2nd February 2016
The Tudor stained glass chapel windows at The Vyne, a National Trust property in Hampshire, have been restored and replaced, and a viewing platform's being left up until March so visitors can get a closer look. They include a rare contemporary image of my current heroine Margaret Tudor, as well as her brother Henry VIII (looking very young) and sister-in-law Katherine of Aragon, each with their patron saint. St Margaret's shown with a dragon – according to legend it swallowed her, and she was saved when her crucifix scratched its insides.
Queens Katherine and Margaret's troubled marriages must have been miles from what the glaziers expected when they painted them with white dogs, symbols of fidelity – it's sadly poignant, considering that Katherine was committed to her marriage to Henry until the end. We're lucky that her image wasn't expunged after her fall – the house's owner, Henry's Lord Chamberlain William Sandys, stayed loyal to her and also kept carvings of her pomegranate emblem. He entertained the king with first Katherine and then Anne Boleyn at The Vyne, and later escorted Anne to the Tower for her imprisonment.
https://ntpressoffice.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/new-technology-saves-exquisite-tudor-stained-glass/
Images: Stained glass of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon at The Vyne Chapel, National Trust Images; Queen Margaret of Scotland with St Margaret of Antioch, National Trust Images/Helen Sanderson; Queen Margaret of Scotland, National Trust Images/Helen Sanderson