The Haberdashers' Company has long and enduring links with the Royal College of Needlework, which designed and produced the Anointing Screen, which will play a prominent part in the Coronation of His Majesty The King on Saturday.
For the past 23 years the Haberdashers’ Company has been supporting the work of the Royal School of Needlework as they keep the art and techniques of hand embroidery alive. The Company also supports the School’s Future Tutors programme, an intensive, highly immersive programme of teaching which enables students to carve out successful careers as embroidery artisans and tutors, teaching the next generation of hand embroiderers.
The Anointing Screen has been designed and produced for use at the most sacred moment of the Coronation, the Anointing of His Majesty The King. The screen combines traditional and contemporary sustainable embroidery practices to produce a design which speaks to His Majesty The King’s deep affection for the Commonwealth.
The Anointing Screen was brought to life through both hand and digital embroidery, managed by the Royal School of Needlework. The central design takes the form of a tree which includes 56 branches representing the 56 member countries of the Commonwealth. The King’s cypher is positioned at the base of the tree, representing the Sovereign as servant of the people. The design has been selected personally by The King and is inspired by the stained-glass Sanctuary Window in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, which was gifted by the Livery Companies to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. In a similar gesture, the Anointing Screen has been gifted to The King by the Corporation of the City of London and participating Livery Companies, including the Haberdashers’ Company.
At the Coronation Service, the Anointing Screen will be carried by service personnel from Regiments of the Household Division holding the Freedom of the City of London. The three sides of the screen will be borne by a Trooper of The Life Guards and a Guardsman each from the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards.