A History of St. Edward's Crown

The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, featuring St. Edward's Crown. Source: Illustrated magazine, 13 December 1952, p. 14, Crown Copyright (now expired).   Not to be confused with St. Edward’s Sapphire, St. Edward’s Crown is the foundation piece of the Crown Regalia. Experts believe it was fashioned after a crown of the same name used in 1043 for the coronation of Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. The original crown may have been a gold diadem circlet adorned with small stones and two bells. This first crown was most likely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1649; however, there is some speculation that some of its gold was somehow preserved and used in the current crown. In 1830, Thomas Robson wrote a book of heraldic definitions called The British Herald, Volume III, in which he documents the history of what he termed the Crown, Royal. According to Robson, the Saxons were the first documented monarchs to use crowns, which were simple circlets of gold, and the Crown Royal of his day is the same crown Britain's call today St. Edward's Crown. Made by Sir Robert Vyner for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, St. Edward's Crown was originally set with imitation pearls and paste (glass cut so as to imitate gemstones). These imitations are set into the crown whenever it is on display in the Tower of London. However, when the crown is used for the coronation of a new monarch, real gemstones are inset for the occasion. Though the Imperial State Crown served as the crown of choice for the coronations of George IV, William IV, Queen Victoria, and Edward VII, coronation with St. Edward’s Crown resumed with the ceremony of George V. Every sovereign since then has been crowned with this regal and heavy crown. During the 1800s, when the Imperial State Crown was used to crown the sovereign, St. Edward’s Crown was carried as a symbolic object during the procession to Westminster Abbey. Currently, St. Edward’s Crown holds court in the Tower of London with the other pieces of the British Crown Regalia. It will make its next grand appearance at the crowning of the Prince of Wales, at a date which no one wants to think about just yet. Long live the Queen! by Angela Magnotti Andrews  

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