Thanks to a Afternoon Tea Across America friend in England, Denise of Tea In London has sent me a link to a Telegraph Online site article about the woman in England with the largest Royal Memorabilia collection. Her house is full of it!
It's great read. Glad to hear the VAT increase will not apply to Royal Memorabilia for the wedding new month of William and Kate.
Here is the article in toto as it has disappeared from the website:
The queen of royal memorabilia
Margaret Tyler’s quiet suburban home is a shrine to the kitsch, discovers Iain Hollingshead.
Pop round to Margaret Tyler’s house in north-west London for a spot of tea and there appear to be several thousand mugs to choose from. Woe betide anyone, though, who actually tries to drink their Earl Grey out of any of them. For Mrs Tyler is the zealous guardian of what is thought to be the most extensive private collection of Royal memorabilia in the country.
Insured for £40,000, it features more than 10,000 carefully displayed objects, including mugs, plates, tankards, tea towels, vases, figurines, newspapers, photos, videos, stained-glass windows, wind-up “racing royals”, a replica of Charles and Camilla’s wedding certificate and a jar of dulce de leche which claims to contain a hair of Princess Diana’s.
There’s an early hint that this is not a normal house in the quiet suburb of South Kenton. To the left of the front door are eight placards depicting, with varying degrees of accuracy, the Queen Mother, the Queen (twice), the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry.
The real fun, however, doesn’t start until you’re inside. From the hallway, which features a shrine to Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, it’s a short walk to the sitting room, a veritable riot of themed Royal kitsch: the Coronation, Charles and Diana (including a plate that commemorates their divorce), Charles and Camilla (there are mugs bearing both wedding dates, after it was moved for Pope John Paul II’s funeral) and, of course, William and Kate’s engagement.
At the back of the house is “the Diana room”. Like the sitting room, it, too, is crammed with photos, books, mugs and plates, as well as two stained-glass windows (one of Diana; another of Kensington Palace, which took more than 200 hours to make), a tapestry of Diana’s school, West Heath, a painting of her on the ceiling, a rug of her on the floor and, apparently, a hair of hers in a small jar of food on a table.
Mrs Tyler, a twinkly, engaging 66-year-old grandmother, is more than willing to laugh at herself. “It’s a mad house, I know,” she says, talking nineteen to the dozen over the sound of her hairdryer (a photographer is en route). “And some people say I’m obsessed. To which I say, 'What about football fans?’ The only downside is all the dusting.”
Her hobby began at a Brownies event 32 years ago, when she picked up a glass dish depicting the Queen’s head for 2.5p. During a 20-year career working for the Down’s Syndrome Association she would often nip out to a stall in Covent Garden and buy Royal memorabilia. The engagement of Prince Charles and Princess Diana provided a catalyst for more frenzied collecting (“It has been a fascinating few decades for the Royals”), while her four children growing up provided more display space at home.
“My family are very supportive,” she says, “even if they do joke that I have more pictures of the Royals on the walls than of them.”
Her elder son, Andrew (“named after Prince Andrew, of course”), who has moved to America, often sends people over to stay in her makeshift Bed and Breakfast. The Japanese are particularly keen visitors. “We stay up half the night talking about the Royals and watching videos,” she says.
Her younger son, Mark, once spotted a rare photograph of Charles and Diana while doing a teenage milk round. He spent £15 – a week’s wages – to buy it for his mother.
Although the majority of the collection has been bought by Mrs Tyler herself, her growing notoriety has led to more and more people passing off their unwanted memorabilia. Boxes often turn up unannounced on the doorstep. One woman, who was downsizing after being widowed, came round with a trailer (“A lot of people buy stuff and don’t know what to do with it”).
Regardless, she’s never given anything away (although she did once lend four boxes of memorabilia to Kensington Palace for an exhibition), would never sell anything (“I’d be broken-hearted and would only start collecting it again”) and continues to collect only in person (“My children are keen for me to get a computer, but I know I’d just spend my whole time on eBay”).
