Global Courant 2023-05-06 17:18:38
A British woman has created a unique exhibition in honor of King Charles III especially for his coronation: she has collected about 150 gnomes, some even with royal likenesses.
Nikki Potter, 55, from Sutton, UK, began her gnome collection during the coronavirus pandemic, the SWNS news agency reported.
She often arranges them in scenes in her front yard to entertain passersby.
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For King Charles III’s coronation on May 6, she added a “regal flavor” to her latest scene, SWNS said.
The creative scenes are a hit with her neighbors, she said.
“I’ve been collecting them for a long time now,” Potter told SWNS. “I just love their faces. They make me smile.”
Nikki Potter and her daughter Jemima in their front yard. Potter created an exhibit of leprechauns to honor King Charles III. (SWNS)
“It was just a beautiful thing,” Potter said of neighborhood feedback.
“A lady said she came every day to see the leprechauns and it brightens her spirit for the day.”
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She continued, “A little boy came every day with his mother on his scooter and watched us take them out. I got up early one Saturday morning when a family came on their bicycles with their father to watch.”
For the coronation festivities, Potter is holding a “tea party” and will invite people to come and see her collection, she said.
Among Nikki Potter’s collection of garden gnomes are figures modeled after King Charles III and Queen Camilla. (SWNS)
“People can come and watch and enjoy,” she added.
While the leprechaun displays began during the pandemic lockdown as a way to entertain people on walks, they have since grown into an event all their own.
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“During the pandemic, I put a leprechaun in the window, and people stopped to look,” Potter said. “So I thought, ‘I’ll put out two,’ and then three — and it went from there.”
She added, “I also did it for the church I belong to, for the kids,” noting that she would message her displays every day to a WhatsApp group of her fellow church members.
The collection also includes gnomes modeled after Grenadier Guards, as well as more traditional-looking figures. (SWNS)
She would even include a game in every picture, similar to “Where’s Waldo.”
“I hid a little (gnome) in the picture and the kids tried to find the little one first,” she said.
She organized her first royal-themed exhibition for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Potter told SWNS.
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“We had the Queen’s leprechaun (Elizabeth II) and made a scene for that,” she said. “Then did the same for the anniversary.”
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Potter is happy that her gnome collection became a bright spot for people during the pandemic lockdowns.
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“I got to know a lot of people through it,” she says.
“People still tell me they remember the leprechauns.”
Christine Rousselle is a lifestyle reporter at Fox News Digital.
