Summary

Royal blue armchair with brown-stained timber legs, made for HRH Queen Elizabeth II to sit in during the Opening Ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Chair made by Ramler Furniture of Cheltenham, Victoria, official furniture supplier for those Games. Chair has the Royal insignia, 'EIIR' surmounted by a crown, embroidered on the backrest of the chair in gold-coloured thread.

Physical Description

Arm chair covered in royal blue woollen fabric. The backrest has the royal insignia of Queen Elizabeth II (crown surmounting royal initals) embroidered on it in gold-coloured thread. Backrest and arms are a single, curved piece. Polyurethane foam filling. Makers label and care instructions on underside of seat. 4 dark brown stained timber legs with white plastic chair glides on each.

Significance

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sat on this chair during the Opening Ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. It was collected for display in the exhibhition _Spirit of the Games_, which documented the development and production of the Ceremony. The chair is a standard piece of contract furniture covered in a Royal Blue fabric. Because of its association with Royalty the chair was of signifcant interest to visitors to the exhibition.

The fact that it is a standard design with the addition of the Royal monogram as opposed to a special, one-off chair, shows the power of the contracts that were signed between the organisers of the Commonwealth Games and their suppliers. It seems reasonable to suggest that Ramler Furniture - whose main business is the supply of bulk furniture to large organisations - attracted a certain prestige by having made a chair for the Queen, on top of the financial benefit they accrued through the supply of many thousands of units of other chairs, tables etc. for the Games as a whole.

More Information