The blue silk garter ribbon worn by Charles I in his famous van Dyck portrait may have been discovered - attached to a book.

Researchers believe four pieces of cloth could be the sash owned by the monarch after one was radiocarbon dated to the mid 17th century - the period when the King ruled.

The discovery was made after [Sir] Anthony van Dyck's portrait, which features three images of Charles, was selected for a new exhibition and Royal Collection Trust curators decided to examine the silk pieces which were attached to a book about the King.

It may interest readers of AHN to know that another reliquary of King Charles I is at large, but this one is somewhat more latently gruesome than the blue sash. It may be seen (sitting silently in a small glass display-case) by any member of the public visiting the small and somewhat obscure mueum of 'Fort Paull', which lies on the noth Bank of the River Humber some miles east of Kingston-Upon-Hull.. It was on the site of this museum that the King  made camp in order to lay seige to the town at the commencement of the English Civil-War, This singular object is no less than a small section of neck vertebrae, reputedly removed at the time of the tragic King's execution, and then, after passing from hand to hand, latterly finding new employment as.. guess what..?  A salt-cellar.