St EDWARDS CROWN
St EDWARDS CROWN
The original St Edward’s Crown, was thought to date back to the eleventh-century royal saint, Edward the Confessor – the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.
Edward was eventually succeeded by William the Conqueror.
The centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, it has been traditionally used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century.
On one unusual occasion, the medieval St. Edward’s Crown was also used to crown a queen consort – Anne Boleyn, who was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 1st June 1533.
Anne’s elaborate coronation was part of Henry VIII’s quest to have her seen as a legitimate queen in the wake of the scandalous end of his first marriage.
Anne was already pregnant during the coronation ceremony.
The baby, the future Queen Elizabeth I, would eventually be crowned with St. Edward’s Crown at Westminster Abbey in her own right, on 15th January 1559.
When King Charles I was deposed and eXecuted in 1649, the new republican parliament saw little need to keep the trappings of an abolished monarchy.
St. Edward’s Crown, along with the rest of the Coronation regalia, was sold.
According to some sources, Parliament had St. Edward’s Crown melted down, regarded by Oliver Cromwell as symbolic of the “detestable rule of kings”.
When the monarchy was restored a little more than a decade later, new coronation regalia had to be made.
A new version of St. Edward’s Crown, likely inspired by the appearance of the medieval crown, was ordered.
At twelve inches tall, and weighing in at a solid five pounds, the crown is set with 444 precious and semi-precious gemstones.
These include amethysts, aquamarines, garnets, peridots, rubies, sapphires, spinels, tourmalines, topazes, and zircons.
William III, was the last monarch to wear the crown during the ceremony for about 200 years.
From Queen Anne in 1702 to King Edward VII in 1902, St. Edward’s Crown was present during the coronation ceremony, but not worn by the monarch.
In 1902, King Edward VII decided to revive the old tradition of using St. Edward’s Crown as the jewel that crowns the monarch during the coronation.
Two days before the coronation, which was scheduled for 26th June 1902, Edward suddenly became seriously ill.
He underwent an operation at Buckingham Palace, and the coronation was postponed until 9th August.
The king, still weak, was unable to handle the weight of the five-pound St. Edward’s Crown.
He was crowned with the lighter Imperial State Crown instead.
King George V was crowned using St. Edward’s Crown, at Westminster Abbey on 22nd June 1911, starting a practice that has continued for subsequent coronation ceremonies.
King George VI followed in his father’s footsteps.
He was crowned with St. Edward’s Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey on 12th May 1937.
Queen Elizabeth II, was crowned with St Edwards Crown, at her coronation on 2nd June 1953, at Westminster Abbey.
On 6th May 2023, King Charles used the crown at his coronation.
The nearly two kilograms of gold used to construct the crown, is today worth more than £116,000 ($145,000).
The collection of stones set in the precious metal likely place the value of this crown at around £45million ($57 million)
However, officially, the crown jewels do not have a price.
St. Edward’s Crown is kept in the Tower of London, where it is on display with the rest of the crown jewels.
Because it’s only used for coronations, that means that it is very, very rarely taken out of the Tower.
However, in June 2013, during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Queen’s coronations, The late Queen Elizabeth was filmed handling and discussing the crown for a special documentary.