Khaberni - The marriage of Henry VIII, King of England, and Catherine did not last and they divorced in 1533, however, a golden necklace with a hanging heart, linked to their marriage, still remains and is now permanently on display at the British Museum.
The museum bought the necklace, made of 24-karat gold and adorned with the first two letters of the couple's names in red, along with an image of a Tudor rose and a pomegranate tree, after raising 3.5 million pounds sterling ($4.8 million) to save it from being sold to a collector.
The necklace, a symbol of a marriage that was initially faithful but ended in failure, had been lost for hundreds of years, but a metal detectorist discovered it in a field in Worcestershire in 2019. Under British treasure laws, local museums are allowed to obtain significant historical discoveries before they are offered for sale.
The necklace is the only remaining jewelry from Henry and Catherine's marriage, which lasted 24 years, and is inscribed with the word "always" in old French. The piece impressed about 45,000 people who donated an amount of 380,000 pounds sterling, alongside funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and other sources to raise the price, half of which went to the discoverer of the piece and the other half to the landowner.
Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, said in a statement today, Tuesday, "This beautiful remaining piece tells us about a part of English history that was known to only a few of us, but now we can all share it."
It is believed that the necklace was made in 1518 to celebrate the engagement of Mary, the couple's daughter, to the legitimate heir to the French throne, but by the early 1530s, Henry had lost his love for Catherine and fell in love with Anne Boleyn. He separated from the Catholic Church to annul his marriage to Catherine.
