In our blog series with filmed tours of new themed rooms at Palace House, Lord Montagu shares his insights on a personal project.
The students came up with a variety of good designs for this room, but then I decided that I wanted to do this one myself, as a tribute to my father.
I have tried to imagine the kind of bedroom he might have had as a bachelor, with a fast-developing passion for motoring and a residual interest in other forms of transport. Moreover, it had to have something of a 1950s aesthetic about it.
I started with the creation of the wallpaper, as this set the tone for everything else. If you look carefully, you’ll see that its stripes are the tread patterns of old car tyres – Chevron and P4 to be exact. Many trial samples in different colours and sizes were made until I was happy with it. This is especially fitting as my father was not just the founder of the National Motor Museum but also the Vintage Tyre Supplies company, which still operates from Beaulieu. The theme carries over to the dressing table, where the mirror is framed in a vintage motorcycle tyre.
The bookcase contains many of the books authored or published by my father whilst others reflect his interests in history, good food and travel. Being a lover of gadgets, he collected many model cars, some which served a second purpose. Examples on display include a racing car which doubles as a teapot and a brass saloon, which I played with as a child, but was originally a cigarette dispenser.
The room has other transport relics, notably an art deco Zeppelin styled lantern and a pair of lamp stands made from old brass car horns. Happily, I was able to redeploy the rubber bulbs by using them as finials at each end of the curtain pole. Pictures on the wall include two specially commissioned cartoons by Thelwell. The one depicting the Beaulieu attraction formed the artwork for our advertising in the mid-1960s.
My tribute continues in the corridor, where I’ve brought together a selection of family photos not exhibited before, to give our visitors glimpses of the very active life lived by my father. As an example, the picture shared here shows my father at the piano in Palace House with Liberace, while fellow guest Michael Jackson is in the background.
Lord Montagu describes the room here: https://youtu.be/pNTEJsSqYFs
COMING NEXT: Heraldic shields and the work of a Royal embroiderer