Romantic Gallery

Wrights Coal Tar Soap - WW1

Advertisement for Wright's Coal Tar Soap from the Great War showing a soldier and his wife or sweetheart bidding farewell to each other. Rather ruining the romantic moment, he asks her to remember to send him some soap! Date: 1915

© Mary Evans Picture Library

1st, Advert, Advertisement, Advertisements, Advertising, Adverts, British, Cleanliness, Coal, Comforts, Couple, Farewell, Girlfriend, Great, Jan17, Romance, Romantic, Soap, Sweetheart, Tar, Tommy, War, Washing, Wife, World, Wrights, Ww1, Wwi

Princess Diana

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES (1961-1997) Former wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. Tragically killed in a car crash in Paris. Seen here while on a visit to St Columb, Cornwall

© Mary Evans Picture Library/ANDREW BESLEY

1961, 1980s, 1983, 1997, 80s, Anorexia, Anorexic, British, Car, Charles, Columb, Cornwall, Costume, Crash, Diana, Eighties, Fashion, Frilly, Harry, Historical, History, Killed, Mother, Neckline, New, Prince, Princess, Romantic, Royalty, St, Tragically, Wales, Wife, Will I Am, Women

Walter Raleigh lays his cloak at Queen Elizabeth Is feet

Sir Walter Raleigh lays his cloak at Queen Elizabeth I's feet to prevent her from getting muddy feet. The fanciful, romantic tale of the cloak and the mud puddle probably originated with historian Thomas Fuller, known for his imaginative elaborations on historical fact. Later, Sir Walter Scott kept the myth alive in his 1821 Elizabethan romance, Kenilworth. "Hark ye, Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy muddy cloak, " the queen exhorts Sir Walter, "in token of penitence, till our pleasure be further known." Sir Walter vows never to clean the cloak, and later the queen, delighted with his gallantry, invites him to visit the royal wardrobe keeper that he may be fitted for "a suit, and that of the newest cut." Date: 1581

© The Russell Butcher Collection / Mary Evans Picture Library