Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, originally the Crown Jewels of England, are a collection of royal ceremonial objects kept in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, which include the coronation regalia and vestments worn by British monarchs.
The coronation regalia are the only working set in Europe and the collection is the most historically complete of any royal regalia in the world. Objects used at the coronation ceremony variously denote the monarch's roles as head of state of the United Kingdom, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and head of the British armed forces. The regalia feature heraldic devices and national emblems of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and other Commonwealth countries.
Use of regalia by monarchs in England can be traced back to when the country was converted to Christianity in the Early Middle Ages. A permanent set of coronation regalia, once belonging to Edward the Confessor, was established after he was made a saint in the 12th century. The sacred holy relics were kept at Westminster Abbey, venue of coronations since 1066, while monarchs wore another set of regalia at religious feasts and State Openings of Parliament. Collectively, these objects came to be known as the Jewels of the Crown. Most of the collection dates from around 1660 when Charles II ascended the throne. The medieval and Tudor regalia had either been sold or melted down after the monarchy was abolished in 1649 during the English Civil War. Only four original items predate the Restoration: a late 12th-century anointing spoon and three early 17th-century swords. The regalia continued to be used by British monarchs after the kingdoms of England and Scotland united in 1707.
The regalia contain around 23,578 gemstones, among them Cullinan I, the largest clear cut diamond in the world, set in the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross. It was cut from the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, the eponymous Cullinan, discovered in South Africa in 1905 and presented to Edward VII. In the Imperial State Crown are Cullinan II, the Stuart Sapphire, St Edward's Sapphire, and the Black Prince's Ruby – a large red spinel. The Koh-i-Noor diamond was acquired by Queen Victoria from the Sikh Empire and has featured on three consort crowns. A small number of disused objects at the Tower are either empty or set with glass and crystal replicas.
At a coronation, the monarch is anointed using holy oil poured from an ampulla into the spoon, invested with robes and ornaments, and crowned with St Edward's Crown. Afterwards, it is exchanged for the lighter Imperial State Crown, which is also usually worn at State Openings of Parliament. Wives of kings, known as queens consort, are invested with a plainer set of regalia. Also regarded as crown jewels are state swords, trumpets, ceremonial maces, church plate, historical regalia, banqueting plate, and royal christening fonts. They are part of the Royal Collection and belong to the institution of monarchy, passing from one sovereign to the next. In the Jewel House they are seen by 2.5 million visitors every year.
History
Prehistory and Romans
The earliest known use of a crown in Britain was discovered by archaeologists in 1988 in Deal, Kent, and dates to between 200 and 150 BC. A sword, brooch, ceremonial shield, and decorated bronze crown with a single arch, which sat directly on the head of its wearer, were found inside the tomb of the Deal Warrior. At this point, crowns were symbols of authority worn by religious and military leaders. Priests continued to use crowns following the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. A dig in a field at Hockwold cum Wilton, Norfolk, in the 1950s revealed a bronze crown with two arches and depictions of male faces, as well as two bronze diadems with an adjustable headband and repoussé silver embellishments, dating from the Roman period. One diadem features a plaque in the centre depicting a man holding a sphere and an object similar to a shepherd's crook, analogues of the orb and sceptre that evolved later as royal ornaments.Anglo-Saxons
By the early 5th century, the Romans had withdrawn from Britain, and the Angles and the Saxons settled. A heptarchy of new kingdoms began to emerge. One method used by regional kings to solidify their authority was the use of ceremony and insignia. The tomb of an unknown king – evidence suggests Rædwald of East Anglia – at Sutton Hoo illustrates the regalia of a pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon monarch. Inside the early 7th-century tomb, discovered in 1939, was found the ornate Sutton Hoo helmet, consisting of an iron cap, a neck guard, and a face mask decorated with copper alloy images of animals and warriors set with garnets. He was also buried with a decorated sword; a ceremonial shield; and a heavy whetstone sceptre, on top of which is an iron ring surmounted by the figure of a stag.In 597 CE, a Benedictine monk was sent by Pope Gregory I to start converting Pagan England to Christianity. The monk, Augustine, became the first archbishop of Canterbury. Within two centuries, the ritual of anointing monarchs with holy oil and crowning them in a Christian ceremony had been established, and regalia took on a religious identity. There was still no permanent set of coronation regalia; each monarch generally had a new set made, with which they were buried upon death. In 9th-century Europe, gold crowns in the Byzantine tradition were replacing bronze, and gold soon became the standard material for English royal crowns.
King Æthelstan united the various Anglo-Saxon realms to form the Kingdom of England. In the earliest known depiction of an English king wearing a crown he is shown presenting a copy of Bede's Life of St Cuthbert to the saint himself. Until his reign, kings were portrayed on coins wearing helmets and circlets, or wreath-like diadems in the style of Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Whether they actually wore such an item is not known. Edgar the Peaceful was the first English king to be crowned with an actual crown, and a sceptre was also introduced for his coronation. After crowns, sceptres were the most potent symbols of royal authority in medieval England.
