Clothing from 1600s shipwreck shows how the 1 percent lived

Years of research have raised more questions than answers regarding the spectacular contents of a 17th-century shipwreck in the Netherlands, which includes some of the most important clothing discoveries ever made in Europe.
The shipwreck was discovered in 2009 by a local diving club in Texel, an island in the Wadden Sea approximately 60 miles north of Amsterdam, and excavated between 2014 and 2017. Since then, some 1500 artifacts from the wreck— commonly called the “Palmwood Wreck” for its pricey hardwood cargo—have been undergoing study and conservation by an international team of researchers.
What has awed archaeologists is the discovery of luxurious—and unusually well-preserved—clothing on the ship, including an elegant dress embroidered with silver loveknots, an elaborate damask gown, a lady's toilet set and mirror, and a velvet, Ottoman-style tunic dyed with cochineal, a ruby-hued pigment obtained from insects only found in the Americas.
In addition, a collection of 32 leather-bound books dating to the 16th- and 17th centuries were discovered onboard. While the pages dissolved long ago, the embossed covers reveal volumes from several countries including France, Poland, and one bearing the crest of Britain’s Royal House of Stuart.
"These would be hugely expensive objects in the 17th century, and someone took the effort to bring them all together and transport them from A to B. But why?" asks Alec Ewing, curator at the Museum Kaap Skil, a maritime museum in nearby Oudeschild. 
Based on the style of the clothing and information from the books, researchers first suspected the wreck may have been part of a convoy carrying Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I, from England to the Netherlands. A letter describes how a baggage ship from the queen consort’s retinue, which contained the wardrobes of her two ladies-in-waiting and their maids, sunk in March 1642.
Clothing from 1600s shipwreck shows how the 1 percent lived