Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603) was the last Tudor monarch and a contemporary of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605). In 1600 she granted a group of 125 merchants a monopoly on all English trade to Asia. Through this royal sanction, the East India Company was born. The works in this room explore the early encounters between the Stuart monarchs, the East India Company and the Great Mughals throughout the seventeenth century.