25th Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II Plate

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Aynsley

c. 1972

Subcollections

Overview

Decorative light blue and cream dinner plate that was created to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1972. The cream centre of the plate shows royal insignia, a colourised drawing of Westminster Abbey and wording describing the details of the 1947 wedding. This central area is ringed by a gold rim edging on a light blue band that contains gold wreathing and bordered with another gold rim.

Historical information

Elizabeth II was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on 21 April 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the abdication of Edward VIII. She was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death 8 September 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states over the course of her lifetime and remained the monarch of 15 realms by the time of her death. Her reign of over 70 years is the longest of any British monarch, the longest of any female monarch, and the second longest verified reign of any monarch of a sovereign state in history.

Aynsley China was founded in 1775 by John Aynsley in Lane End, Longton, Staffordshire. In 1861 his grandson John Aynsley built the historic Portland Works on Sutherland Road, Longton, Staffordshire. The company was a favoured supplier of the British royal family.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2024.49

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

10.5000 in

Depth

1 in

Inscriptions and markings

In the central cream section the following wording is contained within some heraldic scrollery
1947 1972
ON THE 20th NOVEMBER 1947
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
AND
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE PHILIP
WERE MARRIED AT
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
LONDON

On the inner side of the light blue outer band is the following dark blue wording
TO COMMEMORATE the 25th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY of the MARRIAGE of H.M QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND H.R.H PRINCE PHILIP 1947-1972

The under side of the plate shows the makers mark
EST 1775
AYNSLEY
MADE IN ENGLAND
FINE ENGLISH
BONE CHINA

Contextual Information

Elizabeth first met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, in 1934. They were second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen Victoria. Elizabeth is said to have fallen for Philip, who was 5 years her senior, when she was only 13 years old when they began to correspond. Their engagement was officially announced on 9 July 1947 when she was 21.

The engagement caused some controversy in post war Britain as Philip was a foreigner with little money and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Stories are told of the Queen Mother playfully calling Philip “the Hun” but later in life she publicly called him "an English gentleman".

Before the marriage Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted to Anglicanism and took the surname of this mother’s British family becoming Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. Shortly before the wedding he was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style His Royal Highness.

Elizabeth and Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey and they received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. The wedding occurred in a post war Britain which was still struggling to recover from WWII and is said that Elizabeth had to use ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding gown. Notable exclusions from the wedding guest list were Philip’s German relations and the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII).

Keywords

Place made

Longton
Staffordshire
United Kingdom

Year

c. 1972

Primary significance criteria

Social or spiritual significance

Busselton Historical Society