Set within the tracery lights of the east window at St Peter’s, Coughton, these panels form one of the most important surviving examples of Tudor royal heraldic glass. At the centre are the impaled royal arms of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, accompanied by the initials H and K and encircled by the emblems of the Tudor dynasty — the rose, portcullis, fleur-de-lis, and crown.

The glass can be securely dated to the period between 1521 and 1530, during the later years of Henry and Catherine’s marriage, and certainly before the annulment of 1533. The heraldic composition, with its emphasis on the unity of the English and Spanish royal houses, reflects a moment when Catherine’s queenship was still honoured and her lineage proudly displayed. The inclusion of both monarchs’ initials was a hallmark of early Tudor court iconography, widely used in decorative schemes celebrating dynastic stability and divine favour.

The execution of the panels demonstrates the refinement of early sixteenth-century English glazing, with pot-metal coloured glass, subtle silver stain, and restrained use of enamel paint. The decorative framing of the shields employs Renaissance-inspired strapwork and scrolls, signalling the gradual assimilation of continental ornament into the late Gothic English idiom.

Flanking tracery lights contain further Tudor symbols — notably the Tudor rose, pomegranate, and castle — the latter referencing Catherine’s Castilian heritage and reinforcing the union of England and Spain. The pomegranate, Catherine’s personal badge, is rendered with striking naturalism, glowing warmly against the clear background.

The window was almost certainly commissioned by the Throckmorton family, whose ancestral home, Coughton Court, stands adjacent to the church. The Throckmortons were prominent courtiers and loyal servants of the Tudor monarchy, and their patronage of royal iconography would have signified both fidelity to the crown and participation in the humanist culture of Henry VIII’s court.

Stylistically, the Coughton glass belongs to the mature phase of Tudor heraldic glazing (c.1515–1530), contemporary with surviving royal arms in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and St George’s Chapel, Windsor. It may have been produced by one of the London or Midlands workshops that supplied heraldic and devotional schemes to royal and noble patrons alike.

Taken together with the Stanford-on-Avon window, the Coughton tracery provides a vivid example of how stained glass served as a medium of Tudor dynastic propaganda, celebrating royal unions and proclaiming legitimacy in both sacred and domestic spaces.