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HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER (1900-1974)
The life of H.R.H. The Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester, Knight of the Garter, Knight of the Thistle, and last surviving Knight of St. Patrick is as fascinating as it is little known. He was born in 1900 and was the last Royal prince to be photographed on the knee of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, Empress of India, 'a very pretty boy' she had noted at his Christening in May. Victoria, who gave her name to a great era of prosperity and power for the United Kingdom, had but a few months to live. His grandfather King Edward VII presided over the Apogee of Imperial power, the zenith of British influence.
Prince Henry, was the son of George V, brother of Edward VIII and George VI and uncle of Queen Elizabeth II. Following the First World War, the old certainties evaporated as dynasties fell, the Romanoff's were executed and revolution triumphed. These seismic changes continued after the Second War with the dismantling of the British Empire and creation of the Commonwealth. In 1974, the year of the Prince's death, Britain joined the Common Market. In his lifetime Prince Henry witnessed extra-ordinary changes and upheavals that would have been impossible to predict in 1900!
George V instilled in his son an exacting and unfailing sense of duty. He was the first prince to be educated publicly, attending Eton College, where he displayed common sense, a lack of self importance, adaptability and much enjoyed sport. As the years passed, this conscientious and dedicated prince balanced the demands of his royal standing with his natural modesty and dislike of personal publicity; on the one hand the protocol dictated by his exalted position, on the other the instincts of a private man, endowed with a common touch. Though reserved and not gifted with the social ease of his eldest brother, Prince Henry served the country he so loved with dignity and humour. Informal by nature and more comfortable in tweeds, he was an excellent horseman and fine shot. He enjoyed country pursuits and farming his land at Barnwell Manor, a house filled with dogs.
The Prince represented four monarchs at many State occasions. In 1929 he travelled to Japan to award the order of the garter to Emperor Hirohito, an honour that had been conferred on the two previous Emperors, to Emperor Meiji Tenno by his grandfather King Edward V11 and to Emperor Taisho Tenno by his father King George V. His extensive suite included the Earl of Airlie, one of King George V's Lords-in-Waiting. The garter mission travelled to Japan via Marseilles, Cairo, Aden, Colombo and Hong Kong and back via Canada. The party transferred from the P & O liner Morea to HMS Suffolk, a cruiser that flew the duke's personal standard. This long, arduous and fascinating trip involved an intensive schedule of official receptions, engagements, inspections, visits and other activities, much of it in full dress uniform. It set the tone for many similar Royal duties for more than the next thirty years.
On Thursday 6th May Prince Henry steamed into Yokohama Harbour escorted by the Third Japanese Destroyer flotilla to twenty-one gun salutes from two Japanese cruisers and a welcome from Vice-Admiral Yamamoto who was followed by the brother of the Emperor, His Imperial Highness Prince Chichibu. The two princes travelled to Tokyo station where Prince Henry met Emperor Hirohito. That afternoon there was a rehearsal for the garter ceremony and later a dinner at the Omotecho Palace, hosted by Prince and Princess Chichibu. The investiture of the ancient and Most Noble Order of the Garter passed off well, Prince Henry wrote to his father, King George V 'On Friday morning we had the Investiture which was a very impressive ceremony & luckily none of us made a mistake. I found it very difficult walking backwards when wearing the mantle!'. After this spectacular ceremony The Emperor visited Prince Henry at the Kasumigaseki Palace and bestowed upon him the golden collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan's highest order of chivalry. In the words of the prince 'the next two days were very busy ones' - on Saturday he visited Tokyo Imperial University to present a Shakespeare medal to encourage the study of English literature and lunched with Admiral Okada and Admiral Togo, the victor of the battle of Tsuchima in 1905. This was followed by a somewhat damp garden party in the Shinjuku Imperial Gardens as it was raining and a dinner for seventy-one at the British Embassy. Among engagements the following day were ceremonies to lay wreathes at the Yasukuni and Meiji shrines dedicated to the fallen in war and the Emperor of that name respectively and a rugby match at the Meiji Stadium between the sailors of HMS Suffolk and a Tokyo Universities side watched by around 30,000 and won by the home team. Official visits filled the next three days, including a display at the Narashimo Cavalry School, a visit to Asakawa and dinner with the Prime Minister, General Baron Tanaka. Prince Henry hosted a dinner for 400 at the British Embassy and took his leave of the Emperor at the Kasumigaseki Palace following a luncheon at the Imperial Palace. On this last day of the official tour Prince Henry attended a dinner given by Princess Hisashi-Fushimi and then attended the Kabuki-za theatre to see an historical drama, arriving to rapturous applause. It was noted that a Japanese audience 'rarely accords so spontaneous and cordial a welcome.' On the following days Prince Henry embarked on a private tour, he visited Nara, saw the Horyuji Temple and, like so many before and since, he enjoyed the striking view of Mount Fuji emerging above the clouds. He left Japan exhausted and elated on the 23rd May from Yokohama on board the Empress of Asia, sleeping through a fierce and prolonged typhoon that hit the ship that evening. No doubt Prince Henry had been presented with some of the netsuke in this catalogue during this trip and that his time in Japan, looked back upon with affection and pleasure by a Royal Duke not given to reminiscences, stimulated his interest in these remarkable objets d'art.
