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The Royal Collection brings together works of art of all kinds, comprising some 9,000 pictures, enamels and miniatures, thousands of drawings, watercolours and prints as well as many thousands of books, items of furniture, sculpture, glass, porcelain, arms and armour, textiles, silver, gold and jewellery (including the Crown Jewels). The majority of items in the Royal Collection were acquired before the end of the reign of King George V (d.1936).
The Collection has largely been formed by succeeding sovereigns, consorts and other members of the Royal family in the three hundred years since the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. Some items from the collections of earlier monarchs, such as Henry VIII and Charles I, also survive, though the vast majority of the magnificent collection inherited and formed by Charles I was dispersed on Cromwell's orders during the Interregnum. The personalities now chiefly associated with notable additions to the Collection are Frederick, Prince of Wales, George III, George IV, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and, in the 20th century, Queen Mary (Consort of King George V). The Royal Collection is the only collection of major national importance which receives no Government or outside funding. It is held by The Queen as Sovereign in trust for her successors and for the nation and is not owned by her as a private individual. The administration, conservation and presentation of items in the Royal Collection are funded by income from the department's trading arm, Royal Collection Enterprises, which in turn comes from visitor admissions to Windsor Castle, The Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and the shops at these locations and related activities. The income is now administered by the independently constituted Royal Collection Trust. The Collection is presently housed in the following principal locations: Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, The Tower of London, Kew Palace and Cottage, Windsor Castle, Frogmore House, Sandringham House, Balmoral Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Osborne House and the Swiss Cottage. A substantial number of objects are on indefinite loan from the Collection to national institutions, including: the British Museum, National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of London, National Museum of Wales, National Gallery of Scotland and Brighton Pavilion. Items from the Royal Collection are frequently loaned to temporary exhibitions in the United Kingdom and abroad, to travelling exhibitions entirely composed of items from the Royal Collection, and to in-house exhibitions shown at The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, The Gallery at Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. There are very few major items in the Royal Collection that have not been on display in the United Kingdom or abroad during the last 30 years. |
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