There are lots of wonderful things to see in the latest exhibition from the Royal Collection, In Fine Style, which explores English courtly fashions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Alongside the sumptuous portraits, suits of armour, and embroidered doublets sits this volume, a copy of the Eikon Basilike with blue silk ribbons attached to its binding:

An inscription inside the book claims that this is the ribbon with which Charles wore his Order of the Garter medal. The Eikon Basilike was one of the most popular seventeenth-century printed works, published very soon after Charles’s death in January 1649 (the Royal Library alone holds around 70 copies). Its content encouraged the belief that Charles was a martyr, and its popularity was matched by a proliferation of relics associated with the executed king. Copies of the Eikon Basilike could often acquire relic status themselves, reportedly being bound with cloth dyed in the king’s blood, or in covers made from his hair. This unique object straddles the categories of book and relic, and you can see more photographs and read about its history in a Royal Collection essay about its conservation, found here on the exhibition website.

In Fine Style continues at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, until 6th October 2013.