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Home , Coronation, Crown Jewels, Cullinan Diamond, Imperial crown, Imperial State Crown, Jewel House

QUEEN AT 85 The Jewels

The , which are part of the They include the of Sovereigns, Consorts , are displayed to millions of and of , both past and present, visitors every year, guarded by Yeomen , orbs, rings, , spurs, bracelets and Warders (‘Beefeaters’) in the Tower of , all of which have a specific part to play in London. The at the Tower has the of the English service. been used for the secure storage of the precious ceremonial objects, commonly Much of the is in use to the present day, known as the ‘Crown Jewels’, since the early a feature which distinguishes the English Regalia 14th century, when Westminster (the from most of its European counterparts. alternative store) was found to be unsafe. Although attempts have been made to steal The oldest piece of the Regalia is the 12th the Crown Jewels from the Tower, notably by century Spoon, used to anoint the Colonel Blood in 1671, none have succeeded. Sovereign with holy oil. Apart from the three The present display of the Crown Jewels was steel coronation swords (the Swords of Temporal opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1994. Justice, of Spiritual Justice and of Mercy), this is the only piece that survived the destruction of the At the heart of the Crown Jewels display are the pre-Civil War Regalia in 1649-50. This destruction ceremonial and symbolic objects associated with was ordered by , following the the of English and Queens. execution of Charles I in 1649. These are usually referred to as the Regalia. 58

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The gold objects, including pieces probably was presented to The Queen by the dating back to the time of Commonwealth for the 1953 coronation. in the eleventh century, were sent to the Mint for melting down, and the were removed During the coronation service, following the from their settings and sold. Cromwell was Anointing, the Sovereign is invested with the determined that these potent symbols of royalty Imperial of cloth-of-gold, woven with the and kingship should be completely eradicated. National Emblems, and when invested, places on the altar the elaborately jewelled of At the Restoration of the in 1660, Offering. Both of these were made for George King Charles II ordered new Regalia, modelled IV’s coronation in 1821. on the forms of the lost Regalia used by his father. This new set of Regalia was completed Among the famous gem-stones on display at the for Charles II’s coronation on St George’s Day Tower is the First Star of Africa, now mounted at (23 April 1661) and cost the enormous sum of the of the Sovereign’s . This is the £12,050 3s 5d. largest flawless cut in the world and weighs 530 carats. This and the Second Star of The principal piece of the Regalia is St Edward’s Africa of 317 carats (in the Imperial , with which the new Sovereign is actually Crown) were cut from the celebrated Cullinan crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury during Diamond, the largest diamond ever found. the coronation ceremony. This is made of gold Weighing over 3,000 carats, the Cullinan was and decorated with precious and semi-precious given to King Edward VII by the Government of stones, including , tourmalines, the Transvaal (South Africa) in 1907. amethysts, topazes and citrines, and weighs a substantial 2.23kg. It was last used to crown The legendary Koh-i-Nur (‘Mountain of Light’) Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. diamond, presented to in 1850, is now set in the platinum crown made for the late The most famous of the crowns is the Imperial Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for the 1937 State Crown. This was re-made for the coronation. This diamond, which came from the 59 coronation of The Queen’s father, King George Treasury at Lahore in the Punjab, may have VI, in 1937 and is set with over 3,000 gems. The belonged to the early Mughal before stones were all transferred from the old Imperial passing eventually to Duleep Singh. It was re-cut Crown, which had been re-made on a number of for Queen Victoria in 1852 and now weighs 106 occasions since the 17th century, most recently carats. Traditionally the Koh-i-Nur is only worn for Queen Victoria in 1838. This crown by a queen or queen consort: it is said to bring incorporates many famous gemstones, including bad luck to any man who wears it. the diamond known as the Second Star of Africa (the second largest stone cut from the celebrated Among the other notable jewels on display is ), the Black ’s , the Queen Victoria’s small diamond crown, made for Stuart , St Edward’s Sapphire and her in 1870 to wear as a light and comfortable Queen Elizabeth’s Pearls. The Sovereign alternative to the much heavier Imperial State traditionally wears the at Crown. The of India, set with the conclusion of the coronation service, when around 6,000 and magnificent leaving . It is also worn for and , was made for King to the State Opening of . wear at the Delhi Coronation Durbar in 1911. It has never been worn since. The other principal pieces of the Regalia used during the coronation, all dating from 1661, are In addition to the new Regalia, Charles II the Ampulla, the gold flask in the form of an acquired a large quantity of new gold altar and eagle which contains the holy oil used for the banqueting plate, costing a further £18,000. A Anointing; the Sovereign’s Orb, representing selection of this plate, including the Maundy Christ’s dominion over the world; and the two Dish, still used by the Sovereign on Maundy sceptres, the Sovereign’s Sceptre with a Thursday, the St George’s Salts, formerly used at representing the ’s temporal power coronation banquets, and the Charles II font under God and the Sceptre with Dove, formerly used for royal christenings, together representing equity and mercy. The Spurs, which with the , which is in current use and are not worn, are there to represent knightly was made for the baptism of Queen Victoria’s chivalry and the or bracelets, represent first child, is also on view in the Jewel House. sincerity and wisdom. A new pair of gold Armills

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