Mrs Tyler’s hoarding has made her something of a celebrity, featured in media outlets everywhere from Hong Kong to Germany (it was a German television crew which caused the only breakage in her huge collection – a Fergie egg cup). Neither fame nor fortune, however, are her real motivation. Just fandom, pure and simple.
“I’m always worried I’m going to burst into tears whenever I see the Queen,” she says, whom she first saw aged 10 when the young Monarch was driven through her village in rural Herefordshire. “I’m so in awe of her. She’s always there for us. If anything really bad happened in this country, I know we’d all flock down to Buckingham Palace.”
As an adult Mrs Tyler has met the Queen three times: in Hyde Park at the opening of the Diana Memorial Fountain; in Harrow when she was unveiling a plaque for something or other; and in Windsor on her 80th birthday, when she surprised her with a birthday cake. “She’s probably sick of the sight of me,” she jokes.
She also regularly greeted the Queen Mother on her birthday with flowers outside Clarence House (“I would have loved her to be my grandmother”), on one occasion also bumping into Prince Andrew (“naughty, just like a boy should be”). Prince Charles (“not entirely suited to marriage”) she’s met at the Sandringham Flower Show, while Diana (“they called me her number one fan”) she met six weeks before her death when she came to open a children’s wing at a local hospital. Mrs Tyler was wearing a rosette bearing a picture of Diana. “Oh, you have got it bad,” said the princess, throwing back her head and laughing.
Mrs Tyler still meets up every year, on August 31, the date of Diana’s death, with a group of friends outside Kensington Palace to share memories and poems. Camilla she’s not quite so keen on, but she thinks she’s good for Charles.
Unsurprisingly, she is “over the moon” and “up with the fairies” over Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton (“such a nice girl and such silly sniping about her background”). A table in the sitting room is already crammed with hastily written biographies of the couple, copies of Tatler and a framed brochure for Party Pieces, Kate Middleton’s parents’ company.
She is delighted that the VAT increase has been waived for Royal memorabilia. “The Queen has her ear to the ground and she knows that people are struggling.” She breaks off and laughs. “Of course, I’d buy it anyway.”
There’s certainly no snob factor when it comes to Mrs Tyler’s collecting. She’s just read about a shop in trendy Hoxton manufacturing plates with the message: “Thanks for the free day off” and is eager to get her hands on one. She’s also pleased with the Palace’s u-turn earlier this week on allowing the couple’s image on tea-towels.
Her only real concern is how she’s going to fit in all the extra memorabilia after the council turned down her planning application for a William and Kate conservatory (“I wanted to be ready”) to complement the Diana room. “If I won the lottery, I’d be straight round to the next-door neighbours with a cheque,” she says.
And the wedding day itself? “I hope to be as near to the Abbey as possible,” she says. “I’m getting a bit old for camping, but I suppose I’ll have to.”
Given that she appears to be responsible for the lion share of the estimated £44 million spent on Royal wedding memorabilia, surely someone could save her a seat? And at least they’ll know where to bring their unwanted Wills 'n’ Kate tea-towel on April 30.
To see our stock of William And Kate Royal Wedding mugs, click on the photo.
Had a great weekend and attended an afternoon tea as part of the Port Townsend Heritage Days, formerly the Port Townsend Victorian Days....name change to allow for dressing up through more eras and focusing on a broader range of educational programs. Port Townsend is a great seaport town with lots of Victorian era homes. I will be covering the tea on my other blog, Antiques And Teacups, later today.
English Phrases Explained
I am going to do these periodically for fun. Today:
A Lid To Match The Kettle
To ensure that a kettle is as efficient as possible it needs a tight fitting lid, and this is the reference when it is said of a married couple that "the lid matches the kettle" means that the couple are very well suited.
taken from the book Mothballs and Elbow Grease by The National Trust, UK
Have a great day and have a cup of tea with a friend!
