Queen CATHERINE PARR * HENRY VIII Last Wife Scarce LOCK OF HAIR Autograph Note

SCARCE GENUINE LOCK OF HAIR REMOVED FROM QUEEN CATHERINE PARR'S TOMB – THE LAST WIFE OF HENRY VIII

An original lock of hair from Henry VIII’s last wife, Queen CATHERINE PARR (1512 - 1548), in antique frame. After having been lost to time and buried for 234 years, her grave was rediscovered and reopened no less than 6 times between 1782 - 1793. During these various openings of the queen's lead coffin, fragments of Catherine's dress, teeth, and locks of her hair were plundered. This is one such lock taken from Catherine Parr, after burial.

Notably, a lock of Catherine’s hair are on display at her burial site, Sudeley Castle in the UK. The hair on display there was similarly acquired as gifts given by those present at Catherine’s various disinterments. 

The lock of the queen's hair pictured here is attached to a paper inscribed “Catherine Parr’s Hair 1795 given [to] my aunt Mary Lloyd by Mr E Herford. [Signed] E H Champion”.

Accompanying the lock is a testamentary note: "The enclosed few hairs are those of (sic) Katherine Parr, Sixth Queen of King Henry VIII who was buried in the chapel of Sudeley Castle in 1551.

In 1782, the chapel was in ruins the roofless walls alone remaining. The leaden envelope (coffin) was opened in 1782 and again in 1784 when the body was wrapped in cerecloths was found entire and uncorrupted though it had been buried for 230 years. The chapel and monument have been restored by the present owner Mrs. Dent."

With four husbands, Catherine Parr is the most-married English queen consort. She was the first woman to publish in print an original work under her own name in England in the English language. Remarried and pregnant, Catherine died on September 5, 1548 at Sudeley Castle, from what is thought to have been "childbed fever". Her funeral was held in September 1548 where she was buried in St. Mary's Chapel on the grounds of Sudeley Castle. The castle changed hands several times during wars, suffering a second siege, before being destroyed in 1649, leading to it being largely abandoned and the royal grave lost. Catherine's presence at the castle was first rediscovered by the antiquarian Rev. Huggett where it was discovered in the ruins of the chapel in 1782.

In original antique 6” x 9” frame. Antique newspaper clip attached to back of frame near illegible (from what we can decipher it was an account of her disinterment). 

One of the very few locks of Catherine Parr’s hair to have come to market – the last such listing we can find being more than a decade ago.

Sold as is, as shown.