29 April 2023 , 18:25
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A Royal -mad grandmother has an impressive collection of royal memorabilia that is worth more than £200,000.
Anita Atkinson, 66, has spent the last four decades collecting tea sets, trinkets, paintings, flags, books and even cardboard cut-outs to celebrate her love for the monarchy.
She plans on leaving all 13,300 regal artefacts to her grandkids.
The grandmother, who is from Crook, County Durham, has items that date back to the 18th-century reign of Queen Anne displayed in her home and in a private ‘museum’ housed in an old dairy barn on the farm where she lives.
Anita has four granddaughters, Ania, 12, and Amalia 10, as well as seven-year-old Imogen and four-year-old Silvana, and happily shares her “monarchy obsession” with them.
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Anita has over 13,300 regal artefacts (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)
Items are displayed in her home and in a private ‘museum’ housed in an old dairy barn on the farm where she lives (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)She said: "I have already willed the collection to my four granddaughters and baby grandson, one-year-old Rufus – I’m leaving them a huge task.
”I’m on 13,377 items now and I’m expecting to approach 14,000 by the end of the year.
”I’m never going to sell it myself because it means too much to me, but my grandkids can put it up for auction if they want to.
”The collection happened by accident.
Anita has over £200,000 worth of royal memorabilia and is leaving it all to her grandkids (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)”I look after the items but this is everybody else's memories.
“My grandkids can do whatever they want with it, but I’m not selling any of the memorabilia in my lifetime.”
Anita’s granddaughters love helping out at the museum.
Anita plans on camping out for the coronation (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)Rufus “loves anything with a Union Jack on it” but is still too young — the grandmother admits that not all of them are as passionate as she is.
She said: “I give them history lessons about the monarchy when they want them and all of the girls are interested, except Imogen... she thinks the whole thing is a bit boring!
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“Ania comes into the museum a lot and loves giving me advice on how to display things, and Silvana loves the dog that sings the national anthem.”
Anita happily shares her “monarchy obsession” with her granddaughters, Ania, Amalia, Imogen and Silvana (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)Anita hopes that her family, including her children, Ruth, 41, Jimmy, 39, and Gemma, 34, make the most out of the collection after she’s gone.
She said: “This is a way of life for me. I’m finding out something new about the royals every day and I can’t pass all that knowledge on.
Anita hopes to reach 14,000 items this year (Jam Press/Keith Taylor)“My family can franchise the museum if they want or maybe set up a tea room, it’s a ready-made business for them but I don’t mind what they choose.
”It's not about money for me. I would still be a monarchist without a single mug or book!”
Anita has already made plans for the upcoming coronation and plans to camp out.
She added: “I can’t wait for King Charles' coronation next month.
“I booked train tickets for the Saturday beforehand so I can spend that week watching the rehearsals and going down to central every day, looking for the best place to watch from and choosing my time carefully to set up camp!"