Queen Consort Camilla will pay tribute to the Queen by resetting her chosen coronation crown with some of her late mother-in-law’s diamonds, Buckingham Palace confirmed today.
The 75-year-old royal will be by her husband’s side for the crowning, which will take place on May 6 at Westminster Abbey.
Queen Mary’s Crown – which was made by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck in 1911 – has been removed from display at the Tower of London for modification work ahead of the coronation, it was announced today.
It is the first time in recent history that a consort has not commissioned a new crown for the coronation – as Camilla follows her husband’s efforts to be more sustainable.
A statement from the palace said Camilla wanted to pay tribute to her late mother-in-law by incorporating diamonds from the Queen’s personal jewellery into the crown.
The Queen Consort, pictured last week, will wear Queen Mary’s crown at King Charles’ upcoming coronation, Buckingham Palace has confirmed
Queen Mary’s crown was made in 1911 by Garrard & Co for Mary of Teck when she was a Consort
It read: ‘The Crown will be reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds. The diamonds were part of Queen Elizabeth II’s personal jewellery collection for many years and were often worn by Her late Majesty as brooches.’
Camilla has also requested that four of the eight detachable arches are removed.
However, the statement noted how swapping crown jewels will ‘reflect the Consort’s individual style’.
The Cullinan III and IV diamonds were temporarily set into the crown for the 1911 coronation. What’s more, the Cullinan V was placed in the crown for the 1937 coronation of King George VI.
The historic ceremony will begin with Camilla’s crowning before Charles is then officially named as monarch when the St Edward’s Crown is placed on his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Following the coronation, a procession will then lead the newly-crowned King past thousands of people who will line the streets to Buckingham Palace, where he will then join members of his family on the balcony to wave at the masses.
The next day Windsor Castle is set to host a concert which will be televised around the world, with thousands of street parties earlier in the afternoon as people gather to celebrate the occasion. This will be followed by a Bank Holiday on Monday, with millions of people set to get a day off work.
Queen Mary of Teck was famous when it came to her frugality – and was even known to recycle flowers from her vases as gifts when she visited her friends.
Camilla wanted to pay tribute to her late mother-in-law by incorporating some diamonds from the Queen’s personal jewellery collection into the crown. Pictured: The Queen in June 2020
King George V and Queen Mary in their coronation robes in 1911. Camilla will wear Mary’s crown at her coronation in May
‘She never bought flowers at the florist,’ her relative, the Marchioness of Cambridge once said.
‘She would go round picking them out of vases in her rooms, so that often they were dead the day after she brought them.’
According to Queen Elizabeth’s distant cousin, Princess Olga Romanoff, Mary was famous for coveting – and then acquiring – other people’s possessions.
Princess Olga told television viewers that Mary of Teck ‘had a kind of upmarket kleptomania because she would go stay in somebody’s house and she’d be sitting on one of a dozen Sheraton chairs and she’d say ‘Oo, I do like this chair. And you’d be obliged to give her all 12.
‘People got wise to this, and they’d say, ‘Oh god, Queen Mary’s coming to stay’, so they’d put the good stuff in the attic and bring the more rotten stuff down.
Queen Mary – who was Consort to George V – pictured in 1921. She commissioned the crown in 1911
‘She was famous for it, absolutely famous for it. Outside church, she’d say ‘I do like that fur coat’ and you’d have to give it to her. Thank God our Royal Family don’t do that.’
The news of Camilla’s crown comes after Buckingham Palace announced the Queen Consort has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time.
Both King Charles and Camilla have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster shot, and Camilla contracted the virus once in February last year.
As a result, the Queen Consort has been forced to pull out of her planned engagements this week.
‘With regret, she has therefore cancelled all of her public engagements for this week and sends her sincere apologies to those who had been due to attend them,’ the statement added.
Camilla – who had a busy week planned – was due to visit Elmhurst Ballet School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, to celebrate its centenary and then a library in Telford to thank staff and representatives from voluntary groups for their contribution to the community.
The Queen Consort has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time in one year, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday
Created by Sir Jony Ive, the former chief design officer at Apple and the man behind the iPhone, it includes the flora of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Her last public appearance was on February 9, when she visited a centre for victims of domestic violence in Battersea, south London.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen Consort was suffering from a ‘seasonal illness’ but it was hoped a new date could soon be found for the events.
Earlier this month, the former chief designer of the iPhone was revealed as the brains behind King Charles’s coronation emblem – which is inspired by the monarch’s love of nature.
Created by Sir Jony Ive, the emblem includes the flora of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – the rose, the thistle, the daffodil and the shamrock.
They form the shape of St Edward’s Crown, which will be used for the crowning of King Charles on May 6 at Westminster Abbey.
The emblem has also been designed using the red, white and blue of the union jack.
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