About the talk
‘Love is a treacherous emotion. You will fare better without it’. Alliances of love, politics or convenience have shaped our history across the ages. From Royalty who inhabited Kew Palace to the magnificent portrait of Catherine Medici that hung on Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill wall. Speakers from two famous West London properties explore the relationships of love, politics and ultimately power and ponder the question of whether love is indeed ‘treacherous’.
About the speakers
Lee Prosser is Historic Buildings Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, responsible for Kew Palace, Kensington Palace State Apartments and Hillsborough Castle in Belfast. He was part of the team which re-presented and conserved Kew Palace in 2006 and latterly was curatorial lead on both the restoration of the royal kitchens in 2011 and the Great Pagoda at Kew in 2018.
Mark Lambert is an experienced volunteer tour guide at Strawberry Hill House & Garden. He has a degree in history and has had a varied career in technical and financial services. Mark joined the volunteer team at Strawberry Hill in 2011 and worked on the Research Team for the Lost Treasures Exhibition of 2017/18, which saw many historic portraits temporarily return to Strawberry Hill, including that of Catherine de Medici. This sparked Mark’s interest in Catherine’s extraordinary life story, and the portrait continues to be a highlight of his tours today.
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