The Royal Collection Trust has announced its 2024 programme for group visits, exhibitions and private tours at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of His Majesty The King in Scotland.
A highlight this year is the major exhibition Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians, the first exhibition to open at The King’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, formerly known as The Queen’s Gallery, following an 18-month closure.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Groups can explore 900 years of Scottish royal history and learn how the Palace has been used historically and how it is still used today by His Majesty and other members of the Royal Family for official ceremonies and entertaining. Visitors can also discover the medieval ruins of Holyrood Abbey and the Palace gardens, set against the spectacular landscape of Arthur’s Seat.
The Palace has been a royal residence for over 500 years and is closely associated with Scotland’s rich history. A visit to the Palace includes the Historic Apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots, which were the setting for many dramatic episodes in her short and turbulent reign, including the brutal murder of her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, by her husband, Lord Darnley. Her bedchamber has been described as ‘the most famous room in Scotland’.
In the Palace’s State Apartments, visitors can see the Great Gallery, where Bonnie Prince Charlie held lavish balls when he set up his Jacobite Court at the Palace in September 1745. The State Apartments today reflect the changing tastes of successive monarchs, and are renowned for their fine plasterwork ceilings and unrivalled collection of Brussels tapestries. They are furnished with numerous works of art from the Royal Collection, many of which have long associations with Holyroodhouse and Scotland.
Groups visiting the Palace will benefit from competitive rates and flexible on-the-day entry, as well as free, limited coach parking on site. A multimedia tour, available in ten languages, is included in the price of a ticket and offers recordings of interviews with members of the Royal Family, film footage, digital recreations and interactive features, giving visitors a richer understanding of the Palace and the Royal Collection.
Throughout the year, groups can enjoy private guided morning and evening tours of the Palace and learn about its most famous inhabitants, from Mary, Queen of Scots to Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the Palace’s role today as The King’s official residence in Scotland. These tours are the only opportunity to see the West Drawing Room, which is not normally open to the public and is used by His Majesty and members of the Royal Family as a private drawing room. Tours include a guidebook as well as tea, coffee and pastries in the morning and a glass of champagne in the evening.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians – The King’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse
Friday 22 March – Sunday 22 September 2024
A sword made for George IV’s historic visit to Edinburgh and other rare surviving items of Georgian clothing are among almost 100 works from the Royal Collection on show as part of Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians.
Throughout the exhibition, the fashions recorded in portraiture are used as a lens to explore the many social, political and technological changes that characterised Georgian Britain. Paintings, prints and drawings by artists including Gainsborough, Zoffany and Hogarth are accompanied by a selection of clothing and accessories to tell the story of fashionable dress from George I’s accession in 1714 to the death of George IV in 1830.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians takes a closer look at George IV’s 1822 visit to Scotland, the first by a reigning monarch in almost 200 years. Visitors will see the set of accoutrements specially supplied to the King for the visit by George Hunter & Co, purveyors of Highland dress based on Princes Street in Edinburgh, including an ornate broadsword, made of blued steel inlaid with gold and decorated with Scottish emblems, a belt and a dirk. Also on display is a full-length portrait of George IV by Fife-born artist Sir David Wilkie, showing the monarch in Royal Stewart tartan and wearing the accoutrements.
Groups can benefit from discounted rates to The King’s Gallery, as well as a joint ticket to the Palace and Gallery, both of which include a multimedia tour. Groups can also enjoy private access to the exhibition with an optional short introduction from the Palace Curator, with Private View and Talk.
The King’s Gallery in Edinburgh is located at the entrance to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and was built in the shell of a former church and school dating from the 1840s. The project to create an art gallery that would complement the original 19th-century architecture began in 1999, and the Gallery was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2002 as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. Today, the Gallery hosts a programme of changing exhibitions from the Royal Collection.
Click here to find out more about group visits to Palace of Holyroodhouse.
