British Museum Raises £3.5m to Secure Tudor Heart Linked to Henry VIII

The British Museum has raised £3.5 million to acquire a rare 24ct gold heart-shaped pendant known as the Tudor Heart, a jewel linked to Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon and described by the museum as the only piece of its kind from that marriage. The museum announced the fundraising success on 10 February 2026 after a campaign that began last October.

The pendant is a small, enamelled heart dated to about 1518 and decorated with a Tudor rose and a pomegranate bush on the front, with the initials H and K on the reverse and a banner that reads tousiors - the press description gives tousiors as the old French for "always". The British Museum catalogues the object as “Heart-shaped pendant with enamelled rose and pomegranate. Gold and enamel, Warwickshire, England, about 1518,” and calls it a vivid material witness to Henry’s long marriage to Katherine, which the museum notes lasted 24 years.

Found by a metal detectorist in Warwickshire in 2019, the jewel has been read by researchers as a personalization of royal imagery: the pomegranate is identified as Katherine/Catherine of Aragon’s emblem, signifying fertility and links to Spain, and the H and K initials have been connected to Henry and his first wife. Museum research has also suggested the piece might have been commissioned to mark the 1518 betrothal of their daughter Princess Mary to the French heir-apparent, tying the object’s date and symbolism to documented dynastic politics.

The four-month campaign met its April target early, raising £3.5m in total - equivalent to about $4.8m as reported by Artnet - with major support and wide public involvement. The National Heritage Memorial Fund awarded £1.75m, the Julia Rausing Trust gave £500,000, Art Fund contributed £400,000 including a Rought Fund gift, and American Friends of the British Museum provided £300,000. More than 45,000 members of the public donated around £380,000. Dr Rachel King, the curator who oversees the Renaissance Europe section at the British Museum, said: “It has been a tremendous privilege to share the story of the Tudor Heart and its finding with the world. I have been enormously touched by the positive response to the Museum’s campaign. Thanks to the spectacular generosity of many, people will have the opportunity to enjoy the object forever and, I hope, unravel the mysteries of who wore it and why and how it came to be buried.”

Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, hailed the campaign’s reach, saying the success “shows the power of history to spark the imagination and why objects like the Tudor Heart should be in a museum”. Simon Thurley, chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, described the acquisition succinctly: “The Tudor Heart is an extraordinary insight into the culture of Henry VIII’s court.”

The pendant is already on display in Room 2 at the British Museum and the institution expects the Tudor Heart to be formally added to the collection later this year. A national tour is planned with at least one stop in Warwickshire near the findspot, and British Museum Press will publish Object in Focus: The Tudor Heart by Rachel King in May. The museum will now engage with the British government about payment of the reward to the finder and the landowner. For enquiries contact British Museum communications at communications@britishmuseum.org.