Fascinating royal clutter: The Edwardians, at The King’s Gallery, reviewed

The Royal Collection Trust has had a rummage in the attic and produced a fascinating show. Displayed in the palatial gallery adjacent to Buckingham Palace, and described on headsets in the reassuring tones of Hugh Bonneville, are public tokens and personal treasures of two generations: Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and George V and Queen Mary. Frocks, clocks and diplomatic gifts; purchases and mementoes that give the illusion that the royal family might be, after all, not so unlike us.

There’s an unusual tea set, with odd, red photos: as princess, Alexandra took family snaps and had them printed on to these porcelain teacups in 1892, more than 100 years before Moonpig. It’s all here, the strange presents one feels obliged to keep (a snuff bottle given by a Chinese diplomat, engraved with Queen Mary’s face), the hardware one just had to have (Cartier pencil case in smoky quartz), the Meissen monkey orchestra that seemed so charming at the time. Alexandra was a watercolourist and photographer (see below) and her time as an invalid was spent creating lovely pictures. But the royal couple had a problem with a surfeit of stuff. The show’s curators mention that the rooms of Sandringham were ‘cluttered’ – a photograph looks borderline hoarder.

We all have special posters that we put up at uni, trying to establish our taste; Edward VII had a Lord Leighton hottie he picked up in Rome, from the studio of the artist, and hung it in his rooms at Frewin Hall, Oxford, while he was an undergrad at Christ Church. It’s also fun to see his fan-boy collectible from Sarah Bernhardt, a bronze copy of a bust of her as a dragon-winged chimera that she gave out to special admirers.