Benches fit for a King will become part of the Coronation celebrations for King Charles III.
Seats decorated to represent young people’s hopes for The King’s reign will be installed at the Tower of London and Hillsborough Castle.
The designs were chosen from over 1,500 entries in a competition run by Historic Royal Palaces which looks after the Tower and the Castle.
School pupils came up with ideas of what they want to happen in the era of King Charles. Fifteen benches will be decorated with winning entries – fourteen of them will be at the Tower of London and one will take pride of place in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle in County Down.
The winning designs include a representation of different communities living in the UK, including a prominent place for the flag of Ukraine to underline the welcome and support being given to the country and its people during the war.
Another of the winners reflected King Charles III’s championing of environmental issues. Children were encouraged to use their values to inspire their designs with unity and caring for the planet among the most popular themes on entries.
Historic Royal Palaces provided a range of resources to help schools come up with designs. The benches featuring the winning entries will be created in partnership with global public art producers Wild in Art.
The benches will be put in place soon after the Coronation. At the end of the summer, they will be sent to the winning schools to become part of their own Coronation legacy, providing a lasting reminder of the celebrations just in time for the start of the new academic year.
