ROYAL ANTIQUES REVIVED

From King George IV’s piano, a car believed to have belonged to the Queen Mother and a very rare copy of King Louis XV roll top desk, every item provides a unique glimpse into the lives of the people that owned them and the restorers who are allowed to work on them.

Victoria is given behind the scenes access at the Wallace Collection to see a highly valuable desk dismantled and moved for the masses. A rare and beautiful Broadwood piano (a favourite of Beethoven) owned by two famous British monarchs is brought back to life and a Humber Super Snipe Mark III that claims to have the finger nail marks of the Queen Mother on its interior, has an interesting and curious past.

Royal Antiques Revived provides the opportunity to get up close to these remarkable items and to be mesmerised by the work carried out on them. Combining history with craftsmanship, this one-off special celebrates British restoration skills at their very best, as techniques as old as the items themselves are used to save these rare royal pieces.