The Mace

The Royal Society's Mace is a special object.

It was donated to the society by its first patron, King Charles II, in 1663. Since then the mace has been in the room for almost every important meeting and moment in the society's history.

Even today it sits on a central table at every society meeting, as you'll see in our latest Objectivity video.

It was a great honour to hold the mace myself.

It was also fun to snap some "behind the scenes pictures" during our shoot, with Keith and James.

Objectivity camera/edit man James Hennessy captures the mace.

James and Keith awaiting a chance to film the council meeting.

Love this one... Society executive director Julie Maxted comes to retrieve the mace from Keith. Meanwhile former president Joseph Banks (in portrait) looks on. The mace is in the painting too (see below).

And here is the mace through the ages (reproduced with permission of the Royal Society)...