In the movies and popular culture, we see kings wearing crowns. What is the origin of the classic crown? (the tube with pointy bits worn as a “king hat”).
Where and when did that classic symbol originate, and why the pointy bits?
Regards
FML
Wiki seems to have a reasonably good article about the topic. The part that jumps out at me re your question is:
Which tells me that points on an archetype crown is meant to mimic sun beams, which seems appropriate.
thanks… the wiki link pretty much covered it, but if any other dopers want to contribute any ideas or theories, they are welcome…
regards
FML
Then again, a lot of books and historical accounts were re-written in the 40s by the Royal Crown pomade company.
Just sayin’
Ok, just some general crown questions here…
I’m curious if anyone knows what prompts the Queen of England to wear this crown vs. this one vs. this one
Does she get to choose? Does she open a drawer full of crowns and pick? Or more likely, is there protocol for which crown goes with which event? If so, who wrote that protocol?
Would anyone notice if she wore the wrong crown to a ceremony? Would anyone care?
I must say the last one looks quite heavy and uncomfortable. I’d definitely only wear it for necessary photo-ops.
The first one looks light, yet regal. Just the thing for the monarch on-the-go.
That’s the Imperial State Crown, normally only used when opening Parliament. And yes, it is very heavy.
The Imperial State Crown is similar to but actually lighter than the St. Edward’s Crown, the crown used for actual coronations. Otherwise I think Her Majesty gets to pick whichever crown she wants to use for an occasion (and, of course, she often goes crownless, either bareheaded or wearing a hat).
Personally I like the one in the middle, it looks the most distinguished and dignified to me. The first one looks like it’s trying too hard not to be a cliche and the third one looks like Her Majesty is trying to sell butter.
If I were king I’d totally wear the big crown all the time, even when playing golf and taking a bath.
The answer to the OP is rather more complicated than you might think, certainly more so than Wikipedia implies.
Part of the problem is that wearing impressive headgear to show how important you are is such an obvious idea. There are therefore lots of examples from antiquity that might have influenced the development of royal crowns. Knowing which of them actually did do so is the tricky part. Also, some early medieval kings were probably copying the crowns of other monarchs without knowing what the crowns they were trying to copy actually looked like. What they were copying was the idea of a crown. Plus there is the problem that most early crowns do not survive and there is often no record of what they looked like. That severely limits the possibilities for stylistic comparison. So all that can really be said is that the practice was probably most inspired by the diadems of the later Roman emperors, particularly the Byzantine ones, and that their use by the Carolingians was what did most to spread the practice in western Europe.
But there is no mystery about the ‘pointy bits’. If you are wearing a circlet round your head to show off, embellishing it with pointy bits is a natural enough option. The arches came later as a further embellishment.
The last one is the Imperial State Crown which is used on only three types of occasions - at the coronation, when it is worn during the final stages of the ceremony and for the journey back to Buckingham Palace etc., at the State Opening of Parliament and at the monarch’s funeral, when it is placed on the coffin.
The other two aren’t crowns at all but tiaras. The big difference is that a tiara can be worn by any woman of whatever rank; there is nothing about their design that is specifically royal. It is just that the Queen has some particularly impressive ones and that she tends to attend the type of event at which they can be worn, i.e. usually ones in which the men are in white-ties.
That’s the Grand Duchess Vladimir tiara (Grand Duchess Vladimir having been Tsar Nicholas II’s aunt). The one in the first picture is the Girls of England tiara, best known as the one the Queen wears on the current design of Bank of England banknotes.
The first one isn’t a crown-it’s a tiara, part of the personal collection of the Royal family. I believe it belonged to her grandmother, Queen Mary. The second one was part of the collection belonging to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, whose jewels Queen Mary bought when the former died. The pearl drops can actually be taken out-and the tiara can be worn without them, or with emerald drops, also inherited from Queen Mary. (I love reading about Royal bling!)
Pearl Drops?!?!?!?!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
The one not pictured which is important is St. Edward’s Crown (the St. Edward being referred to is Edward the Confessor, King of England from 103x to 1066). It’s the Crown, the one in which the sovereignty of England* inheres/is symbolized by/pick your metaphor. As Elendil’s Heir notes, it’s the crown with which she (and most of her predecessors) was crowned, the one thzt will be used for Charles and/or William on her demise. It’s the physical symbol of the concept “the Crown” by which the U.K. is formally governed (much as that piece of parchment on display at the National Archives is the physical representation of the concept “the Constitution” by which the U.S.A. is governed).
Elizabeth wears a crown proper (arches, ermine-cap liner, etc.) only when acting formally as Head of State, a coronet on other formal occasions, and normally a hat (or occasionally bare-headed) when appeariong in public most of the rest of the time.
- Yes, I said “England” because that’s the historical significance of St Edward’s Crown. I’m not clear on its philosophical symbolism vis-a-vis the sovereignty of Scotland, (Northern) Ireland, Wales, or Man, the Channel Islands, etc., much less Canada, Australia, and her other realms.
I wanted to pop in with a note that I remember from seeing a Crown Jewels exhibition a few years back: the impressive Imperial Estate Crown, you will note, has four half-arches (a “half-arch” being the band that goes from the outer rim of the crown over the top of the head to the center). Ordinarily, in Europe at least, a crown worn by a king or queen has four of those half-arches, while a crown worn by a prince or princess has only two (see the Prince of Wales crown). A crown worn by an emperor may have eight (see the Crown of Louis XV and the Imperial Crown of India).
Anyway, I thought that was kinda interesting, which is why I remembered it lo these many years.
It’s important to note, though, that the Crown of St. Edward is a recreation dating to 1661. The original Crown Jewels were melted down during the Commonwealth.
And, btw, the crown representing the sovereignty of Scotland is the “Crown of Scotland” It’s not used much, but was carried in procession when the Scottish Parliament opened, and it’s symbol is used on a bunch of Scottish millitary regiments and government offices.
the queen is rarely bareheaded. in public she will either be in a (daytime) hat or scarf; or (night) tiara. in private (her own properties, castle, grounds, or stables, etc) she will hand her hat off to appropiate people or whip off the scarf and put it into her pocket. the tiara will be carefully removed as there is quite a bit holding it on.
her hats and scarf are crown standins, and much more practical for day to day living. her mum was very, very, rarely seen without a hat, as there are less “home movie” kind of things with her.
The popes used to wear triple-tiered crowns to show their superiority to all earthly potentates. They don’t anymore, though.
Anyone else initially read this as “the queen is rarely beheaded”?
Not since 1554, in England at least.