St. Edward's Crown

One of the most famous pieces of jewellery in the world. This crown is recognisable the world over as that with which British monarchs are crowned. As seemingly permanent and unshakeable as the institution it represents, St Edward's crown has a history as turmoiled and storied as the Kings of England.
Once the crown of St. Edward the Confessor, whence comes the name. This crown was then passed on, through the wars of 1066, to William the Conqueror and his descendants, from there it remained part of the royal treasury and by tradition became the crown with which the kings of England were crowned when it was available. Officially cared for by the Benedictine community at Westminster Abbey, the crown is not, officially the .personal property of the sovereign. A curious anachronism symptomatic of such storied artefacts. Such was the position of St. Edward's Crown for six hundred years, when the English civil war lead to the deposition of King Charles I and his murder. Eager to destroy all trace of England's royal past. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, as well as tyrant and murderer, ordered the crown jewels to be melted down. However the restoration of King Charles II brought much more than the royal family back to England. The crown was remade, it is said with the gold from the old, and took on it's present form. Even there there was still trouble ahead. Most notably when Colonel Blood flattened it with a mallet in order to conceal it in his trousers in his legendary attempt at a heist in the very Tower of London.
One more adventure lay in store for this object of authority and power. As the British revolution swept the home nations in 1925; a fit of panic seized the government who packed the Royal family off to Canada in order to avoid the fate of the Romanovs. Fortunately, someone still retained enough presence of mind to realise that for royalty to survive, its symbols must also, thus were the crown jewels hastily loaded onto a Royal Navy Cruiser in the River Thames, from whence the steamed to join the fleet carrying the king and his sons to Canada. Now kept in an undisclosed location, though most suspect Rideau Hall. St. Edward's Crown awaits the day it will return to Britain with the rest of the exiles.

Item type

Religious / Ritualistic