Highlights

This section contains some of the most spectacular fans in the Royal Collection. These were all made during the reigns of Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.

In addition to the large double-sided painted satin fan (a Christmas present from Queen Victoria to her daughter-in-law in 1881), there are three fans made in the workshops of Carl Fabergé, the Russian Imperial jeweler. There's also a magnificent curled ostrich-feather fan with tortoiseshell guards decorated with diamonds, which was made for Queen Alexandra.

The oriental origin of the fan is recalled through the fine late nineteenth-century Japanese ivory and lacquer brisé fan, and the brightly-coloured fan, c.1840, which records the chief features of Macao.