Royal wedding souvenirs: rich porcelain, jewellery, condoms

I am not certain if the Romans celebrated the significant events in their reigns by making souvenirs available to their citizens. But I do know their military and dynastic successes were indeed recorded for posterity on coins, complete with emperor-portraits.

In every nation that had a royal family, the tradition of marking significant events simply grew and became more popular. In Britain, Katharine Garstka suggested that the custom truly launched itself into a new era of modernity with the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. He was so delighted to have overthrown the Puritan Commonwealth and restored the monarchy that he went a little overboard in the celebrations.

Clearly Charles II was correct to celebrate. That event was so popular that potters soon created commemorative cups and plates as permanent souvenirs that royalists could purchase and display in their homes. And when King Charles married Catherine of Braganza in 1663, only three years later, the potters and glass makers realised another dream marketing opportunity had come their way.

William Prince of Orange married Princess Mary Stuart in 1677.

They were crowned in London in 1689. Brooklyn Museum.

Amanda Vickery noted that weddings and coronations weren’t the only huge events to attract the public’s attention. William Duke of Cumberland, the butcher of Culloden, was toasted with special souvenir mugs on the anniversary of the Highlanders’ defeat in April 1746. Admiral Nelson’s military successes were remembered with special passion by collectors of textiles, pottery and even jewellery.

Thomas Frye and Edward Heylin of the Bow factory had already taken out the first English patent for porcelain in 1744. But the Kaolin clay was hard to obtain and bone ash had to be used instead. Gradually the English market became more specialised; Chelsea manufactured high quality, European-influenced wares for the top end of the market, and Bow and others created rather ordinary table wares in direct imitation of the Chinese for the lower end of the market.

Jugs were made to commemorate the coronation of King William IV & Queen Adelaide, 1831.

George III's son William married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1818. When their coronation finally arrived, in 1831, they were both celebrated on the coronation jug. One side had her portrait, with a banner saying “Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Adelaide “. The other side had his portrait saying “His Most Gracious Majesty King William IV”. Under the spout was a crown surrounded by a wreath of the symbols of Great Britain – roses, thistles and shamrocks.

Victoria was very young and gorgeous when she became queen in 1837 and no less gorgeous when she married Prince Albert in 1840. By that stage, commemorative pottery was very popular for royal events and items could be targeted to families at various income levels. Simple mugs for drinking tea, with a picture of the royal couple on the side, were hugely popular. Full dinner sets, in exquisite porcelain and decorated with finely drawn royal emblems, sold for a fortune to those who could afford them.

Queen Victoria's diamond bow-brooch

Here is just one example from the world of jewellery. Bow-brooches had been admired since long before 1840. But the bow-brooch that became hugely popular was the one made out of diamonds for Queen Victoria. Society matrons and brides wanted the same diamond bow-brooch that Queen Alexandra & Queen Mary wore at their coronations; less well heeled women were happy to wear a replica.

Later in the 19th century, paper souvenirs were becoming more available to ordinary families and more photographic in their images. When Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Edward, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, magazine covers, coronation programmes for the church service, photographs and other paper-based souvenirs were kept to show the grandchildren that “I was there, standing right next to the cathedral door”.

coronation programme 1937, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth

So for hundreds of years, royal families have been celebrating weddings, coronations, royal tours and other major events. And for each major event, entrepreneurial craftsmen have been creating, selling and collecting souvenir items. The favourite objects have typically been small and have usually been made of porcelain, glass, gold, brass, textiles and paper. The trick for the collector is to accurately predict which objects will be valuable in 120 years time and which objects will be in the rubbish bin as soon as the children can decently throw them out.

One 2011 souvenir that looks very beautiful is the Royal Wedding Vase, made by Moorcroft Art Pottery. Designer Nicola Slaney (and The Virtual Viictorian) said that ever since the marriage of Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, a sprig of myrtle has been included in royal bouqets. Thus the myrtle along with lillies, the bride's favourite flower, and daffodils, national flower of Wales. The vase is tall (20cm) and elegant.

One 2011 souvenir that may not stand the test of time has a beautiful double portrait of the royal bride and groom, just as all previous royal wedding objects had. However I am not sure that the queen approved Crown Jewels: Condoms of Distinction's entry into a crowded souvenir market this year. "Lie back and think of England" indeed.

British Royalty Commemoratives was written by Alan H Bolton and Douglas H Flynn in 1997 and published by Schiffer. It is interesting, but only covers the 19th and 20th centuries.

History Today magazine (April 2011) published images of two royal souvenirs that you might like to examine::
1. beautiful Worcester porcelain mugs showing Queen Charlotte and King George III, and
2. a plainer Royal Doulton coronation beaker presented by King George V and Queen Mary to children at the Festival of Empire in 1911.