Kind hearts and coronets

Although many won’t be taking part in this year’s coronation, dukes and duchesses have hitherto played important roles, now reflected in a series of exhibitions, finds Eleanor Doughty

- Eleanor Doughty

CHARLES III’s coronation marks a break with tradition. For the first time, few dukes and duchesses will have a role. Historically, however, wherever there was a sword to carry, an orb to bear or a sceptre to hold, the highest-ranking peers in the realm were at hand to do the job; many are now celebrating this heritage by holding special coronation exhibitions.

Between 1702 and 1953, the Dukes of Richmond bore the 3ft-long Sceptre with the Dove —a gold rod representing the sovereign’s spiritual role—at seven coronations (out of a possible 12). Each of them carried the same sceptre—supplied in 1661 by royal goldsmith Roger Viner—in a rare feat of continuity.

The family’s historic role is the focus of this year’s exhibition at Goodwood, the Richmonds’ West Sussex seat. It includes a number of items rediscovered in January, such as the 9th Duchess’s coronation robes and two-yard train, as well as two page-boy uniforms from 1937 and 1953, right down to the silk tights they wore. Clementine de la Poer Beresford, curator of the Goodwood Collection, wants people to ‘get a feel for what it was like to be at a coronation—not that many people get to go to a coronation, but I want to make it accessible’. The current Duke, Miss de la Poer Beresford adds, ‘loves his history, and is so proud of his heritage—we have the coronets out on display all the time’.