In Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, the ceiling of the Library was painted by the architectural draughtsman and illustrator William Walcot. His design is in a muted classical style, with trompe-l’oeil coffering, scrolls and medallions. The inscription, in abbreviated Latin, describes George V as King of all Britain, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, by the Grace of God (a similar inscription to that on the coinage minted during his reign). On either side of this central declaration, two brightly coloured panels depict blurry figures – an enthroned goddess (perhaps Athena?) and a man with a long white beard, it seems. Writing in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House (1924), William Newton exclaims that these panels ‘make you yearn for the joy in coloured walls and ceilings of Greek and Roman times.’