Famous Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
If there is one thing Britain is known for it is the crown jewels. They have been discovered in the burial mounds of ancient kings and rulers that date back to 200 B.C. The crown jewels back then were Roman or pagan and featured bronze circlets adorned with human faces.
One of the first official crowns was worn by William , Duke of Normandy. It appeared to be a bronze or gold crown set with different colour stones with a court jester type of design. This crown is only known from painting. In 1220 Edward the Confessor was coroneted with a gold crown that also had silver guilt and several semi-precious and precious stones in it.
Another very famous crown had the Stone of Scone encapsulated it and was taken from a Welsh Prince by Edward 1. Edward the second had ten very extravagant crowns but unfortunately all were stolen.
Crowns became very decorative during the Tudor dynasty. Most were created of silver and gold and embedded with rubies, sapphires and diamonds. Many crown jewels feature the “orb” which is a round ball with a cross of gold inside.
Most famous British crowns along with their sceptres and swords are kept in Westminster Abby. One of the earliest in the collection is St. Edwards crown. Made in 1881 it is made of gold and 444 precious stones.
In 1937 an Imperial State Crown was made for King George VI and consists of 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 rubies and five rubies. The famous spinel known as The Black Star Ruby and the Cullinan II diamond are both part of this crown.
Also in the collection is the Crown of the Queen Mother which s decorated with precious stones, most notably the 105-carat (21 g) Koh-I-Noor diamond in the middle of the front cross. It also contains a 17-carat (3.4 g) diamond given to Queen Victoria by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1850. The last time this famous crown was worn was in 1953 at the funeral of the Queen Mother. This particular crown and a crown known as the Crown of India, worn for the Coronation of George IV, Queen Victoria and Elizabeth the centre which boasts a huge emerald in the centre of an iron cross, glamorous arches, fur, rubies and enormous rubies and other precious stones.
The current Queen regularly wears three crowns which are called the Mary of Modena crowns. One is a diadem that was worn on her way to her coronation. The second is the crown that actually crowned her at the coronation and the third is one that she wore for years at other events.