If you thought Queen Elizabeth II was the only queen to live in London, you’d be wrong. Get ready to meet London’s alternative kings and queens.

The costume of a pearly king or queen is a suit or dress covered in mother of pearl buttons. Many of these costumes are treasured family heirlooms passed down through the generations.

The very early origins of the pearly kings and queens are shrouded in mystery. It was probably started in the London street markets by the stall owners, or costermongers, who began to sew mother of pearl buttons onto their clothes, so potential customers would be able to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd milling around the stalls.

One of the people who worked in a market was Henry Croft, from north London, who had been brought up in an orphanage. He was aware that costermongers — in the absence of the welfare state in those days — looked after other needy costermongers and wondered how he could build on this generosity to collect money for the orphanage.

His chance came in 1875, when a Japanese cargo vessel foundered in London’s River Thames and lost its cargo of mother of pearl buttons. London’s river, with its constant traffic of cargo ships from all around the world, supported many families who made a living salvaging the flotsam and jetsam of the river and the cargo of buttons was much sought after. Henry Croft was lucky enough to acquire a considerable amount of these buttons and this gave him the usp he had been looking for.

So he decorated his clothes entirely with the buttons — even down to his walking stick! Thus Henry Croft became the very first pearly king. That tradition lives on as his granddaughter is now a pearly queen in her own right in the same area of north London where Henry grew up. There is a statue of Henry Croft (paid for by the numerous charities he had supported over the years) in the church of St Martins in the Field, on the north east corner of Trafalgar Square.

Over the years the tradition of the pearly kings grew to include both the king and his “donna”, from the Italian for woman. Over time elaborate patterns emerged to signify special meanings. These include:

• Playing Cards = The Gamble Of Life
• Wheel = The Wheel Of Life
• Horseshoe = Good Luck
• Doves = Peace
• Heart = Charity
• Cross = Faith

Because the pearly kings were originally connected with the costermongers, they have two specific costermonger patterns: flower pots and donkey carts. Nowadays, the role of the “perlies” — as they are called — is to follow the excellent example of Henry Croft and be involved in charitable work.

At the height of their popularity, each London area and both the twin cities of Westminster and The City of London all had their own pearly king and queen.

One of the places you are bound to see pearly kings and queens is at the annual race meeting on Epsom Downs, in the country just south of London. Here the running of the famous Derby horse race has been a London tradition for many years, with whole families camping out on the Surrey Downs to hold picnics, place bets, watch the races and generally enjoy themselves.

Copyright 2007 Jon Michael and LondonVacationSecrets.com