Royal River at National Maritime Museum

An exhibition entitled Royal River at National Maritime Museum takes place during the Diamond Jubilee year as the museum celebrates the history of the Thames and its royal connections. Highlighting the ways in which the river has been used by kings and queens throughout history, the exhibition also looks at the influence it has had on London itself.

Royal River at National Maritime Museum
Renowned for being one of the busiest thoroughfares in London, the Thames has been responsible for tens of thousands of people who have made their living on the river or right next to it. With constant changes, new bridges, tunnels, embankments and a develpoing city surrounding it, the Thames has played a hugely important role in the lives of Londoners, both royal and civil, and the Royal River takes a look back at the last 500 years of its growth.

Pomp and ceremony
Connecting various different royal buildings around London, the river has long been associated with the pageantry of royal processions and parades. Celebrating not only the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, taking place during June, the exhibition Royal River at National Maritime Museum also looks back at past processons that have taken place for various different British monarchs.

Historian David Starkey
Having been curated by historian David Starkey, you can expect to see a fantastic selection of royal and river related artefacts on show. Some of the highlights included in Royal River at National Maritime Museum are an autographed score of Handel's Water Music, the stern carvings from the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert III, and several remarkable artworks by Canaletto. Around 400 different objects are on display to the public, many of which come from the Royal Collection itself.

75th birthday
Not only is the Queen celebrating a momentous anniversary this year, but the National Maritime Museum itself is also marking its 75th birthday. Having been opened by King George VI on 27th April 1937 as one of his first royal engagements, the museum is including his speech and his Admiral of the Fleet uniform, alongside silver barge decorations, George III's silver microscope, and a 16th century pearl sword which the monarch must touch on enterting the City, in the Royal River exhibition.

The Royal River at National Maritime Museum takes place from Friday 27th April - Sunday 9th September 2012.

Figurehead of the royal yacht, Royal Charlotte, 1824.

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