A rare portrait of Katherine Parr has set a record for the most expensive Tudor portrait to be sold at auction.

The painting, attributed to Master John, went under the hammer at Sotheby’s and fetched over four times the highest pre-sale estimate as bidding heated up.

It’s the first time this particular portrait has been available for sale for over 200 years. it has been in the collection of the Earl of Jersey since the 19th century. For some time, it was believed the painting had been destroyed in a fire.

It is one of just a handful of confirmed likenesses of Henry VIII’s last queen but its history has been as complicated as the woman it depicts.

Previously, the portrait was believed to be of Mary I of England, Katherine’s step-daughter, or Lady Jane Grey, the nine day queen who was hugely influenced by Katherine.

However, the crown topped jewel on the portrait has shown it is definitely a portrait of Katherine Parr, denoting her queenly status.

Katherine Parr was the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII and an important politician and religious reformer. Henry VIII asked her to rule England for him as regent when he went on campaign to France and she helped restore Mary and her half sister, Elizabeth, to the succession. However, following Henry’s death, she remarried to Thomas Seymour, maternal uncle of the new boy king, Edward VI. Katherine died days after giving birth to their only child, a daughter, and was buried at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

The painting was sold for £2.8 million. It’s not yet known who has bought it.