BLANCHE PARRY, BACTON CHURCH & THE ALTAR CLOTH...

Blanche Parry

She kneels to her Queen

And to her God:

Faith, certainly, in both,

As confidante to her monarch

And humble servant to her Lord;

But blind to both,

Her eyesight having failed with age,

Unable to perceive the tears of her matriarch…

Depicted as an icon, the Tudor Queen’s pose,

Is that of St Faith, a protector of those without sight;

So honoured, this Chief Gentlewoman of the Queen’s Privy Chamber

Was rewarded in death by royal and deity’s might.

Yet the once colourful monument in Bacton’s village church 

Was sculpted, sadly, in vain,

For Blanche was interred at Westminster,

Befitting the Keeper of the Jewels during Elizabeth’s long reign…

Pete Ray

Blanche Parry also looked after the Queen’s books and furs, plus, for two years, the Great Seal of England. She accepted money for the monarch, acted as a personal assistant, passing on information and was a channel for parliamentary bills. She was a cousin and friend of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley. The monument in Bacton Church once faced the altar and it is believed that this depiction of Elizabeth as an icon is the earliest known.

BLANCHE PARRY...

BLANCHE PARRY & QUEEN ELIZABETH I...

THE QUEEN...

THE ALTAR CLOTH IN QUESTION...