Thoughts so far...

At the start of this project I wanted to look at the nation's obsession with the Royal Family and how they are portrayed in the media as well as on memorabilia (particularly the postcards of them). I was thinking mainly about how Royal memorabilia is simply playful and a tourist attraction, and how I could begin to mock ideas of taste by creating memorabilia that no one would want to buy. This whole idea comes from a bin that my Grandparents have that commemorates Charles' and Diana's wedding in 1981.

As part of this idea, I thought humour would be important, and so I got interested in the more satirical views of the Royal Family, shown mainly in the media, but by artists and designers as well. I wanted to create my own satire in relation to Royal memorabilia. At first I thought of simply recreating memorabilia, but more outrageous than existing souvenirs, using humour to question the nation's obsession with the Royal Family.

So.

Whilst keeping Royal memorabilia in mind, I've decided to go back to basics and think about the portrayal of images of the Royal Family in it's current state. And I think I've missed something key; the Queen's image has become perhaps one of the most iconic of the 20th and 21st centuries - her face is everywhere. What will happen when she stops being our monarch? The whole image of the Royal family will change. Not only that, but I think attitudes to the Royal Family will naturally change too - considering that the Queen has been the monarch for almost three generations. For my campaign, I want to look at this in more depth - and I had the idea to centre the campaign imagining Charles being King. I think this is relevant at the moment particularly because of the news coverage of Prince William's and Kate Middleton's engagement - as their wedding will create their public image as a couple - an image that I think will be very different from Charles and Camilla. So for my campaign, I'm going to start by experimenting with images of Charles in place of the Queen and see how that goes...

As if 'King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla' on our commemorative plates will be as iconic as Liz.