Caistor wood artist helps create cross for for a queen

Royal Warrant-holding companies gifted a new Processional Cross to Her Majesty, which will be used at religious services and State occasions, including at the Cenotaph, and will replace the current cross in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace.

The staff of the cross was turned and decorated by Joey Richardson, a QEST (Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) scholar, which is one of the charitable arms of the RHWA ( Royal Warrant Holders Association).

Joey said: “It was with great honour and pride that I turned and embellished the shaft for the Platinum Jubilee Processional Cross used in the Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving at St Pauls Cathedral.

“I went to Sandringham to pick some oak from HM The Queen ’s Estate .

“ After turning, the shaft was decorated using pyrography and hand painting to depict the four nations, with the Tudor rose, daffodils, shamrocks and thistles.”

The cross has been made by Royal Warrant-holding company, Thomas Lyte, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, from one of their designs chosen by Her Majesty.

The silver-gilt cross is made of 2.8 kilograms of sterling silver and mounted on Joey’s oak staff, to stand at a height of 2.2 metres.

The central octagon features the Christogram IHS, Jesus Hominum Salvator (Saviour of Men), encircled by a ring bearing 70 lozenges, acknowledging the 70 years of Her Majesty’ s reign.

RWHA launched an appeal amongst its 700-plus member companies to fund the construction of the cross, which also enabled almost a quarter of a million pounds to be raised for distribution to local charities across the UK through the RWHA’s Charity Fund in the Platinum Jubilee year and beyond.

Mark Leishman, Executive Director of the RWHA, said: “The Association was keen to ensure that its Platinum Jubilee gift to Her Majesty was practical and would be pressed into immediate service.

“The existing cross was in need of replacement and as an organisation with its roots in British craft, and one fortunate enough to number many highly skilled craftspeople among its members, the gift of a new cross was ideal.”