This class is comprised of: 1. Souvenirs of the Royal Inauguration of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma kept by RGO staff member, Philip Taylor. 2. RGO slides of the inauguration.

The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory began operating in 1984 and was inaugurated in June 1985 by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

In 1969, a sub-committee of the Astronomy, Space and Radio Board (ASRB) of the Science Research Council was established to examine the SRC’s future support for astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere, with a view to establishing a Northern Hemisphere Observatory (NHO). The proposals for the NHO were considered by a review panel of the ASRB, which ultimately recommended that the RGO should have the prime responsibility for its construction. Site testing began in 1973, and the site chosen was La Palma.

The observatory was named the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (rather than the original title of ‘NHO’) and was ultimately established as a shared facility under an international agreement. The countries that shared in the construction of the Observatory were Spain, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

The RGO was responsible for the Isaac Newton Group (ING), whose main telescopes were the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) from Herstmonceux and the new, larger William Herschel Telescope (WHT). The Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT) was partly funded by the Netherlands and Ireland, while the Carlsberg Automatic Transit Circle (CATC) was mostly funded by Denmark.