Beschreibung

Charles I. 1625-1649. Gilded Cast Silver Medal n. d. (1649), 7.56 g. Royalist Badge. Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Unsigned, by T. Rawlins. Bust laureate, armoured and draped. Rv. Bust of the Queen draped. Floral borders on edge. 28.3 x 32 mm. Eimer 170a. MI i 355/218. Sehr schön / Very Fine. Zeitgenössischer überarbeiteter Guss mit Henkelspuren / Contemporary tooled cast with traces of mounting.

The couple first met in 1623 at a court entertainment in Paris, when he was on his way to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss a possible marriage with Maria Anna of Spain, which failed for a variety of reasons.

Searching elsewhere for a bride, Charles sent a close friend to Paris in 1624 who, a Francophile and a godson of Henry IV of France, strongly favoured a marriage with Henrietta Maria, the terms of which were negotiated by James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle.
Henrietta Maria was aged fifteen at the time of her marriage, which was not unusual for royal princesses of the period.

This type of medals are all cast and chased and were executed by Thomas Rawlins.