Royal Standard
Category
Textiles
Date
c. 1570 - 1603
Materials
Silk damask
Measurements
2275 x 2240 mm
Order this imageCollection
Buckland Abbey, Devon
NT 809869
Caption
The Drake Colours are a set of 8 flags, sometimes known as the Drake Banners or Drake Standards. Two of these flags (NT 809869 and 809870) are very rare surviving examples of painted royal standards bearing the arms of Elizabeth I. Legend has it that they are mementoes from April 1581, when Elizabeth I knighted Sir Francis Drake (c.1540 -1596) on board his ship the Golden Hinde. Drake was known to have flown such standards on board his ship. Accounts for his final voyage with John Hawkins in 1595 includes the purchase of 4 flags with ‘her majesty’s arms upon silk.’ Buckland appears in a number of accounts of Devon in the 19th century. In 1846, a guidebook to the area around Tavistock by Rachel Evans mentions “The drum and banner of the great Sir Francis are seen by the deeply-seated windows.” The flags were passed down through subsequent generations of the Drake family and were occasionally loaned to Buckland Abbey after it was opened to the public in 1951. They were displayed alongside other ‘Drake relics’ in the Great Hall. In 1954, they were acquired by the National Trust in lieu of tax. Today, two of the flags are always on display at Buckland Abbey in climate conditioned cases. Due to their fragility, the flags are displayed on rotation, changing every 2-3 years.
Summary
Silk damask Royal Standard, bearing the Tudor Royal Arms, quartering the arms of France and England. Painted in gold bordered with white and green silk fringe.
Provenance
Accepted in Lieu of Tax, 1954