What better project could I wish for than to have the chance to interpret Scotland’s Crown Jewels, also known as ‘the Honours’. The existing exhibition within Edinburgh Castle was sorely overdue for a refresh, having been put in place in 1993.
This project was to update the graphic panels only, as a stop-gap until funding is available to do an entire overhaul of the displays.
As well as the displays being out-of-date in terms of design, a lot has changed since 1993 in terms of visitor expectations and attention spans. The displays were also causing serious problems with visitor flow. Aside from there being too much to read, people were having to wait a long time in queues both outside and inside the space, before seeing the real thing they’d come to see – the crown, sword and sceptre. The content challenge was to look at ways to summarise the story without losing anything core to the narrative while still keeping it enjoyable to read.
I worked closely with the Interpretation team at HES who kept an eye on factual accuracy and designer Sarah Doyle. Sarah did a great job of bringing the design up to date without it jarring with what was already there. I also experienced a bit of serendipity, when I discovered that my former boss, Charles J Burnett, who sadly passed early in 2024, had written the original guidebook. His warm and accessible style of writing helped me quickly get to grips with the subject, and provided a strong foundation for my work. I could almost hear his voice through his words.
Early on, I realised that since the mannequins and models and core of the old exhibition would be staying, that we might as well embrace them. The new content, arguably more than the old, encourages visitors to look at the scenes before them and appreciate who’s who and what’s happening. The honours themselves – crown, sword and sceptre – were kept very much as the stars throughout, within the text and graphics.
Within the final spaces, due to some of the previous rooms being closed, we turned to timeline-style approaches. We had to condense a wealth of stories about what happened next into this format, and broke it up into who wore the crown (from James IV to Elizabeth II), and adventures of the regalia (including being hidden at Dunnottar Castle).
We wanted to create a little bit more drama and a sense of anticipation before visitors entered the Crown Room, so focused the penultimate space on what to look out for. We were also aware that visitors aren’t in the Crown Room for long, so the more they can appreciate what they see, the better. The back wall features large images of each item of regalia, with pull out details and factoids you can easily read while you are in the queue.
So far the updated displays have been very positively received and HES will be monitoring how well it all works throughout the 2025 season. Much as I’m proud to have worked on this, and pleased with what we achieved, I do hope that money will become available in the future to do the Honours and their story the justice they deserve with an entirely new interpretive experience.
