On Saturday, Parkwood has the pleasure of hosting a group of Canadian women who travelled to London in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Known as the Weston Sisters, these women are gathering to celebrate the sixty fifth anniversary of the Queen's coronation.
Not to ignore the significance of their travelling from across Canada to meet in Oshawa and visit the Estate, we have developed a little surprise for them for their visit.
 |
| Queensway |
The royal family and the royal ties with Parkwood and the McLaughlin's is not lost on us. The relationship is reflected in the telegrams, Christmas cards, the photos of royal visits to the Estate over the years housed in the archives. Among the McLaughlin home movies, Parkwood has a nitrate cellulose reel ( and modern transfers) of the coronation itself, likely once set up with the family projector and screen and viewed in the Loggia during the family and friends movie nights.
Our surprise for the Weston sisters, is our next artefact. Lovingly boxed and saved away in the closet spaces of Adelaide's Dressing Room is a bolt of Queensway, the Coronation silk, developed for Queen Elizabeth II by Robert Godden, Rector Royal College of Art, London and woven by Warner and Sons Ltd., Braintree. Warner and Sons Ltd, were the purveyor of silks to the royals since Queen Victoria's reign, when they received the official Royal Warrant, until 1971 when their factories closed. Warner and Sons, Ltd. now tell their stories and preserve their pattern books through the Warner Textile Archive
To prepare for the June 2, 1953 Coronation date, the fabric was woven in December 1952, the design, blue with gold lurex thread. The patterns in the silk showcase the heraldic emblem of the Sovereign, the rose represents England; the thistle, Scotland; the shamrock, Ireland; and the leek, the Principality of Wales.
If you are on tour this weekend, you will have a chance to glimpse the Queensway bolt, in pristine condition, from being housed in a box, in a dark cupboard away from hands and light for the last sixty five years.
No comments:
Post a Comment