The Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969 was a crowning achivement for Lord Snowdon. Personally asked by HM The Queen to oversee the ceremony - as a Welshman, member of the Royal family and foremost a designer, he was an inspired choice, and was created Constable of Caernarvon Castle for the ceremony.

Working with his great friend Carl Toms (who had been mentored by Oliver Messel), and John Pound, the brutalist designer from the Ministry of Works, the designs for the ceremony were ground-breaking and celebrated both modernity and antiquitity, in a time when Welsh independence and its place within the Union was at risk.

Snowdon's celebrated design for the Perspex canopy was put in place specifically to allow television cameras a clear view forcing the ancient ceremony to be watched by millions rather than as Snowdon put it 'an elitist few'. The present lot beautifully depicts this legendary design and Snowdon's ascent to legendary designer.

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