Blessing Gallery

Royal wedding 1893 - Queen Victoria congratulates the bride

Princess May of Teck(later the Duchess of York, then Queen Mary)(1867-1953) receives congratulations from her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria. Her congratualtions are especially poignant as the bride had previously been engaged to Albert Victor, another of Victoria's grandsons, but following his sudden death from pneumonia, May became engaged to George with Victoria's blessing. Date: 6th July 1893

© Mary Evans Picture Library 2015 - https://copyrighthub.org/s0/hub1/creation/maryevans/MaryEvansPictureID/10503364

Canterbury Tales - The Prioress

The Prioress, a character in "The Canterbury Tales", a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century and told by a group of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent. This series of illustrations is from "Chaucer's Canterbury Tales", edited by John Saunders, publ. J.M. Dent & Co, 1889, and are based on those in the Ellesmere Manuscript. (Now in the public domain.)

© Linda Steward

Musical knife in the Louvre, Paris, France

Musical knife in the Louvre, Paris, France, made of steel, with a Blessing of the Table (or Grace) engraved on the blade. The notes are for bass voice -- it is thought that the knife was part of a set of four of five, for different voices, so that the Grace could be sung in harmony. The handle is made of ivory, with raised gilt decoration. Date: late 16th century

© Mary Evans Picture Library