Prince Charles Wedding Wedgewood Plate

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Wedgewood

1981

Subcollections

Overview

Cream plate with colourful decorative transferware that commemorates 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 images include black and while profiles of Charles and Diana, a royal CD cypher, a crown, Union Jacks, bells, flowers, cupids holding hearts with the letters CD enclosed and english roses.

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-124-2024.59

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

15 cm

Depth

3 cm

Inscriptions and markings

Under the crown appears the motto for the Prince of Wales which when translated from German means "I Serve"
ICH DIEN

Underneath the central imagery appears the wording
H.R.H PRINCE CHARLES LADY DIANA SPENCER
ROYAL WEDDING

On the underside of the plate appears the following wording followed by the Wedgewood makers mark
IN CELEBRATION OF
THE WEDDING
OF H.R.H
THE PRINCE OF WALES
AND
LADY DIANA SPENCER
ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL
29th JULY !(*!

Contextual Information

Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapidly successful and was soon one of the largest manufacturers of Staffordshire pottery, exporting across Europe as far as Russia, and to the Americas. It was especially successful at producing fine earthenware and stoneware that were accepted as equivalent in quality to porcelain (which Wedgwood only made later) but were considerably cheaper.

The Etruria Works was a ceramics factory opened by Josiah Wedgwood in 1769 in a district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which he named Etruria. The factory ran for 180 years, as part of the wider Wedgwood business, after which the site was affected by subsidence and plans were drawn for a new factory at Barlaston, some miles south on the Trent and Mersey Canal. The new factory was built in 1938–40 and most of the old factory was demolished after the Wedgwood company moved production to Barlaston.

Keywords

Place made

Barlaston
Staffordshire
United Kingdom

Year

1981

Primary significance criteria

Social or spiritual significance