Embassy Gallery

The Embassy Club, 1932

Full house of social celebrities; a Season's night. Scene at the Embassy Club in Bond Street, London, one of the most fashionable and exclusive nightclubs in the capital, where patrons included the Prince of Wales. Supper tables can be seen encroaching on the dancefloor which is packed with couples. Date: 1932

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Margaret Whigham & Charles Sweeny engagement at The Embassy

Miss Margaret Whigham and Mr Charles Sweeny at a party at the Embassy Club to celebrate their engagement in December 1932. Their wedding, at Brompton Oratory the following February attracted thousands of spectators and stopped traffic - she wore a dress designed by Norman Hartnell. They were to become the golden couple of society with Mrs Charles Sweeny even name-checked by Cole Porter in You're the Top'. Margaret's second marriage made her Duchess of Argyll but it ended in a scandalous divorce. Date: 1932

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Louis XIV's audience to the papal ambassador Sigismondo Chigi at Fontainebleau

3638297 Louis XIV's audience to the papal ambassador Sigismondo Chigi at Fontainebleau, 29 July 1664 (colour litho) by Le Brun, Charles (1619-90) (after); Private Collection; (add.info.: Louis XIV's audience to the papal ambassador Sigismondo Chigi at Fontainebleau, 29 July 1664. Illustration from The World's History, a Survey of Man's Record (Wiiliam Heinemann, London, 1903).); Look and Learn / Elgar Collection; French, out of copyright

© Look and Learn / Elgar Collection / Bridgeman Images