King Edward's Chair

The Stone of Scone in the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey, 1855.

King Edward's Chair, sometimes known as St Edward's Chair or The Coronation Chair, is the throne on which the British monarch sits for the coronation. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to contain the coronation stone of Scotland — known as the Stone of Scone — which he had captured from the Scots who had kept it at Scone Abbey. The chair was named after Edward the Confessor, and was kept in his shrine of St Edward's Chapel at Westminster Abbey.

History

Since 1308, all anointed sovereigns of England (until 1603) and Great Britain (after the Union of the Crowns) have been seated in this chair at the moment of their coronation, with the exception of Queen Mary I (who was crowned in a chair given to her by the Pope) and Mary II (who was crowned on a copy of the chair).^[1] The last occasion was the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

King Edward's Chair, as it stands now in Westminster Abbey, without the Stone of Scone.

The high backed gothic style arm chair was carved in 1297 from oak by a carpenter known as Master Walter, who was paid the considerable sum of 100 shillings for his work. Four gilded lions act as legs to the chair; these are a comparatively modern restoration executed in 1727. They replaced similar lions which were added in the 16th century. Under the seat of the chair is a platform and cavity which until 1996 contained the Stone of Scone; this has now been returned to Scotland with the provision that it be returned to the chair on the occasion of the next coronation.

The chair may once have been richly painted and gilded — it is thought it once had an image of Edward the Confessor painted on its back. Today, however, its appearance is of aged and bare wood, and during its history many early tourists, pilgrims, and choir boys in the Abbey appear to have carved their initials and other graffiti onto the chair in the 18th and 19th centuries. The carved finials at the back of the chair have also been partially sawn away. In addition the chair was damaged in 1914 when it was the object of a bomb attack, thought to have been instigated by the suffragettes.

Over the eight centuries of its existence it has been only thrice removed from Westminster Abbey. The first time was for the ceremony in Westminster Hall when Oliver Cromwell was inducted as Lord Protector of England, and the second during World War II when it was evacuated to Gloucester Cathedral for the duration of the war. The third was on Christmas Day 1950, when a group of four Scottish students (Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson, and Alan Stuart) took the Stone from Westminster Abbey for return to Scotland.

Today it is highly protected, and leaves its secure resting place (in the ambulatory on a raised modern pedestal near the tomb of Henry V) only when it is carried into the theatre of coronation near the High Altar of the Abbey for the rare occurrence of a coronation.

See also

• Westminster Stone theory

References

1. ^ Illustrated History Of Furniture, by Frederick Litchfield