In the lead up to our holiday I contacted Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to see if I could have a peek behind the scenes. As a member who lives in Australia I don't get to attend the regular functions held at the palaces and as it was my birthday I hoped that we could arrange something.
Happily I was told I could visit the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection (RCDC) housed in Hampton Court Palace and would 7th January be OK? Yes indeed it would be more than OK I replied.
So this morning we caught the 111 double decker bus from our hotel in Heathrow right to Hampton Court. A stop start journey of about 45 mins and I was really looking forward to the visit but a tad nervous.
The appointment we had with curator Eleri Lynn and staff member Kate was at 10.30am but we were early and that gave us time to wander the grounds and look at the Tudor exteriors. So exciting to think of Cardinal Wolsey, King Henry VIII and his many Queens, the Stuart monarchs right up to the Georgian kings.
At our allotted time we presented ourselves and our identification to the RCDC office and were met by Eleri & Kate. It turns out they used my letter to find out my particular favourite royal periods and had items prepared for viewing in a back storeroom.
Everything here is stored in temperature, light and humidity controlled rooms. The items have been placed in freezing conditions to kill any moths or bugs and repaired as needed before logging and storing.
Slowly I understood how much thought that had gone into what was shown.
3 different outfits worn by Diana- a hacking jacket with her name inside would have been used during her time at boarding school and is a private item not seen in public, the tweed jacket and skirt she wore on her honeymoon for a photocall at Balmoral and a teal blue dress and jacket worn to visit the then Australian Prime Minister at The Lodge, Canberra Australia in March 1983
A tweed jacket blazer and trousers worn by the Prince of Wales ( later to become Edward VIII as in Wallis Simpson fame).
A 70s swingin' swirly patterned dress owned by Princess Margaret. (Her wardrobe was inherited by her daughter Lady Sarah Chatto and is cared for by RCDC)
A lovely pink dress that HM The Queen was pictured wearing when she was a baby (and known then as HRH Princess Elizabeth of York) . Also a beautiful floral dress also worn by a young Princess Elizabeth.
Eleri opened a box and my eyes flew open and said " the Bristowe Hat". Indeed it was and if you are interested in reading about it here is a link:
https://blog.hrp.org.uk/curators/it-belongs-in-a-museum-the-bristowe-hat/
Also on show in the Palace itself was the Bacton Altar Cloth which Eleri had a hand in buying for RCDC:
We got talking about the Australian bushfires and how a relative of Eleri's was in Australia on holiday at the time. We discussed our home being 20km from a fire front but there was no way to get back quickly and we had to keep on with our holiday.
After the RCDC, Harry was bored and we gave him the travel card for him to go back to the hotel- on the 111 bus and off he went. I probably wouldn't do the same in Sydney but he is becoming more independent and finding his way around London was quite an achievement even for an adult.
Ben, Maddie and myself kept on exploring the Palace but I think we would need another day or two to see it properly- next time.......
Later we found out Harry's double decker had broken down enroute to the hotel. The bus driver and Harry waited for the replacement bus and continued on their way.
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