State Crown of Charles II

The State Crown of Charles II was a state crown created for the coronation of Charles II of England in 1661. It was created to replace the Tudor Crown destroyed in the English Civil War. It was the subject of an attