1st January 2016
For New Year 470 years ago Princess Elizabeth gave her father something rather special – a copy of her stepmother Kateryn Parr’s Prayers or Meditations. Aged just twelve, she had translated it into Latin, French and Italian and written it out herself. The preface, written in Latin, is the only surviving letter from the future Elizabeth I to Henry VIII. You can look at the pages (and read them if your Latin, French or Italian is decidedly better than mine) here: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_7_d_x_fs001r#. The handwriting is just fantastic. Happy New Year!
Image: British Library Royal MS 7DX