Wrought Iron Screen, Privy Garden Hampton Court

This is one of 12 panels at the Thames end of the restored Privy Garden at Hampton Court Palace constructed for William III of Orange.

The panels represent parts of the Kingdom over which he ruled - this one is the Irish Harp for Ireland, which the Protestant William notoriously conquered in a ruthless campaign from his Catholic Stuart father-in-law James VII and II.

William III died in 1702, before the Privy Garden was completely finished - ironically his horse stumbled on a mole hill in Hampton Court Park, and he died of his injuries some days later. The mole thereafter being known by Jacobites as "the gentleman in black velvet".

The screen was cast by Jean Tijou a French Protestant Huguenot iron-worker who arrived in England shortly after William in 1689. He also cast the screens for Sir Christopher Wren for St Paul's Cathedral. Sir Christopher was the architect of the new palace that William built for his wife and co-ruler Mary, which can be seen through the central panel.

The Privy Garden has been restored brilliantly to its 1702 glory using the very detailed accounts that the gardeners and Tijou left. They did this because they were scared that they would not be paid in full so they submitted the fullest accounts after William III died.

Unfortunately their fears were well founded.