The Edwardians: Age of Elegance explores the lives of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary and features Queen Alexandra’s gold coronation dress on display for the first time in more than 30 years.
Queen Alexandra’s gold coronation dress is among more than 300 works from the Royal Collection on show at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace in a new exhibition called The Edwardians: Age of Elegance, which is open and running until 23rd November 2025.
The exhibition covers the period from Edward and Alexandra’s wedding in 1863 up to the end of World World One and explores the lavish lives and tastes of the royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary. The exhibition’s free multimedia guide is narrated by Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville.
Jewellery, thrones and paintings
Jewels and pearls for the coronation, including a diamond necklace and earrings that were a wedding gift from Edward, are on show for the first time, along with the Dagmar necklace, a wedding gift from the King of Denmark.
Visitors can see Edward’s cloth-of-gold coronation mantle, the thrones commissioned for the occasion and the couple’s state portraits by Sir Samuel Luke Fildes, measuring more than three metres high. Other artwork includes a painting of the new Queen kneeling for the anointing, on display for the first time in over a century, and a never-before-seen depiction of the marriage of George and Mary in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace.
Exhibition curator Kathryn Jones said: “While it has darkened over time, Alexandra’s choice of a shimmering gold fabric would have been incredibly striking at the coronation; there are descriptions in contemporary newspapers of moments in the ceremony where the Queen appears in an extraordinary blaze of golden light, the dress glowing in the new electric lighting.
“It’s a powerful example of Edward and Alexandra’s attempts to balance tradition and modernity as they stood on the cusp of the 20th century: a shining moment of glamour before the world was at war.”
“It’s a powerful example of Edward and Alexandra’s attempts to balance tradition and modernity as they stood on the cusp of the 20th century.”
Kathryn Jones, Exhibition Curator
The Edwardians: Age of Elegance also explores the couples’ domestic lives, showing the cluttered interiors of their private residences, where decorative objects and photographs covered every surface, including family photos taken by Alexandra on one of the earliest Kodak cameras.
Watch: Alexandra was a keen photographer and artist and the exhibition explores her fondness for early photography.
Visiting the gallery as a group
Groups of 15 or more can take advantage of group prices when booking to visit the King’s Gallery. The exhibition is available at an additional cost, with a discount available for groups.
Guiding is prohibited in the gallery, but a multimedia guide is included with all tickets. Groups can combine a visit to the King’s Gallery with the Royal Mews to receive a further discount, and private evening talks at the King’s Gallery are also available for groups of 25 or more.
For more information about visiting the King’s Gallery, go to www.rct.uk/visit.
