0:00:02 > 0:00:04We see some special things on the Antiques Roadshow.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07But when it comes to provenance, nothing is better
0:00:07 > 0:00:09than having a royal seal of approval.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12In this episode we dust down the treasures
0:00:12 > 0:00:15that were once touched by royalty.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Yes, there are some fabulous Roadshow finds with
0:00:41 > 0:00:44impressive royal provenance coming up in this edition.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47We get an intimate insight into the royal family.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Well, my grandfather was a gamekeeper on the royal estate
0:00:51 > 0:00:55at Sandringham but he also had the special responsibility
0:00:55 > 0:00:59of living at the kennels and looking after the dogs of the royal family.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Also, the king of glass, Andy McConnell
0:01:02 > 0:01:04relives his Roadshow debut.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07I like that. So where did you find that then?
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I mean, I was so nervous. Some people complain about having
0:01:10 > 0:01:14butterflies when they first appear on theatrical things or whatever.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I had, you know, butterflies in the tummy, I had two brontosaurus mating.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21And pictures specialist Philip Mould unmasks the hidden stories
0:01:21 > 0:01:24behind magnificent portraits.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28It became clear that there were other suggestions
0:01:28 > 0:01:32that the artist might have first thought about
0:01:32 > 0:01:35but then decided to paint out.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Little ghostly ideas began to show through.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41And we immediately embarked,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44therefore, upon an X-ray to see what lay beneath.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51If the Roadshow's archives were catalogued like a museum's contents,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54I reckon this first section would be entitled
0:01:54 > 0:01:56"From the cabinet of curiosities."
0:01:56 > 0:02:00That's a polite way of saying the bizarre or just the downright weird.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03That doesn't mean they are any the less interesting,
0:02:03 > 0:02:04quite the opposite, in fact.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08We've given some of our specialists special access to the vault
0:02:08 > 0:02:11to unearth some of their favourite freakish finds.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18I've never seen anything like it.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20What a wonderful piece of modern sculpture.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Oh, my word!
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Probably one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen
0:02:28 > 0:02:31was a couple of years ago, back in Bishop Auckland,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33when a gentleman came in with a massive cabinet.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I've seen some extraordinary collections on the Antiques Roadshow
0:02:36 > 0:02:42but I think this one almost pips the post because it's a collection of...
0:02:42 > 0:02:45false eyes.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47- It is indeed, yes.- And what makes you want to collect those?
0:02:47 > 0:02:52He told me the story about how his father had been an optician
0:02:52 > 0:02:55and used these as models in order to create false eyes.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00This was one of his great passions, he made artificial eyes for people.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02He used these collections,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06not to put into people's eyes, but in fact for colour matching.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10He had a very faithful group of clients who he used to love.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12And hugely important, cosmetically.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14'If you did lose your eye, you wanted something
0:03:14 > 0:03:17'that matched so nobody could tell.' Each one was different.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19And there was, I can't remember now,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22two-and-a-half, 3000 different examples?
0:03:22 > 0:03:25All different colours, all different shapes, all different sizes.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29- Some are more bloodshot than others. - They are, like some of ours indeed!
0:03:29 > 0:03:33So, in many ways, they are rather like paperweights you sometimes see.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38I mean, they are extraordinary. Each individual tray could be worth
0:03:38 > 0:03:40up to £1,000.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43So, just in this cabinet alone, let alone what you've got at home,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45you're talking about 25 or £30,000.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Yes, well, that's quite an amazing amount
0:03:48 > 0:03:52and, as I say, I love them as part of my family heritage but I'd never
0:03:52 > 0:03:56really put a value to them at all, so that's extremely interesting.
0:03:56 > 0:03:57Who'd want to buy glass eyes?
0:03:57 > 0:04:01But the market's out there and they're extraordinarily rare.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06So an amazing collection. Very rare and worth a huge amount of money.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10An item that was once ordinary can now do seem bizarre to us.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Back now to the early days of the Roadshow,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17a little embarrassment from a young David Battie.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19I wonder if you can tell me what this is?
0:04:19 > 0:04:21I think I know.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24I think it's a lady's chamber pot.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27You're absolutely right. I'm glad you said it rather than me.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32I wonder if you know that it had a particular name?
