2017-18 Annual Review
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Historic Royal Places – Spines Format A4 Portrait Spine Width 35mm Spine Height 297mm HRP Text 20pt (Tracked at +40) Palace Text 30pt (Tracked at -10) Icon 20mm Wide (0.5pt/0.25pt) Annual Review 2017/18 2 Contents 06 Welcome to another chapter in our story 07 Our work is guided by four principles 08 Chairman and Chief Executive: Introduction and reflection 10 Guardianship 16 Showmanship 24 Discovery 32 A Royal Year 36 Independence 42 Money matters 43 Visitor trends 44 Summarised financial statements 46 Trustees and Directors 48 Supporters 50 Acknowledgments Clockwise from top left: The White Tower, Tower of London; the West Front, Hampton Court Palace; the East Front, Kensington Palace; the South Front, Hillsborough Castle; Kew Palace; Banqueting House. 4 • It has been a record-breaking 12 months with more than Guardianship: visits to our sites, membership topping 101,000 Welcome to 4.7 million Our work is We exist for tomorrow, not just for yesterday. Our job is to give and our commercial teams exceeding their targets. another guided by four these palaces a future as valuable as their past. We know how • It was our busiest ever year at Kensington Palace as visitors precious they and their contents are, and we aim to conserve chapter in flocked to see our exhibitions of Princess Diana’s dresses and principles them to the standard they deserve: the best. 'Enlightened Princesses', and a new display of diamond and our story emerald jewellery. At Hampton Court, we came close to Discovery: reaching a million visitors for the first time. We explain the bigger picture, and then encourage people to make their own discoveries, in particular, to find links with their • The palaces continued to play a central role in royal life own lives and with the world today. throughout the year. • Our major project to conserve and restore the Great Pagoda Showmanship: at Kew drew to completion, while the transformation of We do everything with panache. Palaces have always been places Hillsborough Castle in preparation for its relaunch in 2019 of spectacle, beauty, majesty and pageantry, and we are proud to gathered pace. continue that tradition. • It was also a year of awards: for the Magic Garden at Hampton Court, innovation for the 'Lost Palace' in Whitehall and for our Independence: outstanding contribution to tourism, amongst many others. We have a unique task, and our own point of view. We challenge ourselves to find new ways to do our work. We are a financially • We have removed barriers to access through our schools Access independent charity and welcome everyone who can support Fund, LGBT+ programmes, dementia-friendly guidance and us in our Cause. out-of-hours programming such as ‘The People’s Revolt’. Historic Royal Palaces was established in 1998 as a Royal Charter Body with charitable status and is contracted by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to manage the five London palaces on his behalf. The palaces are owned by The Queen in right of Crown. Historic Royal Palaces is also contracted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to manage Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland. The Castle is owned by the Government. Historic Royal Palaces is governed by a Board of Trustees, all of whom are non-executive. The Chief Executive is accountable to the Board of Trustees. 6 7 Chairman Chief Executive Rupert Gavin John Barnes Chairman and Chief Executive Introduction and reflection Our Annual Review for 2017/18 celebrates another new Walled Garden. We are tremendously excited John Barnes succeeded him as Chief Executive and palaces and the work of Historic Royal Palaces. exceptional year for Historic Royal Palaces. We to unveil the results of our work at the Castle in we welcomed two Directors to the organisation in We were delighted to welcome Sue Wilkinson, welcomed over 4.7 million visits across the six sites spring 2019. new roles. In July 2017, Adrian Phillips, previously Chief Executive of the Reading Agency, and in our care, surpassing our previous record of 4.4 Surveyor of the Fabric, became our first Palaces Tim Knox who succeeds Sir Jonathan as The palaces continued to play a central role in royal million visits in 16/17. It was our most successful year and Collections Director. In September we Director of Royal Collection, to the Board of life throughout the past year. In May, Their Royal to date at Kensington Palace, where the phenomenal welcomed Tom O’Leary, who joined us from the Trustees. Their exceptional credentials and expertise Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess popularity of ‘Diana: Her Fashion Story’ attracted Science Museum as our first Public Engagement bring important experience to the organisation. of Cornwall stayed at Hillsborough Castle for their unprecedented numbers of visitors from all over the Director. With our team in place, bringing fresh official visit to Northern Ireland, and His Royal Finally, as we look ahead to a busy 2018/19, which world. At Hampton Court Palace, we were thrilled to vision and insight to the organisation, we look Highness viewed progress of our project. In June, will see us preparing to launch the transformed be within reach of a landmark million visitors a year, forward to future years with confidence. we welcomed Her Majesty The Queen, HRH The Hillsborough Castle and celebrating the 200th and at the Tower of London we have continued Duke of Edinburgh and a host of distinguished Meanwhile, in March 2018 we were delighted that anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth at Kensington to sustain high visitor numbers in an increasingly guests to the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace Her Majesty The Queen re-appointed Rupert Gavin Palace, we must pay tribute to all of our donors, challenging environment. None of this would for a wonderful service marking the centenary of the as Chairman of Historic Royal Palaces for a second sponsors and members. None of our achievements have been possible without the dedication and Order of the Companions of Honour. In August, three-year term. In the same month, the Minister for – over the past year or in the years to come – would commitment of our talented staff, to whom we hosted a visit of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Tourism, Arts and Heritage, Michael Ellis, showed be possible without their continued support and we offer sincere thanks. Cambridge and Prince Harry to the Sunken Garden confidence in our future when he renewed the generosity, for which we remain extremely grateful. Throughout the year, we continued to invest in major at Kensington Palace, which was transformed into a contract under which we manage the five palaces projects across the six sites. Our conservation of White Garden in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales. in England for ten years from April 2018. the Great Pagoda at Kew, complete with 80 new Finally, in November, we were thrilled that Prince None of the achievements of the organisation over dragons and restored to the glorious spectacle Harry and Ms Meghan Markle chose the Sunken the past year would have possible without the William Chambers intended when he designed this Garden as the spot to announce their engagement. guidance of the Board of Trustees. We said farewell unique building in 1762, is complete. Meanwhile, It has been a year of transition within the Executive to Liz Cleaver after six years as the lead for learning the £20 million transformation of Hillsborough team. In July 2017 we said farewell to outgoing and digital, and Sir Jonathan Marsden who retired as Castle continues apace. As we put the finishing Chief Executive Michael Day, who led the Director of the Royal Collection. We thank them touches to the stunning State Apartments, this organisation so brilliantly for 14 years. both for their long service and dedication to the summer our gardeners will be busy planting the 8 9 10 11 Guardianship Top and above: Major electrical works at Working with a group of dedicated volunteers, the Information Hampton Court Palace allowed for some further Management team have successfully deposited 900 public archeological study under the Tudor Kitchen, where some pre-Tudor tiles were discovered. records, 200 plans and drawings and 3,500 photographs with Above right: Also unearthed during the works The National Archives in Kew. These records, which were – a Georgian clay pipe. The restoration of the Queen Anne’s throne canopy reached its transferred from the Property Services Agency in 1987, will now be Below and below right: HRP conservators and available to the public and researchers to reveal the development Guardianship dramatic climax when it was lifted into place in the King’s Presence other experts examine the Ruben ceiling Our job is to give Chamber at Kensington Palace. It has been worth the three-year paintings at close quarters in the Banqueting of the palaces up to the point when we became a charity in 1998. wait, while a large cast of conservators, curators, surveyors, House. This represents a milestone in safeguarding the records of the upholsterers and engineers all played their parts in transforming the palaces a palaces. The culmination of this three-year project is a fulfilment of a glorious but faded relic into a magnificent structure. future as valuable our legal duties, as well as HRP’s commitment to increasing public as their past. Conservators were also tasked with specialist cleaning of some knowledge and understanding of the palaces. exciting new objects for display at Kensington in April 2018 – beautiful items of jewellery once belonging to Princess Louise and her grandmother, Queen Victoria. (See also page 16) In the second phase of our long-term project to repair, conserve and re-present the Banqueting House, we are focusing on the interior.