With his impeccable royal pedigree- he is 12th in line to the throne - and his work producing furniture for the upper echelons of society, Viscount Linley is no stranger to the finer things in life.

But whilst his products sell for many thousands of pounds and he is perfectly at home sitting on a Chippendale sofa, he happily admits to having a liking for Ikea.

"I have Ikea in my house, which I admire because of their astonishing quality to price ratio," he said. "I am not snobbish about things in my house only being made by hand."

Quite the opposite, he insists, there is no reason why an appreciation of the finest craftsmanship and the pragmatism of mass production cannot live side by side.

"There is a place definitely for things that are beautifully made over a long period of time and for things that are mass manufactured," he said.

As someone who visited numerous factories as a child he knows a fair bit about mass production, he jokes. But the furniture, upholstery and accessories of his own company, Linley, would hardly fit that description.

He has built up a reputation for the quality of his products, prompting the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Roy Strong to declare in 1985 that "David Linley's furniture will become the antiques of the future."

So it should come as no surprise that his company was chosen to produce the first commissioned piece of furniture for Harewood since the greatest English craftsman, Chippendale, fitted out the house in 1767.

The Chippendale company's association with Harewood lasted 30 years, by which time Thomas Chippendale the elder was dead, leaving his son to oversee the completion of the work.

The total cost of the work was in the region of £10,000 - a staggering amount for those times.

But you wouldn't get much for £10,000 these days. The Linley chess table, which was commissioned by Lord and Lady Harewood as a gift to the Harewood House Trust cost "substantially more" than that.

The elegantly crafted table is constructed in English walnut with inlays of burr elm and satinwood stringing. It has 30 layers of French polishing - and this alone would have taken about a month to accomplish.

The table has been constructed to house a chessboard, depicting miniature hand paintings of India created in the 19th century by Lady Charlotte Canning, the wife of the Governor General of India, and a distant relative of the Lascelles family.

A talented artist, she gave lessons to Queen Victoria for whom she was a Lady in Waiting.

It's a commission which is very much a family affair - Lord Harewood and Viscount Linley are both descended from Queen Victoria. But although David Linley is a cousin that wasn' t the reason why he was approached, Lady Harewood stressed.

"It wasn't because he is a cousin but because he is so good," she said. "I cannot think of anybody else in the country who could have fullfilled these hopes we had as well as he did,"

As for himself David Linley, the son of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, says he is delighted to be following in the footsteps of the Otley master craftsman.

"It is a great honour and privilege for us to have been given this commission," he said. "It is one of the few pieces we have ever made that will go on public display."

But although it will stand alongside Chippendale pieces, David Linley stressed there was no attempt to draw inspiration from his predecessor in the creation of the chess table.

"I think we quite purposefully avoided any reference to Chippendale because then it becomes a pastiche."

The table was built at the Mark Whiteley workshop in Whitby - a company frequently used by Linley - and work on it was also carried out in Middlesborough and Sheffield.

The viscount, 42, stressed the skill and expertise of the people in the Whitby workshop

"To me it is a great opportunity to show the skills of the British craftsmen who have made this piece in Yorkshire," he said.

Promoting the crafts which are dismissed as "dying" and encouraging young people to learn traditional skills is a subject close to his heart. But he also believes we should fully utilise modern technology, blending it with old fashioned craftsmanship.

"With this table, for instance, we used two or three processes that would not have been available to Chippendale."

He is delighted at the upsurge of interest in commissioning since he launched his business in 1985.

"Twenty years ago commissioning a piece was a rarity - but what we have seen is huge increase in demand for things that are beautifully made."

Among the customers his own business supplies are the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and London's Savoy, not to mention celebrities such as Sir Mick Jagger and Sir Elton John.

The Royal Family's first professional furniture maker, David Linley says he never met any opposition in his choice of career.

"I was very much encourage to go for it," he said. "My father was made keen. I have always been fascinated by how things are put together whether it is wirelesses or motor cars."

He made furniture at school and decided to carry on from there. "The roots of the company stem from me and a workbench." He now employs 38 staff and concentrates on his role in the shop rather than making the furniture himself.

"At the moment I do DIY which is satisfying in its own way," he laughs, "And with two small children around you are endlessly mending things."

Whilst he recognises that his royal status does bring benefits he says there are also drawbacks in business.

He says it is a question he has been frequently asked over the last 20 years, and he has obviously given a lot of thought to the answer. "It is both a hindrance and a help," he says.

Whilst he appreciates being in a position to promote British craftsmanship he adds: "The hindrance is that people who go past the shop think they cannot go in because it is going to be too expensive."