Queen Elizabeth I was crowned #onthisday in 1559. This miniature gold portrait was likely a personal gift from the Queen to a favoured courtier or political ally.
It was made by Nicholas Hilliard in 1589, and features a laurel tree on the reverse with the Latin text ‘not even danger affects it’ – a reference to the legend that laurel couldn’t be hit by lightning. It signified the Queen’s strength in the face of the perceived threat of Catholicism at home, and King Philip II of Spain abroad.