Stories About Famous Precious StonesOrpen, Adela E. (Adela Elizabeth Richards)
History
Stories About Famous Precious Stones
Orpen, Adela E. (Adela Elizabeth Richards)
Gems
The last coronation although it occurred half a century ago is familiar
to us owing to the revivifying process of the Queen's Jubilee. The
crown, which was also made by Messrs. Rundell & Bridge, is less heavy
than that of George IV. by three pounds and more. We will not enumerate
its thousands of diamonds, its hundreds of pearls, and its scores of
rubies and sapphires. The ornaments consist of fleur-de-lys and Maltese
crosses done in diamonds. In the center of the lower band of the crown
is placed the large sapphire already mentioned and just above it, in the
middle of a superb cross composed of seventy-five diamonds, gleams the
famous Ruby. It stands out in bold relief and the red flash of its rays
gives the needful touch of color to the sparkling mass of diamonds. The
French say that the crown is heavy and without elegance, being in short
altogether in the English taste. The criticism may be just, for it is
difficult to see how $5,638,000 worth of precious stones, exclusive of
the Ruby, could be packed on to the gear for the small head of a small
woman with any great attempt at elegance.
The Queen was crowned on June 25, 1838, and Dean Stanley tells of a
sudden ray of sunlight which streamed down upon the youthful sovereign
as she sat in the Coronation Chair with the crown upon her head,
producing an effect which was beautiful in the extreme. A Queen has
always been popular with the English, and we can well imagine the
enthusiasm which Victoria's girlish gracefulness must have aroused in
people who contrasted her with the heavy uninteresting kings who had
preceded her. This was the last great occasion upon which the Black
Prince's Ruby appeared before the nation whose sovereigns it had so long
adorned; and viewing the beneficent reign of the gracious lady whose
coronation it then attended we can only say we hope it may long continue
its uneventful existence at the top of the glittering pile in the
Wakefield Tower.
In October, 1841, the crown, and all that therein is, had a narrow
escape of perishing unromantically by fire. The Tower being then used as
a military storehouse the fire rapidly spread, and it was thought
advisable to remove the crown. The keys of the strong case where the
regalia is kept are in the hands of three different officials, all at a
distance. There was no time to be lost, as the place was getting very
hot, so police inspector Pierse with a crowbar burst through the iron
bars, forced himself in and handed out the precious articles whose value
is estimated at five millions of dollars. Soldiers and policemen ran
with the coronation baubles to a place of safety, and everything was
eventually saved, though not before Inspector Pierse had been well-nigh
roasted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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