Shakespearean Objects in the Royal Collection, 1714–1939

Abstract The British royal collection includes nearly 2,000 objects with a connection to Shakespeare, the majority of them acquired in the years since the Hanoverian accession in 1714. Royal collecting of Shakespeare has therefore broadly tracked the development, and entrenchment, of the Hanoverian—and latterly the Saxe-Coburg Gotha—royal family. This is also the period during which Shakespeare was becoming established as Britain’s ‘national poet’, partly through large-scale public commemorations such as David Garrick’s ‘Shakespeare Jubilee’ of 1769, and the bicentenaries and tercentenaries of 1816, 1863, and 1916. Many of these commemorations were accompanied by a general interest among the public in objects associated with Shakespeare’s life and biography, often to the detriment of Shakespeare’s works. Specific works of art in the royal collection, including Thomas Gainsborough’s painting of Mary Robinson, three toothpick cases made of mulberry wood, some association objects relating to ‘Herne’s Oak’ and William Powell Frith’s imaginary portrait of Anne Page, cast more light on various aspects of royal engagement with Shakespeare, and with collecting more generally, between 1714 and 1939. Under George IV, Queen Victoria, and George V and Queen Mary, the British monarchy moved towards a constitutional settlement with its subjects that drew on ideas of domesticity and sentimentality. During this period, objects relating to Shakespeare—increasingly regarded (by the royal family) as nostalgic souvenirs from a fantastical national past—were useful tools in shoring up these ideas, and in yoking the fortunes of the British monarchy to a particular vision of shared national history.