ROYAL BED A FILM "PROP."

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 100, 1 May 1939, Page 15

ROYAL BED A FILM "PROP."

A seventeenth century bed which once belonged to James 1., and later to Charles 11., became a film "prop" when it wae used in a scene for "The Lambeth Walk." According to the records the bed, a large four-poster, with other furnishings, was originally acquired by James I. in 1604. James, it appears, had a particular reason for wanting it. He was preparing to entertain Juan Fernandez de Velasco, Constable of Castile and Ambassador of Spain, and he was determined to make the visit memorable. He ordered, amongst other things, that the Ambassador's suite should be fitted throughout with "only new and regal furnishings." They included the bed, which was specially made for the occasion. In 1660 the bed became the property of Charles 11., who later presented it to the Earl of Carlisle, a Scottish noble, who had expressed an admiration for it. Eventually it fell into the hands of another Scottish family, to whom it belonged for several £eiirrath>ns. A few years ago, when the family sold the estate, the bed was purchased by a London art dealer, from whom it was borrowed by ithe piodueers of "Ite I**mbeth Walk."