The Ancient Offices of Britain.
'Keepers of the Kingdom' considers one hundred historical and contemporary titles. Photographers Julian Calder and Mark Cator have portrayed the present holders in their particular "uniform" - be it grand, humble, symbolic or simply practical - and in places that are special and specific to the responsibilities of their role. We see the Sovereign opening Parliament; the Archbishop of Canterbury at prayer in the sanctuary, next to the seat of St Augustine who proselytised in south-east England in the sixth century AD; the Seigneur of Sark, with the armed band that he is charged to maintain for the defence of the island as the last surviving feudal lord; and the First Sea Lord with his charts, beneath the windvane that was designed to show whether the wind was set fair for the French to invade.
Each of these images tells a story, which the lively and informative text of Alastair Bruce relates both as fascinating vignettes of particular circumstances and as part of the history of what has made the United Kingdom what it is today.
