The imperial crown, dating from the
Tudor period
Used by Charles I at his coronation in 1625, it is shown here in
a 1631 painting by Mytens. Inventoried in the Tower in August
1649, its gold and precious stones were valued at £1,110. Over
the next three years, it was dismantled, the gold sent to the
Mint and its stones sold; 232 pearls for £320, 56 rubies for
£200, 19 sapphires for £198, and 28 diamonds for £191 10s
6d. Charles II’s coronation crown had to be redesigned based
on drawings of the old regalia at a cost of over £30,000. Tapestries based on Raphael’s
cartoons, The Acts of the Apostles
Henry VIII originally owned the nine-piece set, woven
in gold and silk and one of the royal collection’s most
valuable assets, valued by the trustees at over
£4,500. The Spanish ambassador used an English
intermediary to beat the price down to £3,500. They
were shipped to Spain, but later lost in a fire. The
16th-century tapestries shown above, from the
Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, give some idea of the
magnificence of the lost set.
Titian’s portrait of Emperor
Charles V
The painting was given to Prince
Charles by King Philip IV of Spain in- Titian was Charles’s favourite
painter and he gave the painting pride
of place in the gallery at St James’s
Palace. The king’s former adviser
Balthazar Gerbier bought the picture for
£150 in June 1650 and hung it in his
Bethnal Green home. Gerbier acquired
the portrait on the orders of the Spanish
ambassador, who bought it for £200
and sent it back to Philip IV. It now
hangs in the Prado in Madrid.
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