Jack Wakefield

Nationalise the royal collection!

It is high time we did justice to the treasures of the royal collection

‘A lady at the virginals with a gentleman’ (‘The Music Lesson’), c.1662-65, by Johannes Vermeer [© Royal Collection / Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2022 / Bridgeman Images] 
issue 04 June 2022

The royal collection consists of millions of objects whose purpose and ownership are sometimes obscure. Does the collection serve the monarchy, and if so how? Or is the care of the collection, and of the palaces that contain it, the sacred duty of the Queen? Housed throughout the royal palaces, it includes works held by the Queen in trust for the public as well as those owned personally by Elizabeth Windsor, such as valuable paintings by Monet and Paul Nash that were bought by the late Queen Mother and not taxed as part of her estate.

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