Edward the Confessor
is depicted on a throne and wearing a crown while holding a sceptre in the first scene of the Bayeux Tapestry. Edward died without an heir, and William the Conqueror emerged as the first Norman king of England following his victory over the English at the Battle of Hastings. Wearing a crown became an important part of William I's efforts to assert authority over his new territory and subjects. At his death in 1087, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported: " kept great state … He wore his crown three times a year as often as he was in England … He was so stern and relentless … we must not forget the good order he kept in the land". The crown-wearings took place at feasts held on Christmas Day in Gloucester, Easter Day in Winchester, and Whitsun in Westminster, where William had the crown placed on his head before the royal council by the Archbishop or another high-ranking member of the clergy.In 1161, Edward the Confessor was made a saint, and objects connected with his reign became holy relics. The monks at his burial place, Westminster Abbey, claimed that Edward had asked them to look after his regalia in perpetuity and that they were to be used at the coronations of all future kings. A note to this effect is contained in an inventory of precious relics drawn up by a monk at the abbey in 1450, recording a tunicle, dalmatic, pallium, and other vestments; a gold sceptre, two rods, a gold crown, comb, and spoon; a crown and two rods for the queen's coronation; and a chalice of onyx stone and a paten made of gold for the Holy Communion. Although the Abbey's claim is likely to have been an exercise in self-promotion, and some of the regalia had probably been taken from Edward's grave when he was reinterred there, it became accepted as fact, thereby establishing the first known set of hereditary coronation regalia in Europe. Westminster Abbey is owned by a monarch, and the regalia had always been royal property – the abbots were mere custodians. In the following centuries, some of these objects would fall out of use and the regalia would expand to include many others used or worn by monarchs and queens consort at coronations.
In 1216, King John of England supposedly lost some of his jewels and plate after his baggage train was swamped by an incoming tide during the First Barons War. Whether any coronation regalia were among his lost treasures is undetermined. An object referred to as "St Edward's Crown" is first recorded as having been used for the coronation of John's eldest son Henry III and appears to be the same crown worn by Edward. Being crowned and invested with regalia owned by a previous monarch who was also a saint reinforced the king's legitimacy. The crown would be used in many subsequent coronations until its destruction in the 1600s. Few descriptions survive, although one 17th-century historian noted it was "ancient Work with Flowers, adorn'd with Stones of somewhat a plain setting", and an inventory described it as "gold wire-work set with slight stones and two little bells", weighing. Edward is thought to be the first English king who wore a crown with arches. Known as a 'closed' or imperial crown, the arches and cross symbolised the king as an emperor of his own domain, subservient to no one but God, unlike some continental rulers who owed fealty to more powerful kings or the Holy Roman emperor. Also in the Royal Collection was an item called a state crown, which together with other crowns, rings, and swords, constituted the monarch's state regalia that were kept mainly at royal palaces, separate from the coronation regalia.
Late medieval period
The handing over of crowns symbolised the transfer of power between rulers. Following the defeat in 1282 of the Welsh prince Llewelyn ap Gruffydd by Edward I, the Welsh regalia, including the crown of the legendary King Arthur, were surrendered to England. According to the Chronicle of Aberconwy Abbey, "and so the glory of Wales and the Welsh was handed over to the kings of England". After the invasion of Scotland in 1296, the Stone of Scone was sent to the Tower of London "in recognition of a kingdom surrendered and conquered". It was fitted into a wooden chair, which came to be used for the investiture of English kings and known as the Coronation Chair. The Scottish regalia were also taken to London and offered at the shrine of Edward the Confessor; Scotland eventually regained its independence. In the treasury of Edward II there were no fewer than 10 crowns. When Richard II was forced to abdicate, he symbolically handed St Edward's Crown over to his successor with the words "I present and give to you this crown … and all the rights dependent on it".Monarchs often pledged items of state regalia as collateral for loans. Edward III pawned his magna corona to Baldwin of Luxembourg in 1339 for more than £16,650,. Three crowns and other jewels were held by the Bishop of London and the Earl of Arundel in the 1370s as security for £10,000. One crown was exchanged with the Corporation of London in 1386 for a £4,000 loan. Mayors, knights, peers, bankers, and other wealthy subjects sometimes released objects on a temporary basis for the royal family to use at state occasions. Monarchs also distributed plate and jewels to troops in lieu of money. At some point in the 14th century, all of the state regalia were moved to the White Tower at the Tower of London owing to a series of successful and attempted thefts in Westminster Abbey. The holy relics of the coronation regalia stayed behind intact at the Abbey. Having fallen out of use in England in the 13th century, two arches topped with a monde and cross reappeared on the state crown during the reign of Henry V, though arches did not feature on the Great Seal again until 1471.