The British Monarchy Miscellany

by Alex David

  stocked with tiny bottles filled with actual vintage wine.

  The most important room in the house is considered to be the Library which is stocked with 300 volumes of real tiny books, including some with original works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling, as well as the smallest book ever printed from type, The Mite.

  Queen Mary’s Doll House is on permanent show to the public at Windsor Castle.

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  Lost Royal Treasures

  Over the last 800 years many valuable artistic items that belonged to the monarchy have been lost, either through disasters or human agency. Listed below are the most famous royal treasures that no longer exist, or are no longer in the Royal Collection. They are listed in

  chronological order of disappearance.

  King John’s Treasure

  Lost: 1216

  As reported by medieval chroniclers, King John lost much of his royal treasure in October 1216 while marching across the East of England, during his war against rebellious barons. The baggage train carrying his treasure was caught in the rising tides of The Wash mudflats, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk, and disappeared into sand and water. Among the possessions lost were jewels and gold plate used by his brother Richard the Lionheart and father Henry II, and the regalia that his grandmother Matilda had worn as Empress of Germany which included her crown and golden wand. None of the lost items have ever been recovered from The Wash. Some historians 591

  claim that John never actually lost these treasures but arranged their disappearance in order to sell or melt the items as he tried to raise funds to fight his barons.

  Whatever the truth, the fact remains that Empress Matilda’s regalia and other jewels that were accounted for during John’s reign had vanished by the time he died.

  The Three Brothers Jewel

  Lost: 1640s

  The Three Brothers jewel was a Tudor brooch consisting of three large rubies (or spinels) set as a triangle around a large diamond, with pearls in between. It was bought by King Edward VI in 1551 and later became one of the

  favourite jewels of Queen Elizabeth I. She can be seen wearing it on her bodice in the famous ‘Ermine Portrait’

  at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, as well as on her tomb effigy in Westminster Abbey. On Elizabeth’s death the jewel passed to the Stuart monarchs and later

  disappeared during the English Civil War. It is thought to have been pawned or sold to raise funds for Charles I’s cause.

  The Mirror of Great Britain Jewel

  Lost: 1640s

  The Mirror of Great Britain was a large, magnificent jewel created by King James I in 1604 to celebrate the union of the crowns of England and Scotland on his accession.

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  Made out of gold, in the shape of a hand-held mirror, it contained four diamonds and a ruby. One of the

  diamonds was the ‘Great Harry’ which had belonged to James’s mother Mary Queen of Scots. Another was the famous Sancy Diamond, which James had bought from

  France. James can be seen wearing the finished jewel as a hat ornament in a portrait by John de Critz held in the National Gallery of Scotland. On the accession of his son Charles I the jewel was broken up and pawned to pay for royal debts, and its gems were later sold and dispersed during the English Civil War. The Sancy diamond

  eventually re-appeared in France and became part of French Crown Jewels, and can be seen today in the

  Louvre Museum in Paris.

  The Old Crown Jewels

  Lost: 1650s

  After Charles I’s execution and the abolition of the monarchy in 1649 Parliament ordered the original

  coronation regalia to be dismantled and destroyed. The gold was melted and the gems were put up for sale.

  Among the pieces that were lost were the original St Edward’s Crown; the Tudor Imperial State Crown and

  sceptres; the Queens Consorts Crown; the child-size crown made for Edward VI’s coronation; Llewellyn’s

  Coronet, worn by the Welsh Princes of Wales; and the coronet said to have been worn by Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. Except for the Tudor Imperial State Crown 593

  and sceptre there are no visual records of what these items looked like. Some of the individual gems that were sold were recovered later at the Restoration of the monarchy, and were re-set in the newly re-minted Crown Jewels in 1660-1661. The others gems were lost.

  Charles I’s Art Collection

  Lost: 1650s

  Charles I is said to have owned the greatest painting collection ever assembled by a British Monarch. His collection was strong on Italian artists with many works coming from the great Gonzaga Renaissance collection that he bought from Italy in the 1620s, but it also included gifts and purchases from Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. Artist Peter Paul Rubens remarked on a visit to Whitehall that “when it comes to fine pictures I have never seen such a large number in one place as in this royal palace.” The collection was broken apart and sold by the Republican Commonwealth in the early 1650s after the monarchy was abolished. Some paintings were kept in England and were later returned to the Royal Collection. The vast majority however, including the most spectacular, were sold abroad and never returned. Many of them can be seen today in museums all over Europe, including Caravaggio’s Death of the Virgin and Leonardo’s St John the Baptist, in the Louvre, Paris; Raphael’s La Perla and Albrecht Durer’s Self Portrait, in the Prado, 594

