The queen’s kirtle

SIR – Your report (August 11) on the restoration of the Bacton altar cloth repeats the assertion that it was first recognised in 2016-17 as a piece of clothing once worn by Elizabeth I.

It was reported in 2016 that Tracy Borman, joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), had “spotted the richly embroidered cloth by chance” in St Faith’s Church in Bacton.

A year later, reports claimed that Eleri Lynn, curator of historic dress at HRP, first discovered the cloth. Ms Lynn said: “When I saw it for the first time I knew immediately that it was something special … I felt as though I had found the Holy Grail.”

Credit where credit’s due. In 1918, Sir Lionel Cust (1859-1929), a former director of the National Portrait Gallery, argued in The Burlington Magazine: “It is quite reasonable to suggest that [the altar cloth] … is a piece of an actual kirtle worn by Queen Elizabeth.” Acknowledgement should be made of Sir Lionel Cust when the fabric is exhibited at Hampton Court this year. Edward Wilson

Worcester College, Oxford