Queen Mary's dollhouse, the largest and most famous in the world, turns 100 (and Queen Camilla renews her library)

The great work of the architect Edwin Lutyens (London, 1869-1944) was to plan and build, over 20 years, the city of New Delhi, founded in 1911 by George V, then emperor of India, who decided to move there the capital from Calcutta during the period of the British

Raj

.

For this purpose, Lutyens designed an administrative area at the center of a system of wide avenues, wide sidewalks and majestic gardens, following the model of cities like Washington, and adding a particular architecture that took the best of Western classicism and elements of local tradition. .

His enormous project began in 1912, when Lutyens visited the city for the first time, and was officially inaugurated in 1931. In the meantime, the first architect to be named a knight of the Order of the British Empire received a particular commission: build a dollhouse for Queen Mary of Teck, wife of King George V, and a great fan of decoration and miniatures.

Surely, at the time he accepted that humble project, the architect did not think that it would eclipse the creation of an entire city in India, but the truth is that, 100 years later, Queen Mary's dollhouse It is, without a doubt, his most famous and popular work.

Proof of this is that, on the occasion of her centenary, it is another queen, Camilla, who takes the baton from her predecessors and has been in charge of renovating her impressive library on the occasion of her centenary.

The dollhouse was the idea of ​​Princess Marie Louise, cousin of King George V and childhood friend of Mary of Teck, who decided that this would be a good gift from the entire nation to her queen after the First World War.

Lutyens, a friend of the princess, decided to embark on the project for which they created a committee to decide what the style of the house would be and to ensure that all its contents were of the highest possible quality and had the perfect scale.

More information

The black legend of the Spanish jewel that will crown Charles III

The Edwardian style was chosen, perhaps as a declaration of good intentions - the time of the reign of Edward VII was characterized as a sweet and ostentatious period whose end was marked by two tragic events: the sinking of the

Titanic

and the beginning of the First World War -, perhaps as a nostalgic nod to the queen's own childhood and an England in better health.

Various craftsmen working on the doll's house, 1923. Hulton Deutsch (Corbis via Getty Images)

The project materialized in 1924: “The house was intended to be as faithful as possible to real life.

It even includes electricity, running water and working elevators.

Each room is beautifully furnished and waiting to be explored,” they explain from The Royal Trust website.

It includes the royal rooms of the king and queen, the main living room and dining room, the children's playroom, kitchens, gardens, cellar, garages and even, in the attic area, the domestic service rooms.

It also has miniature recreations of some of the Crown Jewels, featuring real diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls.

According to the website, it is the largest dollhouse in the world.

In the words of its architect, in a letter dated 1923: “It is a miniature mansion in which the king and queen could live... in every detail.”

To give the little house greater fidelity, it is filled with the contributions of more than 1,500 artists, artisans and manufacturers of the time.

The doll's house was presented at the

Empire

Exhibition at Wembley in 1924, where it was on display for seven months, as a showcase of British workmanship.

At that time, magazines specialized in architecture and decoration, such as

Architectural Digest

, dedicated articles to the house.

Later, in 1925, and after a short tour, it was moved to Windsor Castle, in a room designed by Lutyens, where it has remained ever since and where it can be visited.

Queen Camilla at the reception for authors and illustrators held at Windsor Palace to mark the centenary of Queen Mary's Dollhouse, on January 30, 2024.POOL (via REUTERS)

Among all the magnificent rooms found in this little house, there is one that receives special interest: the library.

“How many London residences, even in Berkeley Square and Park Lane, have a library consisting of 200 books written by their authors' own hands and a collection of more than 700 watercolors by living artists?

I doubt you could even find anything like that in Buckingham Palace,” asks author EV Lucas in the book

The Book of the Queen's Dolls' House

.

It was precisely Lucas, with the help of her friend, Princess María Luisa, who was in charge of cataloging and organizing this bookstore for which the princess commissioned original books from living authors—in addition to containing reference titles.

The list of writers who refused to participate is short: Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw.

The list of those who did contribute is impressive, as it includes names such as JK Chesterton, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Galsworthy, Robert Graves, Thomas Hardy, Aldous Huxley, Rudyard Kipling and Vita Sackville-West.

The library's new manuscripts range from stories or poems to plays, articles and recipes, many of them inspired by the dollhouse or written especially for the occasion.POOL (via REUTERS)

100 years later, it is no longer a princess, but a queen, Camilla, who has made the decision to add new works to this library.

These are 20 small manuscripts, handwritten and decorated by prominent writers and illustrators, which aim to be a sample of contemporary literature from the United Kingdom.

The new manuscripts range from stories or poems to plays, articles and recipes, many of them inspired by the dollhouse or written especially for the occasion.

Among the authors chosen for this new stage are Joseph Coelho, Imtiaz Dharker, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, Philippa Gregory, Robert Hardman, Anthony Horowitz, Charlie Mackesy, Ben Okri, Sarah Waters and AN Wilson.

“These little books are big in imagination and talent, in feelings and ideas.

Such exquisite books revive the pleasure of careful reading, attentive looking and calm thinking,” explained Stella Panayotova, librarian of the British royal household and assistant curator of the royal archives.

Among writers, attention has been drawn, especially in the British media, to that of the food writer Tom Parker Bowles, Camila's son, who has participated with a text titled

A Recipe Fit for a Queen

.