With Royal wedding fever all over media I was interested to come across this find which shows souvenirs of Royal weddings are nothing new. It is a silver heart shaped locket found in two pieces with moulded portraits of a crowned Charles II on one side (flanked by the incised initials C/R) and his wife, Katherine of Braganza, (flanked by K/R) on the other. It commemorates their marriage in 1662 and was found near the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which took place on 6th July 1685. It is possible that the locket was lost by someone fighting on the side of the King during the battle.

SOM-C6EDD1: Locket commemorating the marriage of Charles II and Katherine of Braganza

Having been through the Treasure process (2004 T247), the locket was acquired by Somerset County Museum (accession number TTNCM 202/2005) and will be on display in the Museum of Somerset when it opens in the summer. Half of a similar locket was featured in the September 2004 issue of Treasure Hunting magazine (p. 17) suggesting it was a souvenir produced in some numbers rather than an individual commemorative item.

A more commonly found item which is also thought to commemorate this wedding is a type of cufflink, found in both silver (LVPL-BF30A6 and PAS-625C72) and cheaper lead alloy copies (LON-306542 and ESS-B32D14). They show either two crowned hearts or clasped hands with a crown above and two flaming hearts below. Although items with this design are thought to have originally been made to commemorate the marriage of Charles II and Katherine of Braganza the design continued in use probably into the 18th century as a general symbol of love and/or marriage.

Other Royal wedding souvenirs recorded by the PAS include a copper alloy medalet from the wedding of the Prince Regent (the future George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick in 1795: HAMP-0F4355and this Roman Denarius (DUR-3D7720) of Plautilla wife of the Emperor Caracalla minted in Rome 202 AD to celebrate their wedding. For other wedding related finds see this search on our database.