St Edward's Crown

St Edward's Crown was one of the English Crown Jewels and remains one of the senior British Crown Jewels, being the official coronation crown used in the coronation of first English, then British, and finally Commonwealth realms monarchs. As such, two-dimensional representations of the crown are used in coats of arms, badges, and various other insignia throughout the Commonwealth realms to indicate the authority of the reigning sovereign.

Physical version

The present form

The present St Edward's Crown contains much of the crown made in 1661 for the coronation of King Charles II. Constructed of solid gold, the crown's design includes a base, with four crosses pattée alternating with four fleurs-de-lis, within which is a velvet cap with ermine border and two arches above and surmounted by a cross, all set with 444 precious stones. Formerly the latter were hired for each coronation and then detached, leaving only the frame. However, in 1911 the jewels were set permanently. A number of changes were made for the respective coronations of James II (a new monde) and William III (the base being changed from its original circular form to a more natural oval one). The crown was also made slightly smaller to fit the head of George V, the first monarch to be crowned with St. Edward's Crown in over 200 years. The crown was, however, carried in procession at other coronations at which it was not actually worn.

Queen Victoria and King Edward VII chose not to be crowned with St Edward's Crown because of its weight of 4 lb 12 oz (2.2 kg) and instead used the lighter Imperial State Crown. St. Edward's Crown was placed on the coffin of Edward VII for his lying-in-state and funeral in 1910.

Earlier forms

The original crown of St Edward the Confessor (from whom the present crown takes its name) was worn by him at Christmas in 1065.^[1] This may itself have incorporated material from a crown of Alfred the Great.^[2] In 1066, on Christmas Day, St Edward's crown was reputedly used in the coronation of King William I in token of his inheritance by right rather than conquest.^[3] It was used subsequently for the coronations of William Rufus (1087), Henry I (1100), Stephen (1135), Henry II (1154), Richard I (1189 and 1194), and John (1199).^[4]

In 1216, at the first coronation of King Henry III, a chaplet was employed instead of the crown.^[5] From this it was inferred by the German historian Reinhold Pauli^[6] that the original St Edward's Crown had been among the crown jewels lost by King John. However Arthur Penrhyn Stanley maintained that the original crown and regalia survived until 1642, and were kept in the Treasury of Westminster until the time of King Henry VIII.^[7] The same crown was reputedly used in 1533 for the coronation of Anne Boleyn.^[8] Destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's order during the English Civil War, the crown was re-created in 1661 for the coronation of King Charles II.

Use at coronations

Although always regarded as the "official" coronation crown, in fact only a minority of monarchs have actually been crowned with St. Edward's Crown. These were Charles II (1661), James II (1685), William III (1689), George V (1911), George VI (1937) and Elizabeth II (1953). All other English/British monarchs were crowned with other crowns: Mary II and Anne with small diamond crowns of their own, George I, George II, George III and William IV with George I's new state crown, King George IV with a large new diamond crown, and Victoria and Edward VII with Victoria's 1838 Imperial State Crown.

Symbolic version

Though the physical St Edward's Crown is property of the Queen in Right of the United Kingdom, its two-dimensional representation has come to be utilised throughout all the Commonwealth realms as an indication of each country's respective royal authority, thus appearing on coats of arms, badges for military and police units, and logos for government departments and private organizations with royal associations. In this use, it replaced the Tudor Crown by the command in 1953 of Queen Elizabeth II.^[9][10] Such use of the crown is only by the personal permission of the sovereign.^[11]

See also

• Canadian royal symbols

References