It costs £6.50 to enter The Queen’s Gallery, and since most other Edinburgh galleries are free, you might expect that fee to count for something extra special. In fairness, the gallery space manages to distinguish itself from both the pillared grandeur or white-walled modernism of the city’s other art venues; its bare roof beams and a wooden mezzanine banister resembling interwoven sheaves of wheat give the room an airy ambience at odds with the stuffy, officious nature of the building’s name.
Sadly, the art’s presentation is less refreshing. Patrons wander round at a somnambulant pace dictated by dry, isolating audio tour devices. The works themselves (on this occasion, an exhibition of intriguing artworks and manuscripts pertaining to the office of the Poet Laureate) are hung on blue baffles apparently heisted from an open plan office. The royal art collection is no doubt impressive – you just wish someone with more flair would hang it.