The South Front, Highgrove House, a limited edition lithograph reproduced from the original watercolour by HM King Charles III is available to purchase now in The Pedestal Shop and a pair of Investiture chairs, designed by Antony Armstrong-Jones, Carl Toms and John Pound, for the Investiture of the Prince of Wales, July 1969, will be offered in the forthcoming auction Fine & Decorative Interiors which takes place on 23 May.
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The lithograph depicts views of the south front of Highgrove House, which overlooks the Sundial Garden, and beyond, with an avenue of Fastigiate Hornbeam dividing the Wild Flower Meadow. Climbers and wisteria adorn the façade of Highgrove. The Sundial Garden features box hedging and is planted with blue, pink and purple delphiniums. The Wild Flower Meadow at Highgrove House stretches over 4 acres and was developed by Miriam Rothschild (1908-2005) in 1982 with a 32-species seed mix; today the Meadow contains more than 70 varieties of plants. Rothschild was a natural scientist known for her research on fleas but later on in her career she became interested in hay meadow restoration and created multiple seed mixes, one of which she named ‘Farmer’s Nightmare’.
King Charles acquired Highgrove House in 1980, from 1956 the property had been the residence of Maurice Macmillan, the son of former Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Highgrove was built between 1796-98 by John Paul Paul, on the site of an older property in the Georgian neo-classical style. Anthony Keck, a local mason, was most likely to have been the architect and the House and its estate were thereafter owned by several families. At the time of the purchase by the King the external areas consisted of little more than a kitchen garden, an overgrown copse, pastureland and a few hollow oaks. Soon after, the King set about designing the new gardens himself in conjunction with the highly respected and experienced gardeners, Rosemary Verey and the Marchioness of Salisbury. Today Highgrove hosts up to 40,000 visitors a year.
In a 2016 article it was revealed that King Charles is one of Britain’s most successful artists, having raised millions for charity through the sale of prints of his paintings. The King only ever paints in watercolours and the original painting is never sold. He was inspired to paint by his art master at Gordonstoun, Robert Waddell, although during his school years he was equally interested in pottery.
His father, the Duke of Edinburgh, began painting soon after his marriage to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. He worked exclusively in oils, and invariably his paints accompanied him on official tours and private holidays. The charming study, HM The Queen reading at in the Private Dining Room Windsor, 1952-60, held in the Royal Collection, was a departure from his usual subject matter of royal homes on land and at sea and landscape subjects. The Duke was given his first paintbox and easel by the artist Denys Dawnay (1921-1983) and received tuition from Edward Seago (1910-1974) who painted in both oils and watercolours. Seago was the Queen Mother’s favourite artist, she bought so many of his works that eventually Seago gave her two paintings a year, on the occasion of her birthday and at Christmas. It is likely that the Duke’s mother in law facilitated the connection between artist and royal pupil. In 1956 Seago accompanied Philip on a tour of the Antarctic in 1956, the subsequent paintings which hang at Balmoral are regarded as regarded as being amongst his best. The Duke’s design eye and drawing skills were clearly seen when as chairman of the restoration committee, he created sketches for a stained glass window for the new Private Chapel at Windsor Castle following the devastating fire of 1992. He was typically modest about his contribution to the final realised window as created by Joseph Nuttgens, the stained glass artist, and unveiled in 1997 but when pressed for his involvement would admit that he ‘suggested the general idea…’.
From the 1980s the King has also invited artists to accompany him on official overseas tours to record their impressions, capture scenes along the way and go beyond the limits of photography. John Ward, Susannah Fiennes, Robbie Wraith and Warwick Fuller have travelled with the King to locations ranging from South Africa to Oman and Australia. The works produced by these artists have been described by the King as his legacy contribution to the Royal Collection, which is world famous for its Rembrandts, Vermeers, Van Dycks and Winterhalters. Commenting on the initiative, the King commented in 1989 that, ‘It is such a good way of providing a record, adding to the royal collection, obtaining some tips on painting, and meeting other artists, that I cannot resist it’.
In 2000, Charles founded the Royal Drawing School, with the artist Catherine Goodman; it is now one of a few institutions offering specific and sustained tuition to people wishing to learn how to draw. The School, an independent charity, offers over 350 full and part time drawing classes a year.
The pair of Investiture chairs, to be offered in the forthcoming auction, Fine & Decorative Interiors on 23 May, date from 1969, some eleven years before Charles acquired his country retreat in Gloucestershire. The Investiture was held at the medieval Caernarfon Castle and the chairs were designed by the then Prince of Wales’s uncle, Antony Armstrong-Jones (Earl of Snowdon, 1930-2017), Carl Toms (a stage designer) and John Pound (principal design officer at the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works) for the four thousand guests invited to attend. Not only was Snowdon a close relative of the Prince he was also Constable of the Castle and along with the two designers was commissioned to create the overall setting and the furniture for the Investiture. Taking place in one of the most significant buildings of the Middle Ages, the Investiture ceremony acknowledged the (perceived) long history of the event created in the context of 1960s design, materials and aesthetics. The Queen conferred the title on her son beneath an enormous perspex canopy, rather than a medieval hanging, set on a stage, so making the ritual visible to the attendees and bringing a sense of theatricality to the event.
Remarkably the Investiture chair was the only piece of furniture commissioned during the second Elizabethan era. The chair frame is in Welsh beech, stained in red vermilion, with the continuous seat and back in steamed laminated ash. The Prince of Wales’s feathers’ motif and his motto, Ich Dien, are gilded to the inside of the seat back rather than being painted on – which ensured it would withstand the passing of time. The design brief specified that the red dye used in the tweed seat cushion had to be stable enough to withstand a possible downpour of rain with no resultant staining to attendees’ clothes. Investiture attendees had the opportunity to purchase chairs for the sum of £12 each, and they could be swiftly disassembled and flat packed on the day as the chair was held together with just four bolts.
Snowdon had initially studied architecture at Cambridge, but on failing to pass his second year exams he dropped out, and turned instead to photography with a focus on fashion, design and theatre; he soon moved into ‘society portraits’ published in Tatler where his work was credited and his name became known. In 1957 he took the official portraits of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on the occasion of their official tour of Canada. His marriage to Princess Margaret in 1960 was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, and the newly marrieds were soon the latest ‘it’ couple of the day.
In 1963 Snowdon co-designed the Snowdon Aviary for London Zoo with Frank Newby and Cedric Price; his brother-in-law, the Duke of Edinburgh, was President of London Zoo at the time, and Snowdon had received praise and recognition for his aviary design at Mereworth Castle. It was the first walk through aviary in the UK and the world’s second largest, stretching to a height of 80 metres. The design allowed visitors to view the Zoo’s winged inhabitants from within and without the structure. On its opening, sceptical Zoo employees were visibly delighted by the expansiveness of the enclosure and the freedom with which birds could fly within it. Later Snowdon was to say that the Aviary was the creation of which he was most proud.
In the early 1970s Snowdon turned his practical design skills to the challenge of creating a mobility aid for a friend, it was named the ‘Chairmobile’. An adjustable chair was mounted on a three-wheeled battery operated base and was fully manoeuvrable, at the time the device was described as ‘a revolutionary new machine for the disabled’. A Chairmobile, designed in 1972, was donated by Lord Snowdon to the Science Museum, London.
The South Front, Highgrove House is available to purchase now in The Pedestal Shop, view the lithograph here
Fine & Decorative Interiors, Tuesday 23 May, 1pm
For auction enquiries: +44 (0)207 281 2790 | info@thepedestal.com
To book a valuation for a forthcoming auction: valuations@thepedestal.com