Queen Elizabeth I and the Emperor of China

[Imperial Dave]

https://x.com/tongbingxue/status/2002250005990772761

Fascinating

[Erpingham]

Those who are wondering how this letter survived in such pristine form under water for nearly 400 years might like to look up the rather more plausible suggestion that it actually ended up back in England.  The ship carrying it was not shipwrecked but forced to return home without reaching China. This is because it attempted to get to China via the North West passage. What happened to it between Queen Elizabeth's reign and the 20th century seems to be a bit of a mystery. And the Chinese appear only to have a photo from QEII with the original in the Lancashire archives.