Friday 6 June 2014

Historic Journey

Sitting in the Maxillofacial Unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Wednesday I was watching TV as I waited to see the consultant [medical update; he looked at X-rays, took sharp intake of breath, and the Op is scheduled for July 10th. You do not need the gory details!]

Anyway, my mind was distracted as I waited by watching the Stat Opening of Parliament. I am utterly overwhelmed by the new State Coach, it ticks all my boxes for historical wonderment.

statecoach

Above you see Aussie Jim Frecklington and his artist Paula Church – they have constructed this “Coach Britannia” in which the Queen rode down the Mall this week. Only the second royal coach to be built in the last 100 years – and boy, has he worked hard on the details

Coach Britannia

Frecklington said: "I wanted to create something very special to mark the Queen's reign. Our present Queen will go down in history as one of the greatest monarchs that's ever lived and I thought something very special – a tangible item – should be produced. The crown on the roof features wood from Lord Nelson's ship; in British history he will go down as one of the great heroes of this nation. In 1922 there was a major refit of the ship and I learnt the admiralty had put some of that timber away. I learned who was in possession of that timber, I approached them and asked if they would donate that piece of timber."

You can read the whole story here – but do mute your sound first, or you will may get irritated by all the Very British Music!! TheCoach has an aluminium body finished in black painted with the Royal insignia, set with gold-plated brass coach lamps incorporating Edinburgh crystal lenses engraved with the Royal Arms. The interior features Australian cedar inlaid with over 100 parquetry panels from historic British sites. Interior linings and upholstery are light gold Sudbury silk [from Suffolk] woven with roses, thistles, flax and leeks and with the Royal Arms. The roof is surmounted the National Plant symbols around a crown carved in wood from HMS Victory. The crown holds a tiny capsule containing gold, frankincense and myrrh. The coach body is hung from a carved and gilt Australian spotted gum curved perch. The vehicle is 18ft long overall, 7ft 2in wide and 10ft 8in high.

statecoach doors

The bit about ‘historic sites’ is fascinating, because inside, there are tiny squares of wood from all sorts of locations [list here] A bit of Newton’s apple tree, timber from the Mary Rose…some of them are of particular interest to me because of family links, e.g.

  • SS Great Eastern [great grandfather sailed on her]
  • Bletchley Park [Mum the codebreaker]
  • Oxford University [Bob’s MA, my PGCE]
  • Rugby School [niece a student,  and SIL on staff]
  • Coventry Cathedral [my degree ceremony here]

There is a fragment of musketball from Waterloo, a bolt from a Spitfire, a piece of bronze from the cannon which is used to make all the Victoria Cross medals, a piece of the Stone of Scone, and much more. I am impressed at the breadth of Jim’s imagination, and artful acquisition of all these little artefacts. He has combined Australian and British craftsmanship to create this amazing vehicle – which incorporates many modern comforts. As well as riding in a dazzling ‘museum’ he has used a 360-degree ‘coachcam’ offering a monarch’s-eye view of the procession, gold-plated hydraulics, and motor-racing technology.

Queen-Elizabeth-attends-T-008I do hope that there will be opportunities for ‘Joe Public’ to get to see this properly. I’d queue up for a chance to look at the details!

Her Majesty looks fairly cheerful anyway. It is good for a lady in her eighties to go out for a nice ride through London occasionally. Or does her trip from Buck House to The Palace of Westminster make her “A commuter en route to work”?

I am just as happy in my little Daewoo Matiz.

8 comments:

  1. Nice post Angela.
    Good to see you yesterday, hope the 'Heavenly Blue' flowers well for you - remember, each flower blooms for one day and drops off and as its' name suggests (Morning Glory), it flowers early in the day. I'd like to grow some magenta pink coloured ones I saw on the 'net next year.
    Safe journies to and fro to Salzberg....you'll be fine!
    xxx

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  2. Good Luck for your op, i hope it's a quick and painless recovery.
    The detail on the new coach is amazing! It looks gorgeous, wonder if I could fit one in the garage?
    x x x

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  3. I think it took eight years to make. What a work of art.

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  4. I'd love to see the carriage..it's fabulous!
    I feel for you,having had more than my fair share of maxillofacial surgery in the past few years. I trust the National Health Service pays for it!
    Jane x

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  5. Thank you for this fascinating post - what an amazing piece of workmanship is the new coach. HM does look fairly cheerful. :)

    I hope the op goes well and that your recovery is quick and as painless as possible.

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  6. Great that you have your op date already. Hope it goes well.
    Fantastic coach. What an incredibly talented artist and to have incorporated so much history into the coach as well. It is obvious that a lot of thought and research has gone into the build of this coach.
    Carolx

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  7. Good to hear that you don't have to wait too long for the op now that you have been seen.
    The coach is amazing - it would be wonderful to see it close up.

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