  Madrid; and Titian’s Young Woman in a Fur Coat, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

  The Holbein Whitehall Mural

  Lost: 1698

  Hans Holbein the Younger’s most celebrated work was a mural he painted in the Privy Chamber of the Palace of Whitehall, London, in 1537. It celebrated the Tudor dynasty by showing lifesize, full-length portraits of King Henry VII, King Henry VIII, and their wives Elizabeth of York and Jane Seymour. The figure of Henry VIII in

  particular, in his famous astride pose, was said to have been so lifelike and imposing that many visitors felt intimidated in its presence. The mural was lost when the Palace of Whitehall was destroyed by fire of 1698,

  however a small, faithful copy made in 1667 survives in the Royal Collection.

  Bernini’s Bust of King Charles I

  Lost: 1698

  The great Baroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini created a celebrated marble bust of Charles I in 1636. As he was unable to travel to England to see his subject in person, he used as a model the famous painting of Charles I in Three Positions by Anthony van Dyck which had been expressly painted to provide Bernini with a visual model whilst working in Italy. The finished bust was sent to 595

  England and became a favourite of both Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria who praised it for its lifelikeness. It was sold with the rest of Charles I’s art collection in the 1650s and was later recovered by his son, Charles II, but it was destroyed in the Whitehall Palace fire of 1698. A copy of it exists today in the Royal Collection, however opinions differ on whether it is a actual copy of the original.

  Michelangelo’s Statue of Cupid

  Lost: 1698

  This statue by Michelangelo, sculpted when he was only 20-years-old, caused a sensation in Italy when it was first unveiled in 1496. Depicting a sleeping cupid, it was so faithful to classical roman statues that many thought it was a newly discovered archaeological treasure, with people initially refusing to believe that a young

  contemporary artist had sculpted it. It came to Charles I in the 1620s when he bought the Gonzaga Collection

  from Italy, and was still part of the Royal Collection after the English Civil War. It is believed to have been

  destroyed in the Whitehall Palace fire of 1698.

  The Painted Chamber, Palace of Westminster

  Lost: 1834

  Built by Henry III from 1226 onwards, the Painted

  Chamber was one of the great artistic treasures of the medieval Palace of Westminster. Its walls were decorated 596

  with colourful murals of b
iblical history scenes, including elaborate battles from the life of Judas Maccabeus, miracles by the prophet Elisha, and the fall of Jerusalem.

  There were also representations of vices and virtues, and a full length painting of the coronation of Edward the Confessor in 1042. Over the centuries these murals began to be neglected until they were finally whitewashed in the 18th century. Parts of them were rediscovered during restorations in 1800 and sparked great public interest, but even these survivals were lost when the Old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834. Watercolours copies done in 1819 however have survived.

  The Armada Tapestries

  Lost: 1834

  This spectacular set of tapestries was commissioned by Lord Howard of Effingham, who was Lord Admiral during the Spanish Armada invasion of 1588, to celebrate

  England’s victory over the Spanish. There were 10 large tapestries, each 4.4 metres high by 8.7 metres wide, depicting the movements of English and Spanish ships at different times during the invasion. They were woven in the Netherlands and cost £1,582, the equivalent of about

  £5-10 million today. King James I bought the tapestries in 1616 for the same amount of money, and in the 1660s they were hung in the House of Lords of the Old Palace of Westminster where over time they became a beloved

  national symbol of Parliament. They were lost in 1834

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  when the Old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire. Drawings of the tapestries survived however, and smaller painting reproductions of five of them were hung again in the Palace of Westminster in 2010.

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  The Crown Jewels

  The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom comprise the items used during the coronation ceremony and other official state functions, like the State Opening of Parliament. They are the visual symbols of monarchy and the essence of authority, transcending any single person who wears them. England has had Crown Jewels at least since the time of Edward the Confessor, but the original medieval jewels were destroyed by the Republican

  Commonwealth in 1649 after the abolition of the

  monarchy. The only item said to have survived the

  destruction is a 13th century golden spoon used in the anointing part of the coronation ceremony. A new set of Crown Jewels was created after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, to which other items have been added ever since.

  The Crown Jewels do not belong to members of the Royal Family but to the British State, which in matters related to monarchy is often referred to as ‘The Crown’. The coronation jewels re-created at the Restoration were paid for by the English government and have always

  belonged to the Crown. Other items, like the George IV

  State Diadem and Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond

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  Crown, started life as personal royal possession but were later bequeathed to the Crown by individual monarchs.

