Crown of Queen Elizabeth
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The Crown of the Queen Mother[1] is the platinum crown manufactured for, and worn by, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the queen consort of King George VI of the United Kingdom at their coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1937. It is the first crown for a British monarch to be made of platinum.
The crown was made by Garrard & Co in London, the longterm manufacturer of British royal crowns, and modelled partially on the design of the Crown of Queen Mary, the consort coronation crown of Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. It consists of four half-arches, in contrast to the eight half-arches of Queen Mary's crown and ten half-arches of the Crown of Mary of Modena. As with Queen Mary's crown, its arches were detachable at the cross-pattee, allowing Elizabeth to wear the crown as a circlet.
The crown is decorated with precious stones, most notably the 105 carat (21 g) Koh-i-Noor diamond in the middle of the front cross. It also contains a 17 carat (3.4 g) diamond given to Queen Victoria by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1856.
After the death of her husband, Queen Elizabeth (known thereafter as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) ceased to wear the full crown, but wore it minus the arches as a circlet at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
The crown, with full arches attached, was placed on the coffin of the Queen Mother during her funeral in 2002.
It is now on display in the Jewel House in the Tower of London.
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