The Royal School of Needlework

The Queen became Patron of the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) in 2002.   The RSN designed and made the Robe of State for Her Majesty The Queen in 1953 using 18 varieties of gold thread.   The Coronation ceremony contained at least three important items made by the RSN – the altar dorsal which the RSN originally made for the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary in 1911; the canopy made for the Coronation of George VI and of course the train.

In 2002, the Royal School of Needlework created the Commonwealth Balcony Hanging at Buckingham Palace in celebration of The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Her Majesty The Queen’s most recent engagement was her private visit to the RSN exhibition at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park in 2011.  She had also attended a previous exhibition on the History of the RSN at Cumberland Lodge in 2007.

In 2009, the current Chief Executive of the RSN, Dr Susan Kay-Williams met The Queen during her royal visit to the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth where the Overlord Embroidery created by the RSN in the late 1960s/early 1970s was the centre piece in the exhibition.

The RSN has given various gifts to The Queen through the years. The most recent was for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. It was a hand crafted embroidery of The Queen’s favourite horse Carlton House.  The jockey was worked in the Blackwork technique but the threads were in the Queen’s Racing Colours of red and purple.

The RSN is the international centre of excellence for the art of hand embroidery.  With a thriving education programme, the RSN offers a range of courses for beginners through to advanced.

For more information, visit royal-needlework.org.uk