Among the papers of Mary of Guise there is a record of cloth of gold bought for three gowns for Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587), in 1548. Her agent Henri Cleutin, sieur d’Oysel, was instructed to buy the fabric from merchants who supplied the French court. Cleutin known as a diplomat, as a soldier during the Scottish Reformation Crisis, and the subject of a lengthy anecdote about etiquette at the Vatican that I can’t pretend to understand, may seem an unlikely personal shopper. He also features in Mary of Guise’s surviving wardrobe account.

The first item is a copy of a warrant from Mary of Guise of 17 January 1547/8. It is addressed to the merchants with whom Cleutin will negotiate for ‘cloth of gold frizee et sans frizee of the fashion of Tours of which colour he will advise, for three gowns, three skirt fronts, and sleeves for…