Did you know that the story of the tooth fairy was written as a commission for Alfonso XIII when he was a child? The Royal Collections Gallery opens the doors to the new exhibition Royal Toys, which brings together this and other stories about the forms of entertainment of the youngest members of the Spanish monarchy. The exhibition opens in the middle of the Christmas season with 375 objects of the heirs of the Spanish Crown, among which we find board games, dolls, tea sets, ride-ons, magic lanterns, children’s books…
A model of an airplane, a coquettish multi-story dollhouse, a mahjong game box from China, a wooden puzzle with Napoleon and Josephine as protagonists, a praxinoscope of 1877 (an optical toy precursor of cinema) or a phonograph to record and reproduce sounds, which Alfonso XIII received as a gift for his saint … the list is endless and the curiosity is infinite.
How did the children of the Spanish Royal House entertain themselves?
National Heritage collects and analyzes in this exhibition the toys of the princes and princesses who lived in the Royal Palace of Madrid between 1850 and 1931. In order to weave these inanimate objects, photographs, letters and diaries were used to draw conclusions about their use, providing a more intimate perspective on the daily life of royal children in the palace.
Thanks to this exhaustive documentation, we know that several of these toys were used in charity events organized by the women of the Royal Household; also, that with the proclamation of the Second Republic and the exile of Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia (queen consort about whom there is also an exhibition in the same enclosure and with the same entrance), these toys were kept in a room of the Royal Palace and recorded in an inventory.
In the photographs collected by Patrimonio Nacional, for example, you can see what the rooms of the children of both monarchs were like, surrounded by toys and with furniture adapted to the small size of the infants and toddlers that are still preserved today. Also, the taste of the Royal Family for card games, chess, checkers or lottery (adapted to children) that used to be entertainment at Christmas time.
The history of the Royal Toys is also the history of a Madrid full of shops, bazaars and stores where these objects were bought: Schropp (located in Montera Street), Casa Medel or Refrescos Ingleses ( in Alcalá Street), are examples of this. And the history of all, like what happened with that children’s story of the tooth fairy, written by Luis Coloma as a commission for Alfonso XIII when he was a child, and with a moral very much in tune with his future responsibilities as king: the importance of becoming a fair king with his people.
Some of the toys were designed to encourage learning (such as a globe, the didactic case created for the future King Alfonso XII or the game for ‘Reading while playing’, by Alfonso XIII); others spurred the imagination, such as the praxinoscopes, magic lanterns and other ingenious devices from the second half of the 19th century; and others were used outdoors, such as the cycling, skating, tennis or horse riding equipment on display in the exhibition. In this last point, the horse indexes of the Infantas Beatriz and María Cristina stand out, where they wrote down the names of their mares and horses.
Opening hours and tickets for the Royal Toys exhibition
This exhibition is located on floor -3 of the Royal Collections Gallery, in room B, and will remain open until April 5.
The opening hours are: Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 20:00. Sundays and holidays from 10:00 to 19:00 h.
Tickets for the temporary exhibition are priced at 8 € (which also includes access to the exhibition of Victoria Eugenia). But the general admission, which also gives access to the permanent exhibition, is 14 €.
Give the Gallery as a gift: culture to enjoy this Christmas
This Christmas, the Royal Collections Gallery invites you to give the gift of a cultural experience with a special promotion: two tickets for only 22 €. Regala Galería tickets can be used until June 2026 and give access to the permanent collection, the Royal Toys exhibition and also the one dedicated to Victoria Eugenia.