Come and see for yourself

The main conservation treatment of the cloth of state from Queen Anne's throne canopy has now been completed and it has been hanging in our workroom for a week while we carry out some all-important structural checks. This will confirm that our interventions have done their job and are supporting the damask as intended.

The complex conservation of the coat of arms embellishment is underway and this will be completed in the New Year, when it will be stitched back in place before the throne canopy is installed in the Presence Chamber at Kensington Palace in 2017.

If you are visiting Hampton Court Palace next week, do be sure to visit the Queen’s Guard Chamber where you can see us carrying out a very important trial. We have built a brand new frame to support the roof (tester and cornices) of the canopy.

We will be testing this using a combination of real objects and replica fabrics of similar weight and feel to trial the hanging mechanism and give us an insight into how the complete canopy will look when it goes on display in March 2017.

See the results of this trial in our next post…

Charlotte Gamper
Senior Textile Conservator

Acquired with the assistance of the Art Fund. Conserved with assistance from Lord Barnby’s Foundation, Idlewild Trust, The Radcliffe Trust, The Leche trust, Broadley Charitable Trust and the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers. We are grateful for their support.