  It is impossible to place a monetary value on the British Crown Jewels because on top of their material worth must be added their historical and constitutional worth which is incalculable, consequently the Jewels have never been insured. Since the 14th century they have been stored for safekeeping in the Tower of London where they are currently kept in a maximum security area which is open to visitors during the Tower’s visiting hours. In accordance with a law dating back to medieval times, the Jewels can never leave British soil (legend says the injunction goes back to the time King John lost his Jewels in the waters of the Wash in the 13th century, see Lost Royal Treasures).

  The descriptions of the Crown Jewels in this chapter have been divided into appropriate categories: Coronation Regalia, Other State Jewels, and a distinct group called The Great Gems of State which describe important

  historic gems deserving a category of their own. The end of the chapter also includes sections on the Honours of Wales and Honours of Scotland, the separate crown

  jewels of those two British home nations. Note that only the most important items have been chosen for

  individual description here. Unless noted, all jewels are kept in the Tower of London.

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  The Coronation Regalia

  The Crown Jewels proper include the items used to invest the monarchs and their consorts during the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey. They include crowns, sceptres, rings, orbs and swords, as well as items used for anointing and for symbolic use only. The most important items worn or handled by monarchs and their consorts during the ceremony are described below.

  St Edward’s Crown

  The most venerable item in the Crown Jewels, St

  Edward’s Crown is used for the actual act of crowning the monarch during the coronation ceremony. It is named after the original crown of St Edward the Confessor that was used to crown all English monarchs until 1625, after which it was destroyed by the Republican

  Commonwealth in 1649. The current crown was made

  after the Restoration of the monarchy to crown Charles II in 1661, and is said to contain some gold from the

  original St Edward’s Crown. It contains over 400 precious and semi-precious stones and is made of solid gold, weighing 2.23 kilos. Because of its heavy weight it is only used briefly during the coronation ceremony, and some monarchs in the past have chosen to be crowned with the lighter Imperial State Crown instead, with St Edward’s Crown being born in procession.

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  The Imperial State Crown

  During the Middle Ages St Edward’s Crown was

  considered so holy that it was never allowed to leave Westminster Abbey, so another crown had to be made to be worn at official occasions in other places. In the 15th century, this crown came to be known as the Imperial State Crown, not because England presided over an

  empire, but because English monarchs began to claim that they received their authority directly from God and were not subject to any earthly power like the Pope (i.e.

  they were like an Emperor, who was not subject to the Pope). Ever since the 17th century the Imperial State Crown has been worn yearly during the State Opening of Parliament, and also at the end of the coronation

  ceremony when the monarch leaves Westminster Abbey.

  As such, it is the most frequently used of the coronation jewels and has had to be replaced or remade several times since the Restoration because of wear and tear.

  The present Imperial State Crown was made in 1937 for the coronation of George VI and is almost identical in design to the previous crown which had been made for Queen Victoria in 1838. It is made of gold, platinum and silver and contains 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11

  emeralds, 5 rubies and 273 pearls. Among them are some of the most famous jewels in English history including St Edward the Confessor’s Sapphire, the Black Prince’s Ruby, Queen Elizabeth’s Pearls, the Stuart Sapphire and the Second Star of Africa Diamond (see The Great Gems of State below). The Imperial State Crown is considered the 602

  first symbol of the state, and as such an image of it is often included on official documents and on government buildings. During the State Opening of Parliament, it is taken to the Palace of Westminster in its own carriage and given its own procession into the building. Because of its symbolism and the historical gems it features this crown is often considered the most important of the Crown Jewels.

  The Sovereign’s Sceptres

  Ever since the Middle Ages monarchs in England have been crowned with two sceptres. The largest sceptre, the

  Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, symbolizes kingly power and justice, and is placed in the monarch’s right hand during the coronation ceremony. The current sceptre was made in 1661 for the coronation of Charles II. It is 92cms long, made of gold, and contains diamonds, rubies,

  sapphires and emeralds. In 1910, in preparation for the coronation of George V, the top of the sceptre was set with the 530.2-carat First Star of Africa, the largest colourless cut diamond in the world, cut from the famous Cullinan diamond found in 1905 in South Africa (see The Great Gems of
State below). The Sovereign’s Sceptre

  with Dove, also known as the Rod of Equity and Mercy, symbolizes the monarch’s spiritual authority and duties to the people, and is placed in the monarch’s left hand at the coronation ceremony. It is also made of gold, with groupings of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies, 603

  but is longer at 110cms, and carries an enamelled dove with outstretched wings at the top of the staff. This sceptre remains virtually the same since it was first made for Charles II in 1661.

  The Orb

  The orb surmounted by a cross symbolizes Christ’s

  dominion over the world and is therefore meant to

  remind the sovereign who holds it that all earthly power is subject to God. Orbs were first used in the coronations of medieval monarchs, but only began to be used