Art, religion and divorce: posted by Simon Seligman

I have just been having another look at Henry VIII's rosary, one of the new displays for our visitors this year. Although I have seen it before, this time I got a real buzz from the sense of connection with Henry as a real person, rather than a fictional character on TV. He must have held this fantastic object, with its unbelievably delicate carvings, in his hand, in fact probably commissioned it directly himself, and it has both his initials and those of his first wife on it. And that is its true symbolic significance; when he tired of Catherine, as she did not produce a son, he divorced her and ruptured his kingdom's relationship with the Catholic church in Rome, with historic results that remain with us today. I would guess that he never used this very personal object again, and it was later owned by various people, before eventually (in the 19th century) it was bought as an amazing work of art by the 6th Duke of Devonshire. One of the hidden joys of working here is the opportunity, again and again, to spend time with unique (and real) objects that have extraordinary stories attached to them, and the rosary is just one example.

Simon Seligman, Head of Communications