From the BBC:

A rare portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as a young princess has been discovered in a private collection at a stately home in Northamptonshire.
The portrait, dating from 1650 to 1680, was found in the Duke of Buccleuch’s collection at Boughton House.

It shows Elizabeth with siblings Edward VI and Mary I, father Henry VIII and his jester, Will Somers.
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Tracy Borman said that when she was first sent a picture of the portrait she realised it had never been seen before.

“The more we found out, the more obvious it was that nobody had come across this,” she said.

“It’s clearly a copy of a lost original and it’s that mystery that we started to try to solve.

“It’s also a very different look to Elizabeth and comparing it to other portraits it helps us to solve the identity of other portraits – for example one always known as the Unknown Lady in the National Portrait Gallery.”

Full article (with link to enlarged full photo)

And here is a link at the NPG to a similar image that was previously thought to be Jane Grey, but now looks like it might be Elizabeth.

Yet another reason I need to get back over to the UK!

From The Telegraph:

Prepare to be dazzled – after years in storage the V&A’s jawdropping collection of jewellery from the past 3,000 years is about to go on permanent display.
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On 24 May the William and Judith Bollinger jewellery gallery will open at the V&A, displaying 3,500 items from the museum’s collection, which is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world and tells the story of European jewellery over the past 3,000 years.
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Chadour-Sampson pulls out another drawer and places in the palm of my hand a small locket, the Armada or Heneage jewel made about 1595, a gift from Elizabeth I to her vice-chamberlain, the poet and secret-service agent Sir Thomas Heneage. The locket depicts a profile portrait in gold of the queen up to her neck in a giant gold ruff, her head weighed down by wig and pearls, encircled by diamonds and Burmese rubies. Turn it over and there is a gold and enamelled portrait of an ark, representing the English church, riding through stormy seas, a cloud above raining down lightning on the frail vessel. Open it up and there’s a portrait of a much younger, more girlish Elizabeth, the real woman behind the symbol, or how she wanted to be seen – a wistful love token sent by an old woman.

Full article

Website of the Victoria and Albert Museum

And here are some images of the Elizabethan jewel described in the article (from the V&A website…. you can see larger images if you go to their image collection page and search for “Armada jewel”):

Including the ring with portrait miniatures of Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn (one of my favorite pieces from the period!).

From The Daily Mail:

A large group of paintings from the prime ministerial retreat Chequers, including a pair of Van Dycks and a locket ring owned by Elizabeth I containing portraits of herself and Anne Boleyn, is to go on public view for the first time.
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Individual works have been loaned over the years but this is the first group loan and the 10 works will go on display at another country mansion, Compton Verney in Warwickshire, from June.
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ther loaned works include portraits of Mary I, James I and Lady Mary Grey, a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, who was confined to Chequers by Elizabeth I.

The special display at Compton Verney, Portaits from Chequers: Kings, Queens and Revolutionaries, will run from June 21 to September 7.

Full article

Website of Compton Verney

Until recently, an oil painting of Queen Elizabeth I had been hanging, unprotected and barely noticed, in the gift shop at The Elizabethan Gardens gatehouse.

It is believed that the portrait was painted in 1592, when Elizabeth would have been about 60 years old. It is one of the few portraits of the queen in her declining years.

If it is authentic, it could be worth millions.
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