Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Every Christmas, each royal residence receives a glamorous glow-up.
Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh are the focuses for the festive transformations and the complex preparations are overseen by a vast ‘bling’ squad, involving florists, exhibition staff and curators from the Royal Collection Trust (RCT). The number of trees used varies from year to year but one thing never changes: the challenges faced by the project team. Sally Goodsir, senior curator of decorative arts, and Hannah Belcher, senior exhibition project co-ordinator, exclusively reveal the secrets to putting on a decadent display fit for a King.
“We always have a very large real tree in the Great Gallery at Holyroodhouse and the same in St George’s Hall at Windsor,” says Sally. “Then there are a further eight or so trees across both sites – a mixture of real and false, big and small.” At 60ft, the ceiling of St George’s Hall is three times that of an average two-storey house.
“The rooms are so large the decorations have to be proportionately upscaled so they have an impact,” Sally explains. “Some of the foil decorations we use on the St George’s Hall tree at Windsor are over 50cm in diameter. And many of the baubles are larger than footballs, but look normal against the tree.
“But probably our biggest challenge is that.
