The Queen's Coach
17th January 2022
A pair of coaching panels made for one of the last British monarchs to travel regularly by coach and horses have sold at auction in Salisbury for £3,750.
The 2ft wide panels (lot 65) were each painted with the arms of Queen Adelaide (wife of William IV and daughter of George I) and would have been part of one of the horse-drawn coaches that transported the monarch and her entourage around Britain.
William IV and Adelaide reigned between 1830 and 1837 – a time when the railway network was expanding. By the end of Victoria’s reign in 1901 the Royal family’s use of horse-drawn carriages was limited to official ceremonies – much as it is today.
The panels were included in the Furniture and Works of Art auction at Woolley and Wallis on 12th January, where they easily exceeded their starting price of £2,000.
“Coaching panels from the 19th century do come onto the market reasonably regularly but it is rare to find ones that relate to the British monarchy,” explained Furniture and Works of Art specialist, Mark Yuan-Richards. “While Adelaide might not be one of our better known queens but she was very popular during her reign and drew huge public support after losing two daughters in infancy, suffering stillborn twins and at least two miscarriages. She was admired for her piety and her charitable works, and the Australian state of Adelaide was named after her when it was founded in 1836.”
