ENGLAND'S HISTORY WOVEN INTO THE QUEEN'S CORONATION GOWN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 86, 28 April 1937, Page 9

ENGLAND'S HISTORY WOVEN INTO THE QUEEN'S CORONATION GOWN

Madame Handley-Seymour of Madox street, London, has been chosen to make the magnificent gown and robes which the Queen will wear at her Coronation. It is pleasing to remember the sentiment which inspired her choiceMadame Handley-Seymour made the Queen's coming-ou't frock, her presentation gown, and her silver and pearl embroidered wedding gown. It will take 12 girls, working all day for six weeks, to complete the exquisite embroideries, which cover the ivory satin gown, which is outstandingj in tho simplicity of its line. It will b© embroidered with gold sequins and beads, matehing the gleaming embroideries ot the purpl© velvet robes, which are being embroidered by expert needlewomen of the Boyal School of Needlework. Embroidery tor the Queen's Coron%tion gown is not a simple affair of lots of gold thread and diamente done in a sort of scroll of leaf design. It comes into the category of a work of art. All the material for the gown and robes was made in England, from silk spun oy last summer's silk worms at Lady Dyke's silk farm at Lullingstone Castle, in Kent. The design combines the floral emblems of the Britisb Isles and the Domdnions. Australia is represented by the fluffy heads of golden wattle; England by the rose. There are the thistla for Scotland, the leek for Wales, the shamrock for Ireland, a maple leaf for Canada, the protea for South Africa, and soft fern fronds for New Zealand. At the hem, golden lotus flowers (impoi-tant because the Queen will wear the same gown at the Delhi Durhar) will float in a silver lake. All England' s history woven into a Queen's gownl The material for the Queen's robes has taken more than three months to complete ; the exquisite embroidery on which 35 " expert women (all English) are working now, has taken another three months. They have been chosen from the most needlewomen in England by Lady Smith-Dorrien, pvncipai of the Royal School of Needlework.