Thank you to our community member geogirl for this Historical Hall of Fame. It’s a two parter. Yesterday, on the anniversary of Elizabeth Stuart’s death, we took a look at her life – and it was quite a life. Today we will discuss her wardrobe, and choose a Hall of Fame winner.

Elizabeth lived quite sumptuously in royal courts across Europe, but in changing times – the tail end of the Elizabethan era, then the Jacobites, the Cavaliers and the Puritans. Let’s take a look at her wardrobe and jewels over the decades….

Age 7 and 10

Lord Harrington indulged Elizabeth’s passion for nature, and in a secluded wilderness at the end of the park, arranged the construction of an aviary, a number of little wooden which housed paintings and stuffed animals and a miniature menagerie. This was later expanded to include meadows stocked with the smallest breeds of cattle from Jersey, Shetland and the Isle of Man. Elizabeth referred to her miniature world as ‘her Territories’ and ‘her Fairy farm’ and she engaged a pauper family as keeper of her birds and beasts.  James was clear in his instructions that the princess, unlike her Tudor predecessors and her brothers, was not required to spend her mornings learning Greek and Latin, but to educate her thoroughly in religion and a general knowledge of history. In her father’s opinion ‘to make women learned and foxes tame had the same effect – to make them more cunning’. Elizabeth would later ensure that her own daughters received a classical education, and worked to overcome her own deficiencies by offering to help her brother Henry with his Italian lessons if in exchange he taught her Latin.

For a 7 year old, Elizabeth is dressed as an adult with jewels on at her waist, down her front, on her sleeves, in her hair as well as earrings and a necklace!  Elizabeth’s age, 7, is inscribed on the fan, while the date 1603 (the year of the death of Elizabeth I and the succession of her father James to the English throne) is inscribed in the right background. Three years later, at 10, she still carries a fortune of jewels on her body, in her hair, around her neck and on her bodice!  Both show examples of reticulated lace.

Age 14

Our lovely princess here is 14 years old. She has marvellously large eyes and a bouffant hairdo complete with  a stomacher as hair ornament and a ruff of reticulated lace.

Elizabeth was married at 16 and unfortunately, we could not find a picture of Elizabeth’s wedding dress, but the 16 year old bride was reported as being resplendent in a cloth of shimmering silver lined with taffeta. Many diamonds of estimable value were embroidered upon her sleeves which dazzled the eyes of all the beholders. She wore a crown adorned with glittering diamonds and other precious stones ‘so thick beset, that they stood like shining pinnacles, upon her amber coloured hair.’ The sixteen noble bridesmaids attending the bride were also dressed in white satin, and adorned with such a cornucopia of jewels that her passage ‘looked like a milky way’.  The handsome bridegroom, also aged 16, was attired in a fitting counterpoint to his stunning bride. His white satin ensemble was richly embellished with pearls, symbolising purity and innocence and signifying a cosmic unity, a spiritual relationship between the two young people. The wedding service itself was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the German-speaking groom uttered his well rehearsed vows in English, underlining the fact that through this union the Church of England was extending its influence across Europe. The teenage bride’s inability to stifle her giggles through her wedding vows did not lessen the importance of the occasion, and may have been occasioned by the her mischievous groom’s wedding gift of a monkey house. Indeed, her high spirits only served to endear her to her family and wedding guests.

Age 17

This picture is of Elizabeth in 1613 when she was 17. She was now a married lady and the Queen of Bohemia.  It shows her wearing a gold dress with a reticella collar worked with the English royal coat of arms with lions and unicorns worked into a standing lace collar. She wears a gown of Italian silk brocade. The black armband is thought to be a sign of mourning for her brother Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales who drowned in 1612.  Check out her jewellery in high resolution! Notice the order with the red bow.

Age 34

Here, Elizabeth is 34. She has the symbols of royalty around her – the orb, the scepter and the crown. Again, she is heavily pearled, but the more restrained fashions of the time are clear.

