3. The Heneage Jewel

This jewel was a gift from Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Thomas Heneage, one of her most senior advisors and officials. 

Within the exquisite goldsmith’s work is a red rose,
emblem of the Tudor dynasty, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. This portrait is by Nicholas Hilliard, the greatest painter of her reign. Although the portrait was made around 1595, when the queen was over 60, it shows her as a young woman. 

Elizabeth ruled in a period of political and religious turmoil. She never married and instead promoted herself as the ‘Virgin Queen’, wedded to her people and eternally youthful.