0:04:32 > 0:04:33No, I don't.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39It's called a bourdaloue. It's bizarre in the sense that, compared
0:04:39 > 0:04:43to the way we live today,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47its function would seem to be really odd.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51And of course, one finds sideboards during the 18th century
0:04:51 > 0:04:55with a little cupboard at the back in which there was a pewter chamber pot,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59for use, curiously enough, at the dining table.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Because, after the ladies had left, the gentleman sat round with their
0:05:03 > 0:05:06port and their cheese and their nuts and the chamber was passed around
0:05:06 > 0:05:12the dining table. It's a curious reflection on the times.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16I suppose, in a way, going back 30 years or so,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19in those days
0:05:19 > 0:05:25a young man talking to an elderly lady about, sort of...
0:05:25 > 0:05:29leakage, you didn't do it.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35So I was pushing the boundaries quite a lot, I think.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39And I think I was probably embarrassing myself the further
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I dug down with the story!
0:05:43 > 0:05:49Our next weird item provoked a strong reaction from Hilary Kay.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53One of the most remarkable and interesting objects that came in
0:05:53 > 0:05:55was at Wisley when somebody
0:05:55 > 0:06:02delivered to me a bound foot, a model of a bound foot
0:06:02 > 0:06:08in a tiny shoe from China, round about 1880, I guess.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13What I'm looking at here with you is an embroidered Chinese shoe
0:06:13 > 0:06:19which was made for Chinese ladies - this is not a child's shoe -
0:06:19 > 0:06:21who had their feet bandaged.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27In fact, the interesting thing about this shoe is it's the first time
0:06:27 > 0:06:32I've ever seen one with a model of a bandaged foot.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Oh, really?
0:06:34 > 0:06:40And this is what the Chinese did to their ladies.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I found this object actually quite shocking.
0:06:42 > 0:06:49I'd seen the shoes before, but I'd never realised exactly what
0:06:49 > 0:06:53was done to the foot in order to get it into those shoes.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The bones were restricted, really,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00from childhood onwards, in tight, tight bindings.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05So this is what adult ladies like you and me would have.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Their feet ended in this extraordinary club
0:07:09 > 0:07:14with the toes tied round underneath.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Castle Mey was a bizarre experience in every sense.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23The weather was so awful,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26the setting was so wonderful, everything was in conflict.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And we really had a horrible day in weather terms.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33But I was confronted by a man carrying a sort of black,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37ill-defined object with various wooden plugs in it.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40I have no idea what I'm holding. You tell me.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46Well, some people find it hard to take as an object of beauty,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50but that is a very useful item if you were fishing.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55And that actually was once a dog and is now a dogskin buoy.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57So this is a dead dog?
0:07:57 > 0:07:59And how is it made waterproof?
0:07:59 > 0:08:04Well, this black or dark brown shiny substance is actually archangel tar
0:08:04 > 0:08:08and that was used for an waterproofing before rubber,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10before tarmacadam, etc.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12They were common objects only 150 years ago.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14This is a remarkable survival.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16He then revealed a story about how
0:08:16 > 0:08:21dead dogs or dogs' bodies, with all the apertures sealed,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24worked very well as fishing floats. I thought, is it April 1st?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26So they're all bobbing about on the tide.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Absolutely.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30And there would have been a whole sort of herd of them?
0:08:30 > 0:08:32This was good news. It meant that there were
0:08:32 > 0:08:36good catches there and they would say, "Oh, the dogs are dancing."
0:08:36 > 0:08:38'I've never seen another dead dog.'
0:08:38 > 0:08:42I did ask if they were common. He said he knew of three or four.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46And I will imagine that I will go to my grave
0:08:46 > 0:08:48not seeing another floating dead dog.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50"The dogs are dancing," means you're in luck.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Yes and they're bobbing up and down.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56It's a funny phrase but it was also a joyful time for the fishermen.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59I think it was a good time not to be a dog.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02But, you know, there we are. Then, of course, valuation.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05What is the value of a dead dog?
0:09:05 > 0:09:08There is no way on the Roadshow I'm going to value a dead dog.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10No, it's just totally unique.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18If you think you've got an object that can outdo that lot
0:09:18 > 0:09:20in the oddity stakes, bring it along to a Roadshow.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22We'd love to give it the once over.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26So far this series, we've seen some confessions from familiar experts
0:09:26 > 0:09:29about how nervous they were the first time they found
0:09:29 > 0:09:31themselves in front of the cameras.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33They seems so calm and confident, don't they?
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Take our glass man, Andy McConnell,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38perhaps the most extrovert of all our team, yet
0:09:38 > 0:09:42even he tries to forget the first time he got the director's cue.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50My first record, it was great, you know, a young guy had been to a boot
0:09:50 > 0:09:54fair and he'd picked up this Keith Murray vase,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58it was a green torpedo, quite a nice piece of English thirties glass.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And he'd bought it for two quid at a boot fair or something.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05So my opening line, in that one doesn't get training for this,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09my opening line to him was "And so, sir, where did you steal this from?"
