St Edward's Crown

St Edward's Crown
St Edward's Crown before 1911
Details
Country	United Kingdom
Made	1661 (current version)
Owner	Queen Elizabeth II in right of the Crown.
Weight	2.23 kg (4.9 lb)
Arches	2
Material	Gold

St Edward's Crown is one of the oldest Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and the centrepiece of the coronation regalia. Named after Edward the Confessor, it has traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronation ceremonies. The current version was made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661.

Edward the Confessor wore the original crown at Easter, Whitsun and Christmas. It may have incorporated elements of a crown that belonged to Alfred the Great. In 1066, St Edward's Crown was reputedly used at the coronation of William the Conqueror. It was subsequently used for the coronations of William II (1087), Henry I (1100), Stephen (1135), Henry II (1154), Richard I (1189 and 1194) and King John (1199).

At the first coronation of Henry III in 1216, a chaplet was used instead of the crown. From this it was inferred by the German historian, Reinhold Pauli, that the original St Edward's Crown had been among the jewels lost by King John. However, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley maintained that the original crown and regalia were kept in the Treasury until the time of Henry VIII, and survived until 1642. It was supposedly used in 1533 to crown the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn – unprecedented for a queen consort.