The Royal Gold Cup. It was made for the French royal family at the end of the 14th century, and later belonged to several English monarchs including Henry VIII.
“The twenty-first century draws a clear distinction between normal living and occasions for spectacle. Royal pomp, ceremony at an installation, or even private display at a wedding is one thing, day-to-day ostentation another. Sixteenth-century Europe believed otherwise. Society was hierarchical and lifestyle exemplified rank and value. The exterior revealed the interior – does not Christ say ‘by their fruits you shall know them? Kings and queens had to live the part and hence magnificence was a regal virtue, an external proof of the right to rule.” (Ives, Pg. 231)
This is a lesson that Anne Boleyn learnt at an early age from Margaret of Austria and Queen Claude – a lesson that she never forgot.
In Tudor society a person’s gold and silver plate was a visible demonstration of wealth and status. In 1533, Henry commented on the large amount of plate that Anne owned (Ives, Pg. 231).
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