0:10:09 > 0:10:11And of course, "Cut, stop!"
0:10:11 > 0:10:13So where did you find that then?
0:10:13 > 0:10:15I got it at a car-boot sale.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Car boot?
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And how much did you... how much were you extorted for this item?
0:10:21 > 0:10:23- I paid £3.- Three quid?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26There never had been a glass specialist on the Antiques Roadshow.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30There had been 420 ceramics experts,
0:10:30 > 0:10:327,255 paintings people,
0:10:32 > 0:10:389,415 furniture people, but never one glass expert.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Signed, Keith Murray, New Zealand architect.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Couldn't find any work after the Wall Street crash and turned to
0:10:44 > 0:10:46designing porcelain,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50pottery for Wedgwood and glass for Stevens and Williams, Royal Brierley.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53I mean, I was so nervous. Some people complain about having
0:10:53 > 0:10:58butterflies when they first appear in theatrical things or whatever.
0:10:58 > 0:10:59You know, butterflies in the tummy?
0:10:59 > 0:11:05I had two brontosaurus mating in my tummy for my first show at Rochdale.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08If you wanted to replace it, £300 or £400.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11- That's a big profit. - Not bad for three quid.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13I'll give you four for it, show you a profit.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14I don't think so.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17The only reason that I do quick records is that actually,
0:11:17 > 0:11:20it's for as long as I can hold my breath.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23I go... And then I run out of breath
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and that's the end of the record, because otherwise I go...
0:11:26 > 0:11:29and then fall over backwards in a faint.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Sometimes, I look down the queue at people and their objects at a
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Roadshow and I try to guess what going to catch our experts' eye.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42The thing is though, they don't take an object at face value the way
0:11:42 > 0:11:43you or I probably would.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46They see hidden messages and secret signs.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Portrait specialist Philip Mould is a classic example.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54He spends his days unmasking the great and good, getting to the truth
0:11:54 > 0:11:57behind the earliest form of spin.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Philip has come to Hatfield House in Hertfordshire,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09which was the childhood home of a historical figure
0:12:09 > 0:12:13who fascinates him above all others.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15She was one of the earliest practitioners of the art
0:12:15 > 0:12:17of self-promotion.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22There's a lovely quote from the historian Thomas Carlyle which talks
0:12:22 > 0:12:26about portraiture being "like holding up a candle to history."
0:12:26 > 0:12:29And I love that idea.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34A face, in a way that it offers you a slice of the time and the period
0:12:34 > 0:12:37in a way that you can identify with
0:12:37 > 0:12:42and understand, because it is, after all, a person,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47works so much better than 50,000 paragraphs written
0:12:47 > 0:12:50by the greatest historians.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Elizabeth I must be, in many ways, the most glamorous and certainly
0:12:55 > 0:12:59the most powerful, in terms of presence and place in history,
0:12:59 > 0:13:04monarch in the history of our nation.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06What is so interesting is
0:13:06 > 0:13:11because she was a woman in a man's world, she understood that there were
0:13:11 > 0:13:16certain things that needed to be done, that played to her strengths.
0:13:16 > 0:13:22She widened the language and brought spin and art together
0:13:22 > 0:13:24at a whole new level.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33The Elizabeth we see represented here in the iconic
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Rainbow portrait is a far cry from her modest beginnings.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41She was 60 when this was painted and a women very much in control
0:13:41 > 0:13:43of her image.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52To me, this is the high-water mark of Elizabethan portraiture.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56You can read it like a book. The gold robe itself is covered
0:13:56 > 0:13:58with these dismembered eyes and ears.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01The symbolic power of it is unequivocal.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05They're not even decorative, it's just telling you something.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08It's saying loud and clear, just how famous she is.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10She's someone who's talked about in the taverns,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12she's someone who's seen from afar.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16She is the great goddess of the new age.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19And then the pearls, the pearls
0:14:19 > 0:14:23that suffuse the picture as well, the pearls of virginity, of course.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27She's a virgin queen, she's not married. Don't forget it.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32But the more I look into Elizabeth's life in relation to her portraiture,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36so you see that these faces, these bodies, this jewellery,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40this expression and symbolism varies so much.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44And I came across, recently, a most interesting early example,
0:14:44 > 0:14:49one of a small clutch of portraits that show you just how radically
0:14:49 > 0:14:53she transformed, how she basically reinvented herself in paint.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58Philip's most recent find is the young Elizabeth,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00when she'd just ascended the throne.
