Royal Fashions: Court Splendour from the Tudors to Today
On day one Jacqui Ansell from Christies Education took us though the clothes worn for coronations and the objects which monarchs can be seen holding and wearing in their portraits. She talked us through how the crown jewels were melted down in the Civil War and how Charles II reinvented them, as well as discussing some of the jewels in the Imperial Crown.
She also talked about the idea of court dress and why this was often quite based on the fashion of a previous generation as well as comparing the competing courts of England and France.
On the second day she concentrated on George IV and the idea of the presentation at court looking forward to the reign of Queen Victoria. Ansell used Lily Langtry’s account of being presented from her autobiography extensively, highlighting that she was in fact the mistress of the Prince of Wales at that time. She had previously also looked at George IV’s mistresses as these included the mother of the 4th Marquis of Hertford, who had collected much of what is now in the Wallace Collection itself.
I say timely as, half an hour before the end of the second day of the course, the news came through that the Queen was gravely ill and of course the sad news that she had died came later that day. Since then, much of what had felt a little archaic during the talk has come to life and will continue to be played out on our televisions. Maybe another art form to be added to Ansell’s next talk!
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