Royal Tabloid Tales in Bromsgrove

The Bromsgrove Guild was formed in 1898 and during the next seventy years achieved an international reputation for the quality of its craftsmanship in metalwork, woodcarving, plasterwork, stained glass and other art forms. In 1905 the guild was awarded its most famous commission - the main gates into Buckingham Palace, the Great Gate of Canada and the Australian Screen which, together with the railings around the new Queen Victoria Memorial, constituted a new 'circus', or piazza, at the top of The Mall. The main gates gave access to the ceremonial courtyard of the palace and are seen on all media coverage of the famous façade. Four years in the making, the guild was given the Royal Warrant as 'Metal Workers to His Majesty King Edward VIII' at the end of their labours in November 1910.

As a comparatively small concern it was probably through the lobbying efforts of Bromsgrove's squire, Lord Robert Windsor-Clive, later the earl of Plymouth and keen supporter of the Bromsgrove School of Art, that the contract was awarded to them. This is, however, not documented officially.

On the Palace gates, cherubs playfully surround the locks. It is believed that Margot, the infant daughter of Walter Gilbert, founder of the guild and headmaster of the Bromsgrove School of Art, was used as a model for one of these.