ABSTRACT
Although numerous alterations to Elizabeth’s clothes have made it difficult to link items of clothing in the Stowe and Folger inventories to particular portraits with certainty, the ceremonial robes for the Coronation, Parliament, and the Order of the Garter can be recognized immediately. The mantle and kirtle of ‘Clothe of gold and silver tissue’ depicted in both portrait and miniature had been kept from Queen Mary’s coronation in 1553. Although the various entries for the robes do not give detailed descriptions of the design of the fabric, on close examination the panel painting of Elizabeth shows that fabrics of the same type, but of different design, were used for the bodice of the kirtle and the mantle; the folds in the skirt break up the pattern too much for detailed comparison to be possible. An eye-witness account of the Queen in the recognition procession through London on the day before the coronation gives further detail about the robes.
