The British Open Brass Band Championship, one of more than 50 arts organisations which boasted the Queen as patron, had added reason to mourn her death as musicians from Brighouse & Rastrick raised the challenge shield at Birmingham last weekend. Like many bigger creative institutions, galleries and museums, the brass band contest will now hope to secure a new royal patron.
Stylish images of Diana at the English National Ballet, or of Catherine, the new Princess of Wales, at the National Portrait Gallery, where she became patron in 2012, make the value of a regal connection very clear. Who you get is a competitive issue. The next few weeks will see a quiet scramble to acquire a member of the immediate royal family, rather than a less familiar face.
