"I cool - I refresh - and I can keep secrets." These words form the decoration of a fan presented to Queen Alexandra in 1903 on a visit to Ireland, and show the emotional as well as practical importance of fans to Royal women through the years. The fan is just one of the hundreds in the Royal Collection and some of the most beautiful and historic examples are now on display in an exhibition.
Lizz Pearson finds out more about the fans, which were collected over the past 400 years. She met Rhian Wong from the Windsor Castle Print room, who helped prepare the exhibition - and Debra Clarke, the assistant curator at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection is at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace and the exhibition runs until February 11th.
