Exhibitions
The House is open from 1 April to 30 September 2012. Each year special additional exhibitions are held in the House. These are included in the admission charge.
The Childhood Toy Collection
Toys of yesteryear will be on display at the Mount Edgcumbe this season.
The house is hosting the 'Childhood Toy Collection' and has a vast array of Victorian to 1950s toys, ranging from the weird and wonderful to some of old favourites.
The collection includes a Bullnose MG pedal car from the 1920s as well as child pedal motorbike from the 1930s and a model French sand yacht.
Also on display will be a large collection of dolls and dolls prams.
Royal Connections
A celebration of Mount Edgcumbe’s links to Royalty in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Sunday 27 May to Sunday 30 September 2012
The Edgcumbes have served the Crown and Parliament for hundreds of years, playing their part in the course of our country’s intricate and potted history and befriending both royalty and politicians along the way.
The house and grounds of Mount Edgcumbe have also long been held in high esteem by royalty as few houses have entertained quite such a succession of Royalty. Those recorded include, Cosimo de Medici, Charles II and James, Duke of York, George III and Queen Charlotte, Grand Duke Michael of Russia, William IV and Queen Adelaide, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Emperor Frederick of Russia, Napoleon III and Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Most recent of all in 1933 was the visit of George V and Queen Mary accompanied by the Duke of York (George VI) and Princess Elizabeth (H.M. Elizabeth II), aged 7.
This exhibition will tell the story of the Edgcumbes part in Royal Coronations and weddings, visits, balls and garden parties at Buckingham palace as well as their service within the Royal Household, in Parliament and the House of Lords.
The exhibition features a set of two Coronation chairs used at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and one of the jewels of our collection, a portrait of the 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe wearing the Coronation robes, by Alexander Stanhope Forbes R.A. It will also feature several items never before displayed at Mount Edgcumbe on loan from the current Earl, Robert Charles Edgcumbe. These include a fabulous bracelet and pendant both given to the 3rd Countess of Mount Edgcumbe and inscribed from ‘her sincere friend Victoria R’ as well as the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe’s Parliamentary robes.