portraits of Henry, Prince of Wales, of his younger brother, Charles, the succeeding Prince of Wales, and of other historical characters of the time, it could not fail to bring about an identification of many of the harnesses that are to-day, only on tradition, attributed to royal and famous personages. It should also be remembered that, after all, the XVIIth century is not so very distant a period, and that most of these suits, both at Windsor and at the Tower of London, appear to have become Crown property immediately on the deaths of their reputed wearers.
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Fig. 1425. Three-quarter suit of armour
Worn by Henry, Prince of Wales. Of French fashion and workmanship, about 1607. Collection: H.M. the King, Windsor Castle
The first suit of Henry, Prince of Wales, we refer to is Nos. 786 and 802 in the Windsor Castle Armour Catalogue of 1904 (Fig. 1425), and, as we have proved, was worn by the Prince in the year 1607 when he was fourteen. But what a small and frail boy he appears to have been! The harness is very narrow and slender in proportions, and seems only suitable to a lad of ten or twelve. If we were asked to put it in a class, we should have no hesitation in pronouncing it French both in fashion and make. There is a possibility that this is the suit sent about this time, together with some horses,[1]
- ↑ These were "great horses" for the manège. The horse upon which the figure of Charles I is mounted in the statue of Charles I at Charing Cross (Fig. 1449), is a typical model of the great horse of the period.
