Charles III will get one of the largest diamonds in the world

It adorns the royal scepter

“The queen is dead, long live the king!” The current changes at the top of the monarchical “pyramid” in the UK once again draw attention to the precious symbols of the royal power there. After all, the crowns of English monarchs are among the most unique and expensive pieces of jewelry in the world.

“In fact, there are several crowns in the royal treasury,” says artist Elena K., who has been collecting information about the most valuable works of jewelers belonging to the Windsors for many years. – At the coronation ceremony of Elizabeth II, which took place 7 decades ago, her head was crowned with a large crown of the British Empire.

After that, the most important symbol of royal power was constantly kept in the Tower. According to the protocol, the monarch puts on the crown only at the coronation and then once a year – when he delivers a speech from the throne before the members of Parliament. Before the start of the protocol action, the palace guards bring the crown there in a separate carriage.

The large crown was made especially for the coronation of Queen Victoria, the great-grandmother of Elizabeth II. It is adorned with several precious stones of unique size: Edward the Confessor sapphire, Black Prince ruby, Stuart blue sapphire, Cullinan diamond. In addition, the crown is decorated with three thousand small diamonds and ancient, very beautiful pearls.

And before Victoria, British monarchs used the more modest crown of George IV. She is in the Royal Diamond Fund in the Tower and now. This symbol of monarchical power is surmounted by a large biblical cross, in addition, it is decorated with four other crosses and four bouquets decorated with precious stones, which symbolize the four constituent parts of the British kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The crown of George IV must have been seen by millions of people in different parts of the world: after all, on English paper money – pounds sterling – Elizabeth II is depicted with this symbol of royal power on her head.

There is another crown in the Diamond Fund, but Elizabeth never used it during her entire stay on the throne. The crown is very tiny, only 10 centimeters in diameter, and has a name – Widow. The widow’s crown was worn by Queen Victoria in memory of her late wife, Prince Albert. After that, the “baby” has been lying idle in the vault for many years.

Another important symbol of the power of the British monarch is the scepter, adorned with a huge Cullinan diamond. This, in fact, is not even a “namesake”, but a “Siamese twin” of a miracle diamond from a large crown.

Both the crown and the scepter use superstones with the same name, as they are pieces of the same unique diamond. A gem weighing 3106 carats (more than 621 grams) was found in the winter of 1905 in South Africa and named after the owner of the mine. Thomas Cullinan ceded the treasure to the government of the English colony of Transvaal, and a couple of years later these gentlemen presented the gem to King Edward VII of Great Britain for his birthday. His Majesty handed over such an exclusive gift to jewelers for processing.

Alas, there were cracks inside the giant diamond, so the craftsmen had to cut it into several pieces. After their cutting, nine diamonds were obtained – very large and just large. All of them found a place in royal jewelry. “Cullinan I” weighing 530 carats (until 1992 it was considered the largest cut diamond in the world) crowns the scepter, “Cullinan II” weighing 317 carats is used to create a large crown. And their “younger brothers”, weighing from 94 to just over 4 carats, were useful for making several brooches, rings, pendants…

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