Of Crowns and Legends

Product Information

Chhabra, G. S. (2005). Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-2: 1803-1920). Lotus Press. ISBN 978-81-89093-07-5.

Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when The Great Exhibition was staged at Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It represented the might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery. [52] Symbols of over 800 years of monarchy, [6] the coronation regalia are the only working set in Europe and the collection is the most historically complete of any regalia in the world. [7] Objects used to invest and crown British monarchs variously denote their role as head of state of the United Kingdom and other countries of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and head of the British armed forces. They feature heraldic devices and national emblems of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In 2018, at the Supreme Court of India the Archeological Survey of India clarified that the diamond was surrendered to the British and "it (the diamond) was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away". [16] [17] History Legendary originThe traditions established in the medieval period continued later. By the mid 15thcentury, a crown was formally worn on six religious feasts every year: Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Whitsun, All Saints' Day, and one or both feasts of StEdward. [50] A crown was displayed and worn at the annual State Opening of Parliament. [51] Also around this time, three swords– symbols of kingship since ancient times– were being used in the coronation ceremony to represent the king's powers in the administration of justice: the Sword of Spiritual Justice, the Sword of Temporal Justice, and the blunt Sword of Mercy. [52] ElizabethI, the last Tudor monarch, in her coronation robes However, he resigned from the team around 2012 and was eventually permanently banned from Starcraft for playing an R-rated map on stream, leading him to take up League of Legends.

Young, Paul (2007). " "Carbon, Mere Carbon": The Kohinoor, the Crystal Palace, and the Mission to Make Sense of British India". Nineteenth-Century Contexts. 29 (4): 343–358. doi: 10.1080/08905490701768089. S2CID 144262612.

After Queen Victoria's death, the Koh-i-Noor was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, that was used to crown her at their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to Queen Mary's Crown in 1911, [61] and finally to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Crown in 1937. [62] When the Queen Mother died in 2002, the crown was placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state and funeral. [63] Queen Camilla was crowned with Queen Mary's Crown at the coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023, but without the Koh-i-Noor diamond. [64] [65]

Three silver-gilt objects (comprising a total of six parts) associated with royal christenings are displayed in the Jewel House. CharlesII's 95-centimetre (3ft 1in) tall font was created in 1661 and stood on a basin to catch any spills. [92] Surmounting the font's domed lid is a figure of Philip the Evangelist baptising the Ethiopian eunuch. [209] While Charles's marriage to Catherine of Braganza produced no heir, the font may have been used to secretly baptise some of his 13 illegitimate children. [210] In 1688, James Francis Edward Stuart, son of JamesII and Mary of Modena, was the first royal baby to be christened using this object. [211] The Koh-i-Noor is a central plot point in George MacDonald Fraser's 1990 historical novel and satire, Flashman and the Mountain of Light, which refers to the diamond in its title. [84] a b "A Guide to the Tower Ravens" (PDF). Historic Royal Palaces: Tower of London . Retrieved 9 April 2017.Hennessy, Elizabeth (1992). A Domestic History of the Bank of England, 1930–1960. Cambridge University Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-521-39140-5. Koh-i-Noor: Six myths about a priceless diamond". BBC News. 9 December 2016. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017 . Retrieved 30 November 2017.