Crown of Queen Elizabeth
The Crown of Queen Elizabeth is the platinum crown of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI. It was manufactured for her coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1937. It is the first crown for a British consort to be made of platinum.
The crown was made by Garrard & Co in London, the long term manufacturer of British royal crowns, and modelled partially on the design of the Crown of Queen Mary, the 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. As with Queen Mary's crown, its arches were detachable at the cross-pattee, allowing It to be worn as a circlet.
The crown is decorated with precious stones, most notably the 105-carat (21.0 g) Koh-i-Noor diamond in the middle of the front cross, which was confiscated by the East India Company from Duleep Singh after the Anglo-Sikh Wars.[1] The stone became part of the British Crown Jewels when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877.[2]
After the death of her husband, Queen Elizabeth (known thereafter as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) did not wear the full crown, but wore it minus the arches as a circlet at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.[3]
The crown was placed in position on the coffin of the Queen Mother for her funeral in 2002.[4]
The crown is now on display along with the other British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
References
- ↑ Edge, Simon (30 July 2010). "The Crown Jewels: The Queen's cursed diamond". The Sunday Express. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ↑ "The Crown Jewels". The Royal Household. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
- ↑ "Coronation guests and their jewels". The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
- ↑ "PHOTOS—funeral pageantry of Britain's Queen Mother". The Tribune (Chandigarh, India). Reuters (photos). 6 April 2002. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
External links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
