The Company of Entrepreneurs is delighted to have contributed to the design and production of the Anointing Screen, which will be used during the Coronation Service on 6th May at Westminster Abbey. 
 
Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort visited the Royal School of Needlework to view the Anointing Screen’s progress, and to meet the craftspeople and embroiderers who contributed to the project. The screen has recently been blessed at a special service of dedication at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.
 
The Anointing Screen is used at the most sacred moment of the Coronation, the Anointing of His Majesty The King. The screen combines traditional and contemporary sustainable embroidery practices to produce a design which speaks to His Majesty The King’s deep affection for the Commonwealth. 
 
The screen has been gifted for the occasion by the City of London Corporation and City Livery Companies. His Majesty The King is a keen advocate and supporter of the preservation of heritage craft skills, and the Anointing Screen project has been a collaboration of these specialists in traditional crafts. The Company of Entrepreneurs supports business education and enterprise skills to help these crafts to flourish and to provide employment and opportunities for others.
 
The Anointing takes place before the investiture and crowning of His Majesty and has historically been regarded as a moment between the Sovereign and God, with a screen or canopy in place given the sanctity of the Anointing.
 
Designed by Aidan Hart, it has been created through both hand and digital embroidery. The central design takes the form of a tree which includes 56 representing the 56 member countries of the Commonwealth. 
 
The screen is supported by a wooden pole framework, designed and created by Nick Gutfreund of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. At the top of the wooden poles are mounted two eagles, cast in bronze and gilded in gold leaf. The form of an eagle has longstanding associations with Coronations.
 
The screen is three-sided, with the open side to face the High Altar in Westminster Abbey. The two sides of the screen feature a much simpler design with maroon fabric and a gold, blue and red cross inspired by the colours and patterning of the Cosmati Pavement at Westminster Abbey where the Anointing will take place.