This portrait was traditionally believed to be of Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), the wife of King Charles I. The sitter is shown in a blue and white silk gown, with gold chain and pearls. During the English Civil War, Henrietta Maria went to the continent to acquire arms for the Royalist cause. In 1643 she landed at Bridlington, intending to join the Royalist army in the north at Newcastle. After being shelled by Parliamentarian artillery, she left town with a convoy of arms and ammunition. She stayed for one night at Boynton Hall (owned by the pro-Parliamentarian Strickland family) and supposedly 'borrowed' the family silver, leaving this portrait in exchange. Although the painting is of the right period, the story is sadly unlikely to be true.