The Kings Galleries in London and Edinburgh announce 2024 Exhibitions

The art galleries formerly known as The Queen’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh are to reopen as The King’s Galleries with the arrival of their new Spring exhibitions and launch of £1 tickets.

Article Source: Royal Collections Trust
Last Updated: 29 February 2024 13:52

The two Galleries at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse show changing exhibitions of works of art from the Royal Collection, with the aim of increasing public access to one of the largest and most important art collections in the world. Since 2002, when the buildings were opened in their current form, they have welcomed almost five million visitors.

As part of the organisation’s charitable aim to ensure that as many people as possible can access and enjoy the Collection, Royal Collection Trust is proud to launch a new scheme of £1 tickets for exhibitions at The King’s Galleries in 2024, available to those receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits.

In addition to £1 tickets, The King’s Galleries will continue to offer a range of concessionary rates, while visitors who purchase standard tickets directly from Royal Collection Trust can convert them into a 1-Year Pass, allowing free re-entry for 12 months.

Following a successful run in London, Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians will be the first exhibition to open at The King’s Gallery in Edinburgh following its 18-month closure for essential maintenance work. Exploring life in Georgian Britain through the fashions of the day, it will be the 40th exhibition to be held in the Gallery since it was opened as a space to share a wider variety of works from the Royal Collection in Scotland.

As part of the organisation’s charitable aim to ensure that as many people as possible can access and enjoy the Collection, Royal Collection Trust is proud to launch a new scheme of £1 tickets for exhibitions at The King’s Galleries in 2024, available to those receiving Universal Credit and other named benefits.

In addition to £1 tickets, The King’s Galleries will continue to offer a range of concessionary rates, while visitors who purchase standard tickets directly from Royal Collection Trust can convert them into a 1-Year Pass, allowing free re-entry for 12 months.

Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians
The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, 22 March – 22 September 2024

The Georgian period was a time of great change, with the nation impacted by a series of social, political and technological upheavals. Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians uses fashion as a window into Georgian society during this revolutionary period.

The exhibition will bring together almost 100 works from the Royal Collection, including paintings, prints and drawings by artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth and their contemporaries. At the heart of the exhibition will be a selection of surviving period clothing and accessories, alongside paintings showing comparable items. Together, these works will build up a layer-by-layer picture of what the Georgians wore – from the functional dress of laundry maids to the glittering gowns suitable for court – between the accession of George I in 1714 and the death of George IV in 1830.

Following the exhibition’s successful showing in London, new additions have been made with distinctly Scottish links. These include two depictions of George IV by Fife-born artist Sir David Wilkie, painted to mark the first visit by a reigning monarch to Scotland since Charles I. In the largest of these, the King stands proud in full Highland dress of Royal Stewart tartan, making a statement of unity, with the monarch portrayed as heir to both the Hanoverians and the Jacobites following over a century of conflict. Also on display is a portrait by Louis Gabriel Blanchet of Bonnie Prince Charlie, showing the Jacobite leader as a defiant prince.

The 18th century was a period of discovery, with new inventions influencing fashion accessories. Imagery on fans – which could be revealed and concealed – gave women an opportunity to participate in topical conversations from which they might otherwise be excluded. A French fan from 1783 depicts the second successful manned flight of a hot air balloon, with a central vignette showing the balloon flying above Paris – to the delight of elegantly dressed crowds below. Other accessories on display will include a miniature of Queen Charlotte, rings from her famed jewellery collection and jewel-encrusted snuffboxes.

From the introduction of military uniforms to the evolution of childrenswear and developments in haircare, and with notable loans from Historic Royal Palaces, the Fashion Museum Bath, The Bowes Museum, and The School of Historical Dress, this exhibition will explore what fashion can tell us about all areas of life in Georgian Britain.

Anna Reynolds, curator of Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians, said: ‘Clothing and historical fashion can tell us an enormous amount about life in the Georgian period. It was a time of rapid change, including particularly momentous events in Scotland with attempts to restore the Stuart line to the throne and George IV’s visit north of the border – the first by a reigning monarch in almost 200 years. We are delighted to be launching accessible tickets with the opening of this exhibition, allowing more people than ever to learn about this exciting period in our history.’

Image: William Hogarth, David Garrick with his wife Eva-Maria
Veigel, c.1757–64

Image Credit: Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2024.

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