45,000 People Save Henry VIII's Only Surviving Love Token

A café owner with just six months of metal detecting experience unearthed a piece of royal history that hasn't been seen in 500 years.

Charlie Clarke discovered the Tudor Heart in 2019 while scanning a Warwickshire field. The 24-carat gold pendant celebrates the marriage between King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, featuring their initials "H" and "K" alongside a Tudor rose and pomegranate bush. A gold banner across the heart reads "tousiors," meaning "always" in old French.

At first, experts doubted it was real. But after extensive testing, historians confirmed the pendant dates to the middle of Henry and Catherine's 24-year marriage, which lasted from 1509 to 1533. It's the only surviving piece of jewelry linked to Henry's longest union, and the first example of this type of Tudor chain ever found outside of paintings.

The British Museum needed to raise £3.5 million (about $4.8 million) to acquire the pendant before it went to auction. Half would go to Clarke, half to the landowner. Last year, they launched a public campaign with a Valentine's Day deadline.

Actor Damian Lewis, who played Henry VIII in "Wolf Hall," helped spread the word. "The Tudor Heart is a beautiful piece of our history, shedding light onto the court of Henry not previously seen," he said in a statement encouraging donations.

The Ripple Effect

Over 45,000 people answered the call, contributing £360,000 to the campaign. Major grants from organizations like the Art Fund and Julia Rausing Trust covered the rest. Together, they saved a treasure that was only known through Renaissance paintings until Clarke's shovel hit gold.

The pendant is already on display at the British Museum and will tour the country so everyone can see it up close. Before this discovery, historians only knew this style of jewelry existed through the work of artists like Hans Holbein the Younger.

The inscription "always" turned out to be heartbreakingly ironic. Henry eventually broke with the Catholic Church to annul his marriage to Catherine and wed Anne Boleyn. But thanks to tens of thousands of generous donors, this symbol of royal devotion will truly last forever in public hands.