The following year he attended the Coronation of Haile Sellassie 'the King of Kings.' At these events and at other times, for instance during his Governor- Generalship of Australia (1945-47), the Prince made a profound impression with his nobility, flexibility, tact and interest. He engendered great loyalty and a degree of spontaneous enthusiasm that sometimes came as a surprise to this reserved man, a royal prince who never felt entirely comfortable in full dress uniform or robes of state.
In over 30 years, Prince Henry travelled 76,000 miles on his public engagements, three times round the globe! In 1935, he married the Lady Alice Cristabel Montagu-Douglas Scott, daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbeery, a worthy and delightful companion who reflected his loyal devotion to Royal duty and shared his love of country life. T. H. White noted that Prince Henry was 'a kind, good Englishman, and a King's son to boot.'
THE COLLECTION OF NETSUKE, FROM THE ESTATE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, THE PRINCE HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, KG., KT., KP.
The very existence of this Royal Collection of netsuke is indicative of the cordial relations between Britain and Japan following the Imperial Restoration of 1868.
His Royal Highness The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester visited Japan in 1929 to convey the Order of the Garter to the Showa Emperor, just as his royal ancestor Prince Arthur of Connaught had taken the Garter to invest the Meiji Emperor in 1906. The occasion coincided with the fourth year of the reign of the Showa Emperor, in which year the concluding part of the long enthronment ceremony, or Sokuishiki was enacted in that year.
It is understood that Prince Henry was particularly fond of the netsuke, a fondness which is shared by collectors throughout the world today. His Collection is now available to be seen by the public for the first time.
The range of subject matter depicted on these miniature sculptures, the great number of individual carvers whose work is represented, and the date span covered make the collection a formidable rival to all but the major museum collections in this country.
There are a considerable number of early pieces in the Collection, some of which are signed by leading makers of the time. They include netsuke of Chinese themes, like the sennin, figures from Chinese legend like the hero Kan'u of the novel 'The Water Margin', and mythical creatures like the kirin. There are also purely Japanese subjects, in particular animals, especially the twelve creatures of the zodiac which, being used to indicate years and the time of day, were constantly on the mind of the Japanese people during the Edo period. Western subjects appear also, exemplified by the well-known icon of a Dutchman holding a cockerel. Illustrations of such earlier types of netsuke are to be found in the only substantial Edo period book which treats with the subject, the Soken Kisho, written by a sword-mounter Inaba Tsuryu in 1781. But since netsuke became available in large numbers on the Western market there have been many books written on the subject. Most of these, however, concentrate on the earlier netsuke, and there is little disseminated knowledge of the later 19th century pieces. Probably the only place in the world where records of these important late pieces are to be found is in the British Museum, which houses the illustrated card index bequeathed by the scholarly collector Frederick Meinertzhagen. Prince Henry's Collection boasts many signed examples of these later 19th century netsuke, which have been until recently available for relatively modest prices to the modest collector, although they are becoming more and more difficult to find. In addition to pure and practical netsuke there are the larger ornaments, or okimono, which are made by the same netsuke carvers. Like netsuke, the okimono are often wonders of intricate sculpture and deserve special attention.
THURSDAY 3RD JULY AT 10:30AM
NETSUKE, OKIMONO AND INRO
FROM THE ESTATE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE HENRY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, KG., KT., KP.
A WOOD NETSUKE
SIGNED SEIMIN, EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)
Details
A WOOD NETSUKE
Signed Seimin, Edo Period (19th Century)
Katabori, wood, of a seated monkey, the eyes inlaid in dark brown, signed Seimin
3.8cm. high
Signed Seimin, Edo Period (19th Century)
Katabori, wood, of a seated monkey, the eyes inlaid in dark brown, signed Seimin
3.8cm. high