Autographs of Royals - Index

While it´s easy to get the autographs of the living Prime Ministers, it´s almost impossible (or immoral expensive) to get a signature of the reigning Queen Elizabeth II. It´s today as it has always (almost) been, as the prices on the market show (the price for a signature of Queen Elizabeth II. is about as high as for Kings James I. or Charles I.).

Royal signatures seem to exist from the 14th century on (according to "English Royal Signatures", the first known full signature comes from King Richard II, written in 1386), but even then it was more usual to use a Royal seal to authenticate a document; the signature simply wasn´t necessary. What makes collecting Royal autographs even more difficult is the fact that even King Henry VIII. (1491-1547) already used a stamp to "sign" some documents from  1512 on! I wonder if collectors already existed then, but if they did, I bet this wasn´t known among them. Signed documents from medieval Royals are very rare, and, if they exist and are offered, very expensive.

Queen Elizabeth I. (1533-1603) had a very beautiful signature;  this one and the two above are not in my collection but were scanned from different sources. Too bad.

The oldest Royal whose signature is in my collection AND who is connected with England or Great Britain is the one of Spanish King Philip II (1527-98). He was the son of Catholic Emperor Charles V, who reigned over much of the (then) known world, like the recently discovered America and much of Europe. Philip married English Queen Mary in 1554, who would have loved to make him King of England, if she hadn´t promised her parliament not to do so (after her father, King Henry VIII had forbidden Catholicism and she re-introduced it). Philip became King of Spain, the Netherlands, other parts of Europe and South America in 1556, but his wife Mary died childless in 1558. Her half sister, Queen Elizabeth, ended Catholicism again, and so Philip´s efforts to marry her were fruitless. On the contrary, in 1588 he sent his fleet, the Armada, to try to conquer England, but failed.

The signature on the right is on a document of 1559, signed "Yo el Rey", as was customary (click here to see the whole document, or better: the larger part).  

Please click one of the following links to continue...

Part 1: 1660-1688 (Kings Charles II and James II)

Part 2: 1688-1714 (King William III, Queens Mary II and Anne) - not in my collection up to now

Part 3: 1714-1760 (Kings George I and George II)

Part 4: 1760-1837 (Kings George III, George IV and William IV)

Part 5: 1837-1910 (Queen Victoria and King Edward VII)

Part 6: 1910-today (Kings George V, Edward VIII, George VI and

Queen Elizabeth II)