Queen’s maid of honour Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill is overwhelmed

The Queen’s former aide became tearful as she was presented with the dress she wore at the Coronation after it was painstakingly restored to its former glory.

Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill, 92, praised the ‘unbelievable’ transformation of the faded Norman Hartnell gown, which had laid in storage for decades and was badly damaged due to sun exposure. 

It was recently brought out of storage at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and given to textile conservator Emma Telford, who spent 400 hours repairing the delicate silk dress. 

Lady Rosemary is presented with the gown on an episode of Nick Knowles: Heritage Rescue, which premieres next Tuesday on discovery+. 

‘Oh, my goodness me, I must put on my glasses,’ Lady Rosemary gasped on seeing the dress. ‘It’s fantastic. Emma, I congratulate you, it’s unbelievable what you’ve done.’

Lady Rosemary, the daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, and a great-aunt of the current duke, was one of the six maids of honour who stood by the Queen, 96, as she was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. 

She married Charles Muir just two weeks after the coronation, in a service attended by Princess Margaret.

Like the other maids, Lady Rosemary was dressed in a stunning gold gown designed by the Queen’s dressmaker Normal Hartnell. The dress has a tiny 22-inch waist, with a motif of gold leaf and pearl white blossom.

The young women were responsible for carefully lifting and unfolding the princess’s’ 21 foot train as she alighted from the magnificent Gold State Coach. 

The Queen’s maids of honour Lady Rosemary Muir, Lady Anne Glenconner, Lady Moyra Campbell, Lady Mary Russell, Lady Jane Rayne and Baroness Willoughby de Eresby were intensely scrutinised by the young women and Press of the day. 

Such was the attention lavished upon the women Lady Glenconner even claimed they were seen as the Spice Girls of their time. 

Following the Coronation, Lady Rosemary’s dress spent years on display at Blenheim Palace, the family seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. 

But the delicate silk was badly damaged by sunlight exposure, causing the material to split and crack. 

Emma, a specialist in tapestry conservation and historic house interior textiles, was called in and tasked with the enormous challenge of repairing the irreplaceable dress.

After assessing the dress, she confirmed: ‘It’s light damage. After it was worn and I’m not sure exactly when but maybe in the 1960s and 1970s, it was on display for a number of years on a mannequin and the back of the dress obviously received a significant amount of light and the silk has just split and shattered at the back.’

While the front of the dress remained in good condition and the beadwork almost entirely intact, an incredible feat given the time that has passed, there was significant damage around the bottom and the material had begun to shred. 

Emma warns, ‘Ultraviolet light, particularly for silk, is really harmful’.

Despite her 32 years’ experience, Emma admitted that she had never worked on something with the unique challenges. 

Using support fabric that she’d prepared with adhesive on it, Emma was able to bond it onto the fragile silk of the dress to stabilise the damage and strengthen the material. 

She confessed: ‘There’s really no option with an item that’s in that kind of condition. 

‘An adhesive support is really a last resort for textile conservators, but this is very much a last gasp for this item as it really is in such poor condition.’

The iron-on silk backing stabilised the worst of the damage but only then could Emma turn her skilled hands to the heady job of resewing some of the worst parts. 

With her threaded needle and a little piece of the silk, reasonably strong and dyed to colour match the silk on the dress, she completed the repair by sewing the threads not sealed by the adhesive. 

The dress will go on display to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this week.

After being asked by Nick if it brought back memories, Lady Rosemary admitted: ‘It certainly does, yes’ and recalled her duties on the day.

‘We’d been trained so well by the Duke of Norfolk. We had so many rehearsals we never thought anything would go wrong, and it didn’t,’ she said. 

When questioned if the Queen was nervous, Lady Rosemary continued: ‘She certainly didn’t show it. When we started off the six of us, she turned around and she just said ‘ready girls’ and off we went – she was wonderfully relaxed.’

Emma said of the project: ‘I felt very nervous and quite anxious about today, for a few weeks. Wondering if it was actually going to be ready in time. It was lovely to see that reaction.’ 

Lady Rosemary replied: ‘I think it’s unbelievable. When I first saw it, after it had been damaged, I thought there was no hope for this. 

‘It seemed to disintegrate in one’s hands, and I’m just overwhelmed by what’s been done. I think it’s going to go on exhibition, and hopefully will be well looked after.’

Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill was the eldest Maid of Honour and probably the least fazed. She was brought up with 36 ‘indoor’ servants at Blenheim Palace near Oxford and Winston Churchill was her uncle. 

‘I was used to huge numbers of people and vast parties,’ she once said. ‘Foreign royals often came to Blenheim. I was once pulled out of bed to meet the Queen of Egypt. I had my wedding, with 950 guests, at Blenheim two weeks later.’

She had moved her wedding date to accommodate the Coronation.