The Art Of Monarchy

Product Description

Will Gompertz presents this eight-part BBC Radio exploration of almost one thousand years of the British Monarchy, as told through the works of art acquired by Kings & Queens. The Royal Collection is one of the most wide-ranging collections of art & artefacts in the world & provides an intriguing insight into the minds of the monarchs who have assembled it. In this series, BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz examines dozens of these unique objects, in a quest to 'use the Collection as a prism through which to better understand the art of being a monarch'. From intimate portraits to epic tapestries, from the Coronation pen to the Investiture sword, from a treatise against Martin Luther to the first televised Christmas message, each has an absorbing history. Famous objects such as the Gold State Coach & the Imperial State Crown rub shoulders with lesser-known but nonetheless fascinating artefacts such as the Exeter Salt & the Wriothesley Garter Book. With the help of historians, academics & Royal Collection curators, Gompertz selects choice items to find out what secrets they reveal about the art of statecraft & a successful reign; & discovers how they shed light on mystery of kingship & the importance of faith, war, magnificence, progress & the people in the minds of monarchs.