The history behind Queen Elizabeth’s dazzling jewellery: the late British monarch shone in the Imperial State Crown, Sovereign’s Sceptre, Fringe Tiara and Cullinan V Brooch – but who owns them now?

Nov 3 , 2022

One of the replica sets of the British Crown Jewels made for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953, on display at Sotheby’s London in January 2018, ahead of being auctioned off. Photo: Getty Images

At Elizabeth’s funeral, the Imperial State Crown, Sovereign’s Sceptre and Sovereign’s Orb were placed on her majesty’s coffin, as icons of the British monarchy

The late queen wore a brooch for many occasions, such as the Williamson brooch for the weddings of King Charles and Princess Diana, Lord Linley and Prince Edward

It was a poignant image that will stick with many of us – the coffin of Queen Elizabeth, draped in the royal standard as she lay in state at Westminster Hall until the morning of her funeral on September 19. Placed atop her coffin were the three most important symbols of the British monarchy: the Imperial State Crown, Sovereign’s Sceptre and Sovereign’s Orb.

Massive and unwieldy, they embody the great weight of the office they denote, but the woman who carried them – mostly only figuratively – was noted for her personal touch with precious jewellery of a finer scale too. For the seven decades of her reign, Queen Elizabeth showed judgment and finesse through these subtler projections of power.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in a special Silver Jubilee picture taken in 1977, wearing the Imperial State Crown, the Robe of State, the Jubilee Necklace and the Collar of the Order of the Garter. Photo: AFP

Together, the orb and sceptre, presented to the late queen at her coronation ceremony in 1953, represent the crown’s centuries-old claim to governance. There she was formally crowned, as tradition dictates, with St Edward’s Crown, before leaving Westminster Abbey at the end of her coronation wearing the Imperial State Crown.

“She was crowned with the immensely important – and heavy – St Edward’s Crown, the crown uniquely reserved for the moment of the coronation itself. This crown was replaced with the much lighter Imperial State Crown – which she also wore to the openings of parliament, and was also the main crown placed on her casket,” says Helen Molesworth, Dr Genevieve Davies senior curator – jewellery at Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), London.

What these hugely powerful pieces have in common is that they are all mounted with a marvellous collection of precious stones, many of them historic.

The Imperial State Crown is seen on the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on the day of her state funeral and burial, in London, Britain, on September 19. Photo: Reuters

At the front of the Imperial State Crown is the 317-carat cushion-shaped brilliant Cullinan II, the second-largest stone cut from the largest diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond (also known as the Second Star of Africa). At the back of the band is the large oval sapphire known as the Stuart Sapphire. The front cross is mounted with the Black Prince’s Ruby – not a ruby at all, but a huge 170-carat red spinel.

“It has a drill hole in the centre which apparently the queen was amused to learn would be used to have a feather put through it by earlier monarchs,” says Molesworth.

She also notes that these feature stones came from across the world: “The sapphire would have come from Sri Lanka, the spinel from Tajikistan and the diamond from South Africa,” she says.