King Charles' library says gloves are so last century

A peek behind the velvet rope at Windsor Castle has sent royal fans into a flutter and sparked an unexpected lesson in museum science.

Newly shared video from inside King Charles III’s private Royal Library showed staff carefully opening one of its most extraordinary treasures, John James Audubon’s monumental Birds of America. 

The four volume masterpiece is famed for its life-size hand coloured illustrations, is one of the largest and rarest books in the world and seeing it handled up close was always going to draw attention.

But it wasn’t the artwork that caused a stir. Eagle eyed Instagram users quickly zeroed in on the fact that the curators weren’t wearing gloves while turning the vast pages, prompting a wave of concern about preservation and protocol. 

Comment sections filled with anxious questions, with many assuming bare hands were a conservation faux pas.

The Royal Collection Trust moved swiftly to clear things up. In a follow up video, a curator explained that in professional archives and libraries, clean, dry hands are actually safer than gloves. 

Cotton gloves, experts agree, can reduce sensitivity, increase the risk of tearing fragile paper and even snag delicate edges echoed by institutions like the British Library and the Library of Congress.

While the treasured library itself remains carefully preserved, Windsor Castle has quietly been evolving in other ways since King Charles took the throne with sustainability firmly at the heart of the changes. It’s conservation of a very modern kind.

Under the King’s longstanding environmental agenda, the historic residence has undergone a series of eco-conscious upgrades designed to future proof the centuries old landmark. 

For the first time in its history, solar panels have been installed on the castle roof.