Imperial Crown of India

Origin

Tradition prohibits the Crown Jewels from leaving the United Kingdom, a product of the days when kings and queens often pawned the jewels to foreign brokers. There are also considerable risks involved in transporting the historic regalia by sea and land over such a great distance.

The Crown Jewellers at the time, Garrard & Co, made the crown at a cost of £60,000 (), which was borne by the India Office.

Description

The Imperial Crown of India weighs 920 g and is set with 6,170 diamonds, 9 emeralds, 4 rubies, and 4 sapphires. At the front is a very fine emerald weighing 32 carat. The King wrote in his diary that it was heavy and uncomfortable to wear: "Rather tired after wearing my crown for hours; it hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy."

Similar to other British crowns, it consists of a circlet with four crosses pattée and four fleurs-de-lis. However, the eight half-arches on top, which join at a typical monde and cross pattée, point upwards in the form of a Gothic ogee arch. The Crown of India is the only crown of a British sovereign to have eight half-arches, in the style of continental European crowns, departing from the tradition of British crowns having two arches or four half-arches.

Use

George and Mary were not crowned as emperor and empress at the ceremony; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, did not think it appropriate for a Christian service to take place in a country where the people were mostly Hindu or Muslim. Instead, the king simply wore the crown as he entered the durbar, and the durbar was styled as an affirmation of the king's coronation, which had already taken place in the United Kingdom six months earlier.

It has not been used since George V returned from India. On 15 August 1947, British rule over India ended and the Dominions of India and Pakistan came into being. George VI and his British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, agreed that

The Imperial Crown of India is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.

References

References

1. (1994). "The Crown Jewels".
2. "The Imperial Crown of India".
3. Twining, Edward Francis. (1960). "A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe". B.T. Batsford.
4. Brooman, Josh. (1989). "The World Since 1900". Longman.
5. Younghusband, George. (1919). "The Crown Jewels of England". Cassell & Co..
6. {{harvp. Twining. 1960
7. "The Crown Jewels".