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The British royal family's crown jewels aren't just crowns and jewels.
2017-04-25
"Crown jewels" is really just a catchall name for a suite of artifacts and regalia the royals use for coronations and other special events. The collection — now housed at the Tower of London — includes everything from gigantic diamonds to swords to an 18-inch tall, jewel-encrusted salt shaker.
For centuries, the crown jewels were kept at Westminster Abbey. But in 1649, when the English Revolution abolished the monarchy, all the items were destroyed or sold off. Some were even melted down and made into coins.
12 years later, when the monarchy was restored, a whole new set of crown jewels were made for King Charles II. Much of the collection dates back to his 1661 coronation, but plenty of other treasures have been added since then.
Here's a look at some of the most glittery, jaw-droppingly gorgeous crown jewels.
St. Edward's Crown is the one the royals use at the moment of coronation.
St. Edward's Crown.Getty/WPA Pool
This crown was made for the coronation of King Charles II in 1661.
For centuries, the crown lacked permanent jewels — the royal family simply got loaners and stuck them on to the crown's base for important occasions. It wasn't until 1911 that the crown got a permanent set of tourmalines, white and yellow topazes, rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnets, peridots, and aquamarines. It weighs five pounds.
Back then, India was still under the rule of the British Empire, and George wanted to be crowned as Emperor in front of his Indian subjects. But the law said that the existing crown jewels couldn't be removed from Britain. The solution? George commissioned a new crown studded with 6,000 diamonds.
Later, in his diary, the king wrote that he was 'Rather tired after wearing the Crown for 3 1/2 hours, it hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy...'
This crown was created specially for the Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
AP Photo/Alistair Grant
The current Queen Elizabeth's mother was also named Elizabeth — but she was best known as simply the Queen Mother.
At the very center of the Queen Mother's crown sits the controversial Koh-i-noor diamond. Some say it was stolen from India, where it was mined, and others say that India gifted it to Britain in 1849. For now, the stone remains set in the queen mother's crown.
Here's the queen mother wearing her crown in 1937.
Associated Press
Queen Victoria wore this delicate crown on top of her widow's cap.
Getty/Peter Macdiarmid
Victoria's husband Prince Albert died of typhoid fever 1861. The queen was so devastated that she wore black mourning clothes for the rest of her life.
The orb is a hollow gold sphere studded with emeralds, rubies and sapphires, surrounded by rose-cut diamonds.
AP/Brynjar Gauti
The Sovereign's Scepter with Cross is also used in coronations. That clear stone at the end is none other than the Star of Africa — the largest clear-cut diamond in the world.
Associated Press
The scepter, originally made in 1661, was redesigned to accommodate the 530-carat stone in 1910.
Caroline was a senior reporter covering health for INSIDER. She frequently wrote about birth control, fertility, sexual health, body image, nutrition, and one of the internet's most contentious trends: pimple popping. Before joining INSIDER, she was a staff writer at Prevention magazine and the assistant editor at Down East, a regional magazine covering the state of Maine. She earned a BFA in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College in Boston and currently lives in New York.
