The Crown of St. Edward

At the moment King Charles III is crowned on May 6, the Archbishop of Canterbury will place The Crown of St. Edward on his head. The Monarch wears this Crown only once, only for this short time.

Here is my Crown of St. Edward, the Stitched Edition.

The Crown of St. Edward  Description of Kit

My Crown of St. Edward is a bit larger than my others, on a piece of white congress cloth 9" wide x 10" tall.

The kit is comprised of 4 colors of Soie d'Alger, 2 colors of Burmilana, 2 spools of Kreinik braid plus short lengths for sewing jewels into place, and the following beads:

Three large sew-on glass jewels, 103 gold balls, 5 crystals and from my vintage collection, 32 glass jewels set in metal, in addition at least 130 seed beads total in two sizes.

My Crown of St. Edward is the most jewel encrusted of the crowns I've stitched.

The instructions are 18 pages long  plus four detailed Oversize Graphs, a title page and a color copy of my finished Crown.

Lucky me, I found an old postcard from the Coronation of EIIR. Here is the Crown of St. Edward in 1953, 70 years ago.

THE CROWN OF ST. EDWARD and MY CROWN OF ST. EDWARD

The Crown of St. Edward is named for St. Edward the Confessor (c1003-1066) and versions of the crown have been used at Coronations since the 13th cenury. The original crown did not survive the English Civil War (1649) when Charles 1 was beheaded.  The present crown was made for Charles II in 1661 and now it is time for Charles III.

The present Crown of St. Edward is gold, 12" high, 4.9 lbs and is decorated with 444 precious and semi-precious stones.

By comparison, my Crown is silk, almost 5" tall and decorated with 128 glass and metal jewels plus 130 seed beads in two sizes.

Catherine the Great was the first to wear this crown at her coronation in 1762.

Some fun facts about the crown: almost 5000 diamonds, plus 74 pearls and the ruby (really a spinel) at the top is a famous one almost 400 carats.

The crown still exists and is in the Kremlin.

I made my crown into a ornament and for years it has hung on a knob in DH's study.

Crown #1

Catherine the Great's Coronation Crown

Crown #2

In The Coronation Portrait of Elizabeth 1

This is my needlepoint version of the crown in the coronation portrait of Elizabeth 1. It may have belonged to her mother, Anne Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn was the only Queen Consot to have been crowned with the Crown of St. Edward, the traditional crown worn by English monarchs at the moment they are crowned. Because of the weight of the Crown of St. Edward, Henry VIII had a lighter crown mad for Anne Boleyn to wear during her coronation celebrations and this may have been that crown.

The crown did not survive the English Civil Wars when it was melted down and the jewels sold.

Crown #3

Eleanor of Aquitaine

A Portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine does not exist, so my stitched portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine was just my own fantasy. The same is true of Eleanor's Crown: no pianting of her Crown either, so I made it up too.  All fantasy but often fantasy is the most rewarding.

It is not very different from my task now: I am working on Snow Maiden and there is no Snow Maiden either. Again I can do whatever pleases me.  It is a nice way to work.

The Imperial State Crown has gone through many iterations, and this one was made for Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1837.

Crown #4

Queen Victoria, the Imperial State Crown

Same Imperial State Crown as Queen Victoria's?  Yes, the same crown but re done to suit EIIR: it was made slightly shorter and slightly smaller.

Notice on Queen Victoria's Crown the great sapphire of St. Edward on the front? When the Cullinan diamond was discovered and cut and given to the Royal Family, the first biggest part is in the scepter, the second in the front of the Imperial State Crown.  I found a big glass jewel for my Crown.

My Previous five Crowns

Crown #5

Elizabeth II  Imperial State Crown

Not Currently for sale.