a new, compliant archbishop of Canterbury, he proposed Becket, who was ordained and made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, so Henry looked forward to years of easy relations between church and state.

We all know what came next.

Not the conclusion we were invited

Jason Goodwin

How to be a saint to draw as schoolboys, but I do not think it reflects much credit on Becket. Suddenly invested with the power of an archbishop, it ran to his head and he who had been Henry’s greatest chum became his most irritating antagonist.

It led with some justification to the most famous muttering in the history of mutterings: ‘Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?’

St Dunstan seized the Devil by the nose until he screamed for mercy Becket hogged the limelight even in death, eclipsing his predecessor, St Dunstan. Yet Dunstan was not only a great politician and church leader, he was a poet, artist, illuminator of manuscripts, brewer and blacksmith, patron saint of musicians and bellringers.

TOTTERING-BY-GENTLY By Annie Tempest

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348 | Country Life | April 26, 2023

His humble self-portrait in a religious manuscript still exists more than 1,000 years later. Churches dedicated to him stand at either end of the City of London and his blacksmith’s tongs decorate the coat of arms adopted by Tower Hamlets. Tiring of the Devil’s efforts to tempt him from his forge and his devotions, Dunstan grabbed his tongs from the furnace and seized the Devil by the nose until he screamed for mercy. That’s an Archbishop of Canterbury.

He lived, of course, in an age of giants. My son Harry’s dissertation is on Anglo-Saxon saintly kings, of whom there were at least five. There would be more, but Harry is more scrupulous than me and won’t admit any kings whose existence is in any doubt.

Oswald and Edwin fell in battle, inspired like Constantine by visions of the Cross. Edward, murdered by supporters of his stepmother and associated with miracles soon after, was buried, venerated and forgotten. He lies in the orthodox chapel at Brookwood, Surrey.

About Kenelm, little is known.

Edmund, who ruled in East Anglia in the 9th century, was captured

by Danes, who tied him to a tree and shot him with arrows until he ‘bristled like a hedgehog’. They lopped off his head and hurled it away. When villagers searched for it, it called out ‘Here, here, here’ and was found cradled between the paws of a huge wolf. Head and body were finally reunited and interred at Bury St Edmunds.

All Harry’s saintly kings came to a sticky end, but I’m glad to say it’s not automatic. Edward the Confessor died in his bed and St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, had a long and happy life, discovering holy relics in Jerusalem and Constantinople.

Harry’s kings became saints by popular acclaim, the kind of sainthood worth achieving if you are a modern king, whose life through thick and thin is devoted to helping the less fortunate, upholding faith and caring for the planet.

Next week Jonathan Self

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