Robert Kime

"Robert Kime, uniquely among decorators, has risen to eminence in the profession via antique dealing, textile collecting and an abiding passion for putting rooms together. His three strands of expertise run side by side as he createsdecorating schemes for an illustrious, discreet and world-wide clientele." - Min Hogg

While an undergraduate at Worcester College, Oxford, Robert Kime dealt in antiques to supplement his income, selling to dons, the Master's wife and remarkably to the Ashmolean Museum. He persuaded the Bursar to let him keep his rooms on staircase 7 so that his clients would know where to find him. A weekend party at Ashton Wold, the birthplace and home of Miriam Rothschild, led to an offer to sell the furniture crammed into the top storey of the house and, after three years at Sotheby's, a more permanent shop in Oundle, Rutland. The business developed through the 1970s, alongside friendships with designer Christopher Gibbs, Tom Parr of Colefax and Fowler, and veteran antique dealer Geoffrey Bennison.

Christopher Gibbs speaks of Robert's complete vision of how the world should look. "It is this sense of history and sense of place that give Robert a way of anchoring a house to its setting; it's historicist, subtle, comfortable, beautiful and never vulgar. He has a real sense of harmony, a talent for offsetting the simple with the grand. Decoration projects begin with the carpet and the room thereafter is layered."

Here are the twelve definitive Robert Kime projects, ranging from Bloomsbury to the Bahamas, from the Irish countryside tola France profonde. Magnificent, specially-commissioned photography by Tessa Traeger is accompanied by a text which combines illuminating descriptions of the choices and challenges involved in each project with an account of how this most cultured of designers developed his eye.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES, eldest son of The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born at Buckingham Palace at 9.14pm on 14th November 1948.

The Prince, as Heir to The Throne, took on the traditional titles of The Duke of Cornwall under a charter of King Edward III in 1337; and, in the Scottish peerage, of Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

Through the years, His Royal Highness developed a wide range of interests which are today reflected in The Prince's Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is Patron or President.The group is the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom, raising over ￡100million annually. The organisations are active across a broad range of areas including education and young people, environmental sustainability, the built environment, responsible business and enterprise and international.