Sir Walter Ralegh (1554-1618) courtier, explorer, and author

The Elizabethan courtier, explorer and author Sir Walter Ralegh wears armour in the style of a peascod doublet (with exaggerated stomach), imitating contemporary clothing fashions. His gold, brocaded trunk hose (short breeches) and lace collar convey his wealth and status. He also has a richly ornamented shoulder strap, or baldric, which supports an ornate sword. Ralegh’s right hand grasps a baton, a symbol of authority. This fashionable armour is likely to have been designed for royal jousting tournaments, held in the tiltyard on the Queen’s birthday.

Ralegh entered the court of Queen Elizabeth I in 1580–81, where he quickly became a favourite. The Queen knighted him in 1585 and he was honoured with several offices, including Captain of the Guard. In 1585 and again in 1587 he despatched expeditions to colonise North America. Both failed after the colonists experienced desperate food shortages. 

At the beginning of the 1590s, Ralegh began a relationship with one of the Queen’s maids of honour, Elizabeth Throckmorton. When she fell pregnant the couple married in secret. After the Queen was informed of the liaison, Ralegh and his new bride were briefly imprisoned at the Tower of London. They were later released but banished from court circles. 

In 1595 Ralegh planned a new expedition with ambitions to establish a major source of wealth for England through the discovery of silver and gold located, he believed, within the region of Guiana, South America. At Trinidad, his party employed considerable brutality to overwhelm a Spanish colony, before travelling up the Orinoco River. Finding no natural riches, they sailed for home and attempted to plunder the Caribbean town of Cumana before returning to England empty-handed.