Dressing the part

Last week I wrote a blog on The History Girls site (you can read it here) about the sequence of events that led me, in July, to acquire a Tudor costume. It came from the collection of the very wonderful Jane Malcolm-Davies, whose work you can see on The Tudor Tailor website. She and her colleagues made the costumes that were used for many years by the guides at Hampton Court Palace. Now she is putting a number of the costumes up for sale. If you have ever fancied owning an authentically-constructed Tudor outfit, this could be your chance…

It really has been a fantastic experience, meeting Jane and grappling with the complications of Tudor court dress. It has helped me immensely in my research for my next book, which is about Henry VIII's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. I need to walk in their shoes… quite literally, if I can! And now I am determined to find as many occasions to wear this wonderful costume as possible… School visits? Library events? Bookshop signings? Just as long as I don't have to change behind a pillar…