On Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne in July 1837 a rumour was put about by the Press that she would give a Tournament to inaugurate an age of chivalry. Although mere speculation, a name soon became attached to this rumour, that of Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton (1812-1861). An immensely rich, young Scottish Earl, he was a Tory and as the new Queen was at that time under the influence of her Whig Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, it was unlikely that she would have chosen him as her champion. He represented a class who felt themselves and what they perceived as their ancient rights to be seriously under threat from the Whigs and from Utilitarian thought. Melbourne had cleverly reduced their influence at Court by stripping, ostensibly on the grounds of economy, Victoria’ s Coronation (the 'Penny Coronation') of many of the ceremonial roles held by Tory aristocrats. Sir Charles Lamb, Lord Eglinton’s step-father and hereditary Knight Marshall to the Court was one of these. The Romantic tastes of the time, fed by the novels of Sir Walter Scott, identified Lord Eglinton, already known to the public as a successful and popular Sporting Man, as a focus for these frustrations. His family and friends encouraged him and it was announced in the Court Journal of August 4th 1838 that he would host a Tournament at Eglinton Castle in Ayrshire.

What would this have meant to the Public of the time? The Romantic understanding of quite what constituted a Tournament was coloured by many influences. The novels and poems of Jean Froissart (c.1337-c.1405), Horace Walpole (1717-1797), Walter Scott and Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892); Queen Elizabeth’s Armoury at the Tower of London; the development of antiquarian collections such as Sir Samuel Meyrick’s (1783-1848); all fed an increasingly fascinated, variously informed interest. Tournaments had been fought over a period of about 600 years (1066-1650) and their nature had changed during that time from that of violent mediaeval power struggle to courtly Stuart charade. It would be up to Eglinton to define what he meant by a Tournament in 1839.

In the autumn of 1838 he therefore invited 150 possible competitors to meet at the Mayfair showroom of Samuel Pratt, a well connected decorator and dealer in antiquities who had become known as a specialist in Armour. He was able to offer everything, from costumes and tents to appropriate