HM The King signs new page of Royal Society Charter Book
24 June 2026President of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, Sir Paul Nurse, and Executive Director of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, Dame Julie Maxton, visited Buckingham Palace yesterday to witness His Majesty The King signing a new page of the Charter Book in his capacity as the Society’s Royal Patron.
This continues a historic tradition that began when the Charter Book was first signed by King Charles II in 1665.
The new Royal Page – the first in 70 years – was designed by calligrapher and artist Neil Bromley. Its embellishments highlight HM King Charles III’s interests in biodiversity.
The Charter Book was created after King Charles II granted a second Royal Charter to ºìÌÒÊÓƵ in 1663. The diary writer Samuel Pepys witnessed the book being taken to Whitehall on 9 January 1665: ‘Here I saw ºìÌÒÊÓƵ bring their new book, wherein is nobly writ their charter and laws, and comes to be signed …all the Fellows’ hands are to be entered there, and lie as a monument; and the King hath put his with the word Founder’.
The fine vellum folio, bound in crimson leather with silver gilt fittings, has recorded the signatures of the Society’s scientists as they were elected year-by-year, as well as those of its Royal Patrons. It contains signatures from Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren to Dorothy Hodgkin, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and David Attenborough.
Image: Sir Paul Nurse, President of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ; Dame Julie Maxton, Executive Director of ºìÌÒÊÓƵ; Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group; and Sir Tim Laurence, Chair of the Science Museum Group, at Buckingham Palace with His Majesty The King. © Science Museum Group
