King Charles I cloak fragment

One of four embroidered fragments of a silk mantle reportedly worn by King Charles I. At the time of donation to the Museum of London in 1929, the mantle was said to 'have been given by King Charles to his favourite valet, Mr Herbert, immediately before he passed through the window of the Banqueting Hall on to the Scaffold in Whitehall. Mr Herbert's daughter (Mrs Stuart) gave it to the Countess Johanne Sophie (nee Countess Hohenloe Lengenburg), wife of Frederick Christian of Schumburg Lippe, who was for serveral years in England at the Court of George I and died at Stadthagen in 1743. The relics have remained in this family until their presentation to the [Museum of London].'

With this information, it remains uncertain when the mantle (which is a whole garment) turned into the four fragments that are now 29.160a-d.

The heavily embroidered silk fragments are made from the same silk material, which appears to have originally been black (now faded to a dark brown).