Later in Life

• 

• 

Alas, we all must age and so did Elizabeth.  These line engraving show her later in life, but still bejewelled! Again she is wearing the order and a massive display of pearls.

For more information, click here.

Thank you to our community member geogirl for this Historical Hall of Fame. It’s a two parter. Today, on the anniversary of Elizabeth Stuart’s death, we will take a look at her life – and it was quite a life. Tomorrow we will discuss her sumptuous wardrobe, and choose a Hall of Fame winner.

Who was Elizabeth Stuart? A most interesting lady and queen! The briefest of history lessons…

• Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Because her husband’s reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, Elizabeth is often referred to as the “Winter Queen”.

• Elizabeth was the second child and eldest daughter of James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, and Ireland, and his wife, Anne of Denmark.  She was also the granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots and the great great granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry Vlll’s older sister.  Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth l were first cousins once removed through King Henry VII of England.  But what about the paternal side?  Her grandfather, Henry, Lord Darnley was Mary Queen of Scot’s first cousin; they both had Margaret Tudor as grandmother and thus a connection to the English crown.  Darnley was also distantly related to the Scottish crown through his father, a descendent of James II. 

• Elizabeth was born in Scotland on 19 August 1596 at 2 o’clock in the morning.  At the time of her birth, her father was King of Scots only because Elizabeth l was still alive. Elizabeth was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, her godmother and first cousin three times removed.

• Elizabeth was christened in 1596 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. It was not a lavish christening, despite Elizabeth’s status. In fact, James informed those who did decide to come that they must bring their own dinner!

• In 1603 her father James succeeded Elizabeth I to the English throne. Young Elizabeth was given into the care of Lord and Lady Harrington and took up residence at Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire, England.

• At 16, Elizabeth married Frederick (Friedrich) V, Count Palatine of the Rhine. Frederick was of undeniably high lineage. His ancestors included the kings of Aragon and Sicily, the landgraves of Hesse, the dukes of Brabant (like our Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant now, in Belgium) and Saxony, and the counts of Nassau (the house of King Wilhelm Alexander now) and Leuven. He and Elizabeth also shared a common ancestor in Henry II of England.

• The wedding took place on 14 February 1613 at the royal chapel at the Palace of Whitehall and was a grand occasion that saw more royalty than had ever visited England before. The marriage was an enormously popular match and was the occasion for an outpouring of public affection with the ceremony described as “a wonder of ceremonial and magnificence even for that extravagant age”. It was celebrated with lavish and sophisticated festivities both in London and Heidelberg, including mass feasts and lavish furnishings that cost nearly 50,000, and almost bankrupted King James.

• Elizabeth had lead a complex life that I will only summarize. In 1619 ,Elizabeth’s husband Frederick was offered the throne of Bohemia. Frederick’s reign in Bohemia began well but only lasted one year. Frederick’s reign ended with defeat of Bohemian Protestant armies at the Battle of White Mountain (which ended the first phase of the Thirty Years’ War) on 8 November 1620. Elizabeth is remembered as the “Winter Queen”, and Frederick as the “Winter King”, in reference to the brevity of their reign, and to the season of the battle. After this, and following a courteous invitation from the Prince of Orange, they moved to The Hague as monarchs in exile. Eventually Frederick said farewell to Elizabeth and joined the King of Sweden on the battlefield. Things for Frederick did not go as planned and he died on the morning of 29 November 1632. He was 36 years old. Elizabeth remained in the Hague until 1660 when her nephew, Charles Stuart (Charles ll) was restored to the British throne. Now determined to visit her native land, Elizabeth arrived in England on 26 May 1661, never again to leave.

• Elisabeth had 13 children, at least 4 of which had children as well. With the demise of the last Stuart monarch in 1714,  Elisabeth’s grandson succeeded to the British throne as George I, initiating the Hanoverian dynasty.

• Elizabeth died 13^th February, 1662 of pneumonia. She is buried in Westminster Abbey in the Chapel of Henry Vll.

Check back tomorrow to vote on her Hall of Fame ensembles!