A red silk velvet bag found in the attic of West Horsley Place, former home of Raleigh’s son, could have been used by Raleigh’s widow to carry around his embalmed head, according to the stately home and a historical costume expert. Accounts of the beheading at the palace of Westminster, London, on 29 October 1618 record that the head was placed in a red bag, and that it and his body, wrapped in his nightgown, were taken away in a mourning coach by his widow. ...One biographer claimed his widow, Elizabeth, formerly Bess Throckmorton, a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I, had...
