Gethsemane from BL Royal 2 B VII, f. 244v

Miniature of four scenes from Gethsemane in quatrefoils: (top left) Christ praying, (top right) Christ finds the three disciples sleeping, (bottom left) Christ addresses those who have come to take Him away, (bottom right) Judas kisses Christ and Christ is seized, Peter chopping off Malchus' ear, with an historiated initial 'L'(egem) of Christ and two others before the High Priest, with a bas-de-page scene of Edward, king and martyr, riding to hunt, with two figures on horseback, one on foot, and two dogs. Image taken from f. 244v of Psalter ('The Queen Mary Psalter'). Written in Latin, with French image captions.

The BL Royal Manuscript Collection, also known as the Royal Collection, consists of over 2,000 manuscripts that were once owned by the British monarchs, including English and later British kings and queens from the late 12th to the 19th centuries. These manuscripts are notable for their historical and artistic value.

The collection was initially stored in various royal libraries and palaces, such as the Tower of London and Westminster Palace. During the English Civil War in the 17th century and the subsequent Interregnum, many royal treasures, including manuscripts, were dispersed and sold. Some manuscripts were lost, destroyed, or ended up in private hands.

In 1757, King George II donated the Old Royal Library to the British Museum (which later became the British Library), where the manuscripts were integrated into the museum's collections. This marked the formal establishment of the Royal Manuscript Collection within the British Museum.