School of Art Needlework

Royal School of Needlework

Established	1872 (1872)
Academic affiliation	UCA
President	HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
Chief Executive	Dr Susan Kay-Williams,
Location	Hampton Court Palace Richmond upon Thames, London
Patron	HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
Website	www.royal-needlework.org.uk

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.

The RSN began as the School of Art Needlework in 1872, founded by Lady Victoria Welby. The first President was Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, Queen Victoria's third daughter, known to the RSN as Princess Helena. She received help from William Morris and many of his friends in the Arts and Crafts movement. The School received its royal prefix in March 1875 when Queen Victoria consented to become its first patron. The word "Art" was dropped from the title in 1922.

Its initial premiseswas a small apartment on Sloane Street, employing 20 women. The school had grown to 150 students, moving in 1903 to Exhibition Road, near to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The purpose-built building was designed by a group of architects, including prominent British Arts and Crafts architect James Leonard Williams (d.1926).

The RSN established a Studio which works new bespoke embroidery commissions and replicas of antique textiles as well as restoration and conservation projects. The work of the Studio has been used in many important events, including a joint effort with Toye in producing the velvet cushions on which the Royal Crowns were carried into Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King George VI.

In 1953, the School created the gold embroidery on the Purple Robe of Estate, part of the coronation robes of Queen Elizabeth II.

The school moved from Princes Gate in Kensington to Hampton Court Palace in 1987, occupying rooms in Christopher Wren's construction.