Leanda De-Lisle

Royal bling with the Tudors at the Queen’s Gallery and the V&A

<em>Leanda de Lisle</em> revels in two exhibitions celebrating Tudor and Stuart fashion

issue 15 June 2013

As soon as the battle of Bosworth was won, Henry VII’s politically astute mother sent him appropriate clothing for his state entry into London. A king was expected to look like a king, having ‘a prerogative is his array above all others’. Sumptuary laws policed the system under the Tudors, with everyone — in theory — wearing only as much glitter and flash as their rank permitted.

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