Prince Charles Wedding Plate

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Ridgway Potteries

c. 1981

Subcollections

Overview

A white dinner plate with a lightly scalloped outer rim with gold trim and featuring transferware celebrating the the marriage of Prince Charles (who became King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer which took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The imagery on the central part of the plate features circular black and white photographs of Charles and Diana in entwined rings. The jewel on the ring around Charles is stylised crown. Around the rings is wreathing of English roses and above it is a red stylised dragon. Below the image is wording in a folded light blue ribbon with gold edging. On the outer rim of the there is another gold ring which is 2 cm inside of the outer rim. On the outer rim above the central imagery is another red stylised dragon sitting on a leafy English rose.

Historical information

King Charles III, the firstborn child of Queen Elizabeth II, was born Charles Philip Arthur George on 14th November 1948. He became the King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms on the death of Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022. Charles was 73 years old when he was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6th May 2023 and became the oldest person to ascend to the British throne and the longest serving Prince of Wales and heir apparent in British history.

Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a fairytale wedding in 1981 and they had two sons, William and Harry. The marriage did not last and Charles and Diana divorced in 1996 and then Diana died in a car crash the following year. In 2005, Charles married his long-term partner, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2024.61

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

21 cm

Depth

2 cm

Inscriptions and markings

In the folded light blue ribbon with gold edging below the entwined images is the following wording
29th JULY 1981
THE MARRIAGE OF
H.R.H THE PRINCE OF WALES
AND LADY DIANA SPENCER

On the under side of the plate is the circular makers mark which reads as follows
BONE CHINA
A 97 7
QueenAnne
MADE IN ENGLAND

Contextual Information

Queen Anne was a brand name introduced in the late 1940s by Shore & Coggins where they produced bone china at their Edensor Works until 1966. The Queen Anne brand name then became part of the Ridgway Potteries group and was used by them for bone china through the 1980s.

The Ridgway family was one of the important dynasties manufacturing Staffordshire pottery, with a large number of family members and business names, over a period from the 1790s to the late 20th century. In their heyday in the mid-19th century there were several different potteries run by different branches of the family. Most of their wares were earthenware, but often of very high quality, but stoneware and bone china were also made.

Keywords

Place made

Staffordshire
United Kingdom

Year

c. 1981

Primary significance criteria

Social or spiritual significance