Every summer, Buckingham Palace opens to the paying public for a chance to look at the Palace’s sumptuous state rooms alongside a specially-curated exhibition. And it’s no surprise that the theme of this year’s opening is the coronation, with a chance to view up close some of the items that were center-stage on May 6.
The outfits worn by King Charles and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey will be displayed for the first time starting Friday, July 14, in a special coronation display. The outfits will be staged in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace, which was used by the royals as a rehearsal space for the big event. Robes, jewelry, and insignia also form part of the exhibition alongside the anointing screen, throne chairs and designs for the coronation invitation.
“People will really be able to look at the details of the craftsmanship,” Sally Goodsir, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Royal Collection Trust told T&C. “I think with the complexity of the coronation service and the distance that the television cameras had to be in the Abbey, we didn’t see things like the detail of the embroidery on the robes, the details of the coronation invitations…The anointing screen was seen from several meters away, but in the exhibition you are within a meter of it.”
A highlight is the embroidery on Camilla’s dress, which was designed by Bruce Oldfield and features floral emblems as well as the names of her grandchildren and images of her two Jack Russell Terriers, Beth and Bluebell. “The embroidery on the Queen’s robe is I think just absolutely stunning,” Goodsir said. “A detail that perhaps couldn’t be seen in the large congregation. And the thoughts that went behind it—why the certain flowers were chosen, what they mean to her, what they mean to the late Queen, meant to the King. There’s this real sort of family element and I think that’s reflected as well in the names of her grandchildren which were embroidered on the dress, so a little bit of her family went with her into this incredibly important occasion.”
The King and Queen were involved in the curation of the exhibition and toured in on Wednesday, July 12. The first thing visitors will see when they arrive at the Palace is the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which was used by the couple to travel to the May 6 ceremony. The Gold State Coach, which they returned in, remains on display in the Royal Mews.
Buckingham Palace is currently undergoing a 10-year £369 million refurbishment, with the state rooms and private apartments gradually being rewired and repaired. While the Palace supplements its income by opening to the public each summer, the royals are funded by the British taxpayer and receive millions from the Treasury each year. This year, annual accounts showed that the royal household dipped into reserve funds to cover spending in the financial year April 2022 to March 2023, in part because of the costs associated with the Palace refurbishment.
The special coronation display is included in a visit to the Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace, July 14 – September 24, 2023. For visitor information and tickets visit rct.uk.
Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy has reported on the British Royal Family since 2010. She has interviewed Prince Harry and has travelled the world covering several royal tours. She is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America. Victoria authored Town & Country book The Queen: A Life in Pictures, released in 2021.
