HRH the Prince of Wales recently visited Knole to learn about the major conservation project that is beginning to get underway there. Among his many duties Prince Charles is also President of the National Trust.
Knole is a rare example of a Tudor palace that has survived and accumulated many subsequent layers of decoration and collections. Over time the house has developed some serious structural and conservation problems which are now being tackled.
Curator Emma Slocombe guided His Royal Highness around the house. Prince Charles saw how the furniture is cleaned – testing the suction on a ‘museum vac’ – and how pest infestations are treated.
He also inspected the ‘Eyemat’, an extremely realistic photographic replica of a seventeenth-century Goan carpet. The Knole team is using this to test how an experimental heating mat, which has been placed below it, will cope with the footfall of thousands of visitors.
The Prince of Wales appeared to be impressed with what is happening at Knole and the visit gave a great boost to everyone involved with the conservation project.
More images of the visit and a photograph of a previous visit of a Prince of Wales to Knole (1898) can be seen on the Knole Conservation team blog.