33: Lantern Slide Portraits of King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales

In this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by cultural historian Dr Cindy McCreery. 2022 is a particularly important year for the British royal family with the Platinum Jubilee. It is also a period of transition for the institution.

Together for this episode Cindy and Craig discuss a commercially produced children's lantern slide of the first decade of the twentieth century featuring King Edward VII, Queen Alexandria and the Prince of Wales, later to be George V, and his wife Mary. Produced by W. Butcher and Sons, c. 1901-1907, the slide provides a remarkable insight into another time of transition for the monarchy, following the death of Victoria and the royal family's use of modern technologies to present themselves to the public in a reassuring manner.

The conversation covers colonialism and royalty, mass consumption in the early twentieth century, Australia's complex relationship with the monarchy and the way historians can use materiality to better understand the past.


Guest: Dr Cindy McCreery is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of History in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. She is a cultural historian with an interest in visual and material culture of both the maritime British Empire and British royalty. She is author and editor of several books including The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England (2004) and 2020's Monarchies and Decolonisation in Asia and convened this year's 'Going Platinum: Australian responses to the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, 1952-2022' conference. Follow @DrCindyMcCreery on Twitter.


Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on Twitter and Instagram.

Object details: Magic lantern slide strip, coloured; rectangular glass slide with 4 images; royal family; portraits of King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales; from "Primus' Magic Lantern Slides set series VI Nursery Tales, produced by Butcher & Sons, c. 1901-1907 [SC1987.12.6.6]
Read more about children lantern slides in the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection.