The King on the Scaffold

Of the wide range of royal personalia scattered throughout public and private collections, the most poignant items must be those pieces of clothing gathered in the wake of Charles I's execution in Whitehall in 1649. These were treasured possessions in royalist families, passed from generation to generation. Some seem to have disappeared even in the last hundred years, while others have remained hidden from public view, displayed only infrequently, if ever. Many are little known to historians, even to biographers of Charles I. If genuine, however, these royal relics are the sole survivors of that cold January day in 1649 when English history took such a dramatic turn.