The Garter Robes on the Effigy of Charles II at Westminster Abbey

In Westminster Abbey there are a number of effigies, some of wax, some of wood, many of which have survived for centuries. Some of these effigies had a significant role in the funeral obsequies that followed the death of a monarch. Others were used simply to memorialise a monarch or a public individual. One such effigy is that of Charles II. In 2016, during the conservation of this figure, there was an opportunity to examine the clothing that survives on this wax effigy. The figure is dressed in the robes of a knight of the Order of the Garter, in ceremonial clothing of the late seventeenth century. This article examines the clothing in some detail, including pattern cutting diagrams, and discusses the garments in relation to known others and to fashions of the period.