St Edward's Crown is the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century.
The original crown was a holy relic kept at Westminster Abbey, Edward's burial place, until the regalia were either sold or melted down when Parliament abolished the monarchy in 1649, during the English Civil War.
The current St Edward's Crown was made for Charles II in 1661. It is 22-carat gold, tall, weighs , and is decorated with 444 precious and fine gemstones. The crown is similar in weight and overall appearance to the original, but its arches are Baroque.
After 1689, owing to its weight the crown was not used to crown any monarch for over 200 years. In 1911, the tradition was revived by George V and has continued ever since, including at the 2023 coronation of Charles III and Camilla. In 1953, Elizabeth II opted for a stylised image of this crown to be used on coats of arms and other insignia in Commonwealth realms to symbolise her royal authority.
St Edward's Crown is normally on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
History
Origin
Edward the Confessor wore his crown at Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas. In 1161, he was canonised, and objects connected with his reign became holy relics. The monks at his burial place of Westminster Abbey claimed that Edward had asked them to look after his regalia in perpetuity for the coronations of all future English kings. Although the claim is likely to have been an exercise in self-promotion on the abbey's part, and some of the regalia probably had 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. A crown referred to as St Edward's Crown is first recorded as having been used for the coronation of Henry III in 1220, and it appears to be the same crown worn by Edward.
Holy relic
St Edward's Crown rarely left Westminster Abbey. When Richard II was forced to abdicate in 1399, he had the crown brought to the Tower of London, where he symbolically handed it over to his successor Henry IV, saying "I present and give to you this crown with which I was crowned King of England and all the rights dependent on it".
It was used in 1533 to crown the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, which was unprecedented for a queen consort. In the Tudor period, three crowns were placed on the heads of monarchs at a coronation: St Edward's Crown, the state crown, and a "rich crown" made specially for the new king or queen. After the English Reformation, the new Church of England denounced the veneration of medieval relics and, starting with the coronation of Edward VI in 1547, the significance of the crown's link to Edward the Confessor was downplayed.
During the English Civil War, Parliament melted down the crown, regarded by Oliver Cromwell as symbolic of the "detestable rule of kings". The crown was described in an inventory of Charles I's possessions as "King Alfred's Crown of gold wire-work set with slight stones and two little bells", weighing , valued at £3 per ounce, total value £248 10s 0d. An inscription on the lid of its box, translated from Latin, read: "This is the chief crown of the two, with which were crowned Kings Alfred, Edward and others". However, there is no evidence to support its dating from Alfred's reign, and the crown has always been referred to as St Edward's Crown (or Crown of St Edward) in the coronation order of service.
Restoration
The monarchy was restored in 1660 and in preparation for the coronation of Charles II, who had been living in exile abroad, a new St Edward's Crown was supplied by the Royal Goldsmith, Sir Robert Vyner. It was fashioned to closely resemble the medieval crown, with a heavy gold base and clusters of semi-precious stones, but the arches are decidedly Baroque. In the late 20th century, it was assumed to incorporate gold from the original St Edward's Crown, as they are almost identical in weight, and no invoice was produced for the materials in 1661. A crown was also displayed at the lying in state of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653 until 1658. On the weight of this evidence, writer and historian Martin Holmes, in a 1959 paper for Archaeologia, concluded that in the time of the Interregnum St Edward's Crown was saved from the melting pot and that its gold was used to make a new crown at the Restoration.