Design for 'St. James' wallpaper

This design was created for the decoration of the Throne Room and Wellington Room in St James's Palace. Morris & Co. The design features roses and scrolling acanthus and was personally approved by Queen Victoria. Morris generally disliked the Royal Family and their associations with imperialism, but he could not turn down such as prestigious commission.

The wallpaper was later made commercially available and became one of the firm’s most elaborate and expensive designs. It required 68 wood blocks to print as the repeated section is 119.4cm high. The wallpaper was printed by Jeffrey & Co. and on 22 November 1881 the blocks were destroyed in a fire in the building. By this time the printing for the Palace was complete but the firm had to recut all the blocks for future use.