President Martin Millett FSA and Honorary Secretary Shahina Farid FSA have signed and sealed the lease which grants us a 999-year leasehold agreement for the premises at Burlington House. In February of this year, we signed a memorandum of understanding with The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and now with the official documents signed, the Society of Antiquaries is the guardian of our own home.

The process of signing and sealing the documents is one that uses the rituals of the Society and had to be carried out according to a very specific set of instructions. The lease agreement contains the signatures of the President and Honorary Secretary, but also needed the Society’s Charter seal. This seal is contained in the Society’s Charter seal box, which can only be opened with a set of three different keys, one of each assigned to the President, Honorary Director and Treasurer. Each key has an individual way to turn and open its specific lock and it can only be opened in the presence of the President and General Secretary. Inside lives the Society’s Charter seal, which itself is so confidential, that is rarely seen. Once the seal press has been used to stamp the wax seal onto the document, the momentous procedure is finished.

The Society’s seal has a long history, with one of the first references to its design talked about as ‘a matter of such importance and delicacy’ (Council Minutes, 10 December 1767) and by 1769 they had ‘fixed on the design for the seal’ (Council Minutes, 27 April 1769). In our times, a report from the Council in 2001 talks about the late Queen Mother’s 100th birthday where ‘the Society celebrated the one hundredth birthday of our Royal Fellow, Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in three ways. A Loyal Address was composed and confirmed with acclamation by the Ordinary Meeting of Thursday 29 June 2000. After being sealed with the Society Seal it was included in a specially bound copy of Glamis Castle by Harry Gordon Slade, Fellow, for subsequent presentation in time for Her Majesty’s birthday’.

With all of the formalities with the lease concluded, we now look forward to the next 999 years at Burlington House, building on our public engagement work, continuing to foster research, promoting learning for all and to inspire our audiences.