Royal Collection

The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the Royal Collection Trust. The British monarch owns some of the collection in right of the Crown and some as a private individual. It is made up of over one million objects,^[4] including 7,000 paintings, over 150,000 works on paper,^[5] this including 30,000 watercolours and drawings,^[6] and about 450,000 photographs,^[7] as well as around 700,000 works of art, including tapestries, furniture, ceramics, textiles, carriages, weapons, armour, jewellery, clocks, musical instruments, tableware, plants, manuscripts, books, and sculptures.

Some of the buildings which house the collection, such as Hampton Court Palace, are open to the public and not lived in by the Royal Family, whilst others, such as Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace, are both residences and open to the public. The public King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was purpose-built in the mid-20th century to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is a similar art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and a Drawings Gallery at Windsor Castle. The Crown Jewels are on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.

About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, and many others are lent on a temporary basis to exhibitions.^[4]

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^ Stuart Jeffries (21 November 2002). "Kindness of strangers". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
^ Jerry Brotton (2 April 2006). "The great British art swindle". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Some people know that this is perhaps the finest, and certainly what the royal palaces website proudly calls "the largest private collection of art in the world".
^ Hall, p. 3.
^ ^a ^b "FAQs about the Royal Collection". Royal Collection Trust. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.
^ "Jeremy, Curator of Prints and Drawings" Archived 6 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, RC website
^ "Secrets of the Queen's paintings". The Telegraph. 15 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
^ "About the Collection: Photographs". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

[2] Stuart Jeffries (21 November 2002). "Kindness of strangers". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

[3] Jerry Brotton (2 April 2006). "The great British art swindle". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Some people know that this is perhaps the finest, and certainly what the royal palaces website proudly calls "the largest private collection of art in the world".

[4] Hall, p. 3.

[faqs-5] "FAQs about the Royal Collection". Royal Collection Trust. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.

[6] "Jeremy, Curator of Prints and Drawings" Archived 6 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, RC website

[7] "Secrets of the Queen's paintings". The Telegraph. 15 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2016.

[8] "About the Collection: Photographs". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

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