0:15:00 > 0:15:08I was thrilled to have an unknown portrait and not only was it
0:15:08 > 0:15:11a very important early portrait,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15but it was one of those done just at the moment
0:15:15 > 0:15:18that she was surfacing as Queen.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Not a glamourous image, but more just
0:15:22 > 0:15:26"Phew, my sister's dead, I'm Queen.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28"Take a look at me."
0:15:28 > 0:15:32We restored her. It became clear that there were other suggestions
0:15:32 > 0:15:36that the artist might have first thought about
0:15:36 > 0:15:40but then decided to paint out.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Little ghostly ideas began to show through.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And we immediately embarked,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48therefore, upon an X-ray to see what lay beneath.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54So, what have you found out?
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Well, this is the image of the picture as it is,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58hidden away underneath.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01You've got changes in the composition.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03The hand is in a very different shape.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07You can see here, the book that we've got from the final version,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09but underneath here, you've got this orb.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11And then there's difference here, it seems,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13in the style of the lace as well.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17This is a much more puritanical, Protestant type of lacework,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20as opposed to this more
0:16:20 > 0:16:22elaborate, beaded...
0:16:23 > 0:16:26So she's basically had a full makeover, really?
0:16:26 > 0:16:30She's been changed from this opulent portrait to the...
0:16:32 > 0:16:34From the secular to the religious?
0:16:34 > 0:16:35Exactly that, yeah.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39So this is an early example of spin-doctoring.
0:16:39 > 0:16:46This is the Queen or her advisor or someone of that nature saying,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48"It doesn't look good like that, Your Royal Highness."
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Or perhaps Her Royal Highness herself is saying it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53"And instead,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"why don't you represent yourself
0:16:56 > 0:16:59"as a pious head of the Church rather than a secular head of state?"
0:16:59 > 0:17:00That would make sense.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06The process of manipulation and re-presentation of her face
0:17:06 > 0:17:08and body to the nation is beginning.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Elizabeth's reinvention didn't stop there.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Hanging on my back gallery wall, greeting me every morning, is such a
0:17:18 > 0:17:20radically different picture,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23a picture of Elizabeth I
0:17:23 > 0:17:25five or six years into her reign.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And it just shows you how very different
0:17:28 > 0:17:31art can make someone appear.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37And the contrast from this almost hatching insect that you see
0:17:37 > 0:17:42in the earlier portraits to this strutting pheasant of a queen
0:17:42 > 0:17:50is a testament to just how firmly she understood and wanted to harness
0:17:50 > 0:17:55the power of art when it came to presenting her to the world.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00And it's all to do with this, this massive, thick, rich backdrop of
0:18:00 > 0:18:05vegetables and fruits, all twinned and all with one message,
0:18:05 > 0:18:10which is fertility, marriageability, come and get me.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14About this time, she was meant to have suffered from smallpox.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16They thought that she was about to die.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22The House of Lords came to her and said "Please name an heir." She said,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26almost as a riposte to them, "How dare you ask me to name an heir?
0:18:26 > 0:18:28"I can produce my own.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29"I'm a fertile woman."
0:18:29 > 0:18:35The ripe fruits, the pomegranate that are bursting with fertility and pips.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36Every piece of greenery
0:18:36 > 0:18:42was her way of saying "I'm not barren and I can have a child. Leave off."
0:18:42 > 0:18:46And so what at first glance knocks you back as a sort of
0:18:46 > 0:18:51hugely ornate expression is in fact a rather primitive,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53possibly even poignant one.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56It's "I can find a husband, I can have children."
0:18:56 > 0:18:58And why poignant? Because she never did.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08She's always captured my imagination.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12How could she not? She was the person who ruled over a
0:19:12 > 0:19:17transformed England that then reached out across the world and
0:19:17 > 0:19:21changed itself and indeed the world, in the process.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25She's also a woman on a man's stage.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28And to have pulled off what she did
0:19:28 > 0:19:33and to have done it with such style as evidenced in her portraiture,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36she is a great inspiration.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It's fascinating to think that we can still learn even more
0:19:42 > 0:19:44about an iconic royal like Elizabeth I
0:19:44 > 0:19:47just by looking carefully at her portraits.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51We often see items that have royal connections on the Antiques Roadshow
0:19:51 > 0:19:55and they offer a unique insight into the family behind the crown.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Nine times out of ten, such precious pieces end up
0:19:57 > 0:19:59on the tables of our royal correspondents,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn and books buff Clive Farahar.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09This is a splendid collection of royal ephemera,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13relating to Queen Mary and I must say, it has
0:20:13 > 0:20:15a very topical ring about it.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18These are all notes to her chef, is that right?
0:20:18 > 0:20:19That's right, yes.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Saying wonderful things like "Do not give celery again
0:20:22 > 0:20:24"when the Princess Royal dines here."
0:20:24 > 0:20:27And "The dish was not popular." And so on and so forth.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Another, "Please make a note that Princess Alice and Lord Athlone
0:20:30 > 0:20:32"do not eat potatoes."
0:20:32 > 0:20:34I think it's absolutely wonderful.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36'Royal objects obviously create a frisson'
0:20:36 > 0:20:39at the Roadshow as far as I'm concerned
0:20:39 > 0:20:43because I love handling that sort of material.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Any letter that comes from a member
0:20:45 > 0:20:51of the Royal Family tends to be, obviously, it's very personal.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53And I love that sort of thing.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55So the frisson is mine, all mine, and
0:20:55 > 0:20:58I love to know where they come from and how they've got hold of them.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02My father went to school with Mr Emilot's son
0:21:02 > 0:21:03and when he died...
0:21:03 > 0:21:04He was the chef?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07He was the chef, Monsieur Emilot,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11he was at Buckingham Palace and then went to
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Marlborough House with Queen Mary.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15- After the death of George V?- Yes.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17And these had been kept, obviously, by the chef.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21He should have thrown them away or handed them into the archives
0:21:21 > 0:21:23or whatever, but he kept them.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25And it showed Queen Mary making quite
0:21:25 > 0:21:30a bother about the meals and who liked what and who didn't like what.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35You have this with some 40 or 50 notes in and you have
0:21:35 > 0:21:38this lovely signed photograph which I assume came from the same place.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40- Signed by Queen Mary in the war. - Yes.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48Wilton House provided Geoffrey Munn with an unexpected royal delight.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Well, it belonged to my mother-in-law.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57She arrived one day with a little bowl and she called it a lucky dip.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00And she asked me if I would like to choose a piece of
0:22:00 > 0:22:03jewellery for both of my children.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Amazing. I think this is probably the more spectacular lucky dip
0:22:06 > 0:22:09I've ever seen in my life.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13And it does put an immediate context on to the objects that we find.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16And it's a provenance and it's a very exciting one.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21Well, it says Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Charles I.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26She was born in 1635 and she died in 1650.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29So it's a remarkably short life, actually.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34And, in a way, this may be some kind of memorial to that life and here is
0:22:34 > 0:22:37- a very beautiful stone in a... - Very sparkly.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Very sparkly. And it's doing it right now.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41It seems to like the attention were giving it.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Anyway, so is it a Stuart relic or not?
0:22:43 > 0:22:48I think it probably is, which is a very exciting thing for me to say.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50I think a link with royalty can add enormously to
0:22:50 > 0:22:52the commercial value of an object.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56And how on earth one's to value this, I haven't the slightest idea.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Maybe 7, 8, £9,000 for it without any reference to provenance whatsoever.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Put the provenance on and the sky's the limit, perhaps.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Maybe £15,000 isn't wrong.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13I think the nicest things one sees on Roadshows that come from royalty are
0:23:13 > 0:23:15letters of a very personal nature.
0:23:15 > 0:23:21- This is from Windsor Castle. "Dear Mrs Way," - Is that Way?- Yes.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24"Thank you so very much for looking after,"
0:23:24 > 0:23:27- and I think it's "Cling", is it? - Cling, perhaps.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32"..So beautifully. He seems to have quite recovered from his illness." Who is Cling?
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Well, Cling must have been one of the dogs
0:23:35 > 0:23:38that Elizabeth and Margaret left
0:23:38 > 0:23:40for my grandmother and grandfather
0:23:40 > 0:23:42to look after while they were away from Sandringham.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Was he a dog keeper to the royal family?
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Well, my grandfather was a gamekeeper on the royal estate
0:23:49 > 0:23:53at Sandringham but he also had the special responsibility
0:23:53 > 0:23:57of living at the kennels and looking after the dogs of the Royal Family.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Queen Elizabeth, as she then was, also came to visit my grandmother
0:24:02 > 0:24:07and on one occasion, we were playing cricket,
0:24:07 > 0:24:13just with a tennis bat and a ball, and they took part in it.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16And another occasion, they brought along the corgis and we and
0:24:16 > 0:24:19my cousins were running around in our vest and knickers in the summer
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and the corgis chased us upstairs.
0:24:22 > 0:24:28And they think they enjoyed this human aspect, visiting us on that
0:24:28 > 0:24:30basis, because they said in
0:24:30 > 0:24:34the letters that they regarded my grandmother as one of their
0:24:34 > 0:24:38friends, somebody to come and visit as soon as they got to Sandringham.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41This one's signed by Albert. "Sandringham, Norfolk.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46"With many thanks for looking after and training Scummy."
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Scummy or Scrummy. That would have been one of the gun dogs, because
0:24:51 > 0:24:55my grandfather, being a gamekeeper, would have known all about gun dogs
0:24:55 > 0:24:57and the training of them.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00And signed Albert, who is of course George VI.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02This was a very private side of them,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and that was, I think, absolutely charming.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Now, I think one of the most exciting royal discoveries I made
0:25:08 > 0:25:13was a memorial stickpin made to Queen Victoria's order
0:25:13 > 0:25:15to commemorate the death of Prince Albert.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Probably been in my possession for about 10 to 15 years.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21I might have only paid about a tenner for it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24A tenner? Isn't that wonderful?
0:25:24 > 0:25:28It's the most exciting jewel, this, because it's a memorial to one of
0:25:28 > 0:25:33the most famous love affairs that has ever taken place on this planet.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35It's a memorial pin for Prince Albert.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It got his cipher on the front,
0:25:38 > 0:25:43an A under a royal crown, but more importantly, on the back, it says
0:25:43 > 0:25:45"In remembrance of the beloved Prince,
0:25:45 > 0:25:52"December 14th, 1861, from VR," from Victoria Regina.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I think the love affair between Prince Albert and Victoria
0:25:55 > 0:25:58was a very public one. It was a very intense one.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Queen Victoria wrote that she only
0:26:01 > 0:26:04had to look into his dear, sunny face to make her adore him.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06And I think she really did adore him.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08And when it opens here,
0:26:08 > 0:26:13we can see a contemporary photograph of the Prince Consort within it.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Have you ever had it professionally valued?
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Well, only up to about £200, actually.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23£200 for a piece of jewellery of national importance, really?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25My goodness. I don't think it's enough.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I think it's worth £3,000 of anybody's money.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29£3,000!
0:26:29 > 0:26:30£3,000, indeed.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It's a thrilling thing.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36It's just as much an emblem of her grief as the Albert Memorial.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The Albert Memorial is a vast architectural monument to Prince Albert
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and this is a tiny stickpin, but she wrote to King Leopold of the
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Belgians the day after Albert's death and said,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47"My life as a happy one is ended.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49"The world is gone from me."
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And this tiny jewel says it all about the most important person
0:26:53 > 0:26:55living in the world at that time.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Clive Farahar and Geoffrey Munn with some of their most
0:27:01 > 0:27:03memorable royal finds.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Which just about brings us to the close of this episode of Priceless Antiques Roadshow.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Next time we revisit the archives to hear stories
0:27:09 > 0:27:11of unsung heroes from wartime.
0:27:11 > 0:27:18And this gentleman was so quiet, unassuming, and a real hero.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21I felt very privileged to be there that day.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Ceramics specialist John Sandon tries his hand at a
0:27:24 > 0:27:26time-honoured tradition.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Sandons have a reputation for being the worst potters imaginable.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34I don't think this is going to be a masterpiece on a future Antiques Roadshow.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40And we delve in to the story of domestic technology with more fascinating finds.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41It's an amazing object, isn't it?
0:27:41 > 0:27:45It shrieks, literally, sixties at you. These incredible colours.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48It's so dynamic and vibrant.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Before we go, another classic Roadshow outtake.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Pictures expert Mark Poltimore usually has
0:27:54 > 0:27:58a fabulous eye for detail but we all have our off days! Goodbye.
0:28:01 > 0:28:08Here we have a 17th century subject but, in fact, it's probably painted
0:28:08 > 0:28:11in the 20th century, in the early part of the 20th century.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Probably about 1900, 1905, something like that.
0:28:16 > 0:28:17Well, the date's on there.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20You're absolutely right. Can we start again?
0:28:20 > 0:28:241891.
0:28:24 > 0:28:25You made me rush.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31Shall we start again now? I was out by 10 years, come on!
0:28:44 > 0:28:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:46 > 0:28:49E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk