Anne Boleyn "Chequers" Ring

The ring below is a ring commissioned by Elizabeth (circa 1575) which shows a portrait of herself and a likeness of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother. It was very well known that Elizabeth did not speak of her mother to anyone, especially her father Henry VIII who had ordered the beheading of Anne when Elizabeth was just 2 years old.



The ring, which bears the initial 'E' in table-cut diamonds, contains miniature enameled busts of the Queen and her mother. It is believed that the ring was removed from Elizabeth's finger in 1603 and taken to James VI of Scotland in Edinburgh as evidence of her death. The ring has been known as the "Chequers" ring because it belongs to The Chequers Trust. Considering Elizabeth's astute and sometimes distant manner, it is very interesting that she harbored a much softer and sentimental side to her.