Princess with Treasure: Free Printable PDF Sheet for Kids

Princesses & Treasure: History & Fun Facts

Quick Facts

• The oldest known gold jewelry was found in Bulgaria at the Varna Necropolis, dating to about 4,500 BCE.
• England’s Crown Jewels weigh a combined total of about 23,578 carats of gemstones.
• The largest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger (1869, Australia), weighed about 72 kg (158 lb).
• Medieval royal treasuries were often kept in castle keeps — the most heavily fortified part of the castle.
• Diamonds were first mined in India; European royalty did not have access to them until trade routes opened in the 13th century.

Royal treasure has meant different things at different times. In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh’s treasury held not just gold and jewels but also grain, linen, and precious oils — wealth measured in goods rather than currency alone. The tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, contained more than 5,000 objects including a solid gold death mask weighing 24 pounds, gilded furniture, ceremonial chariots, and hundreds of pieces of jewelry. The hoard had been sealed for over 3,200 years when Carter broke through the plastered doorway.

Medieval Royal Treasuries

Medieval European monarchs used their treasuries as both a reserve for war and a display of legitimacy. A well-stocked treasury signaled that a ruler was powerful, stable, and capable of rewarding loyal subjects. French kings kept their treasury at the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, one of the holiest and most heavily fortified sites in the kingdom. English monarchs used the Tower of London from the 13th century onward as both a safe deposit for crown jewels and a mint for new coins. Visitors can still see the Tudor and Stuart additions to the Crown Jewels collection on display there today.

Gems and Their Royal Symbolism

Different gemstones carried specific symbolic meaning in royal regalia. Rubies were associated with the blood of Christ and were considered protective stones for warriors and rulers. Sapphires symbolized heaven, truth, and divine wisdom — making them common in bishops’ rings and royal engagement pieces (Catherine, Princess of Wales, now wears the famous Kashmir sapphire that belonged to Princess Diana). Pearls represented purity and were particularly prized by queens — Elizabeth I of England was so famously fond of pearls that her portraits show her draped in ropes of them. Diamonds, rare in Europe until the 15th century, became a symbol of invincibility because of their extreme hardness.

Treasure Chests as Story Icons

The wooden chest bound with iron straps appears in real historical records as a standard container for valuables from at least the Roman period. Archaeologists have found iron-bound chests in Viking ship burials (like the Oseberg burial in Norway, c. 834 CE) and in medieval monastery records where parish churches kept their relics and silver in locked chests. Robert Louis Stevenson drew on that centuries-old image when he wrote Treasure Island in 1881–1882, creating the buried chest of pirate gold that defined the adventure-treasure icon for generations of children’s stories — and eventually for every princess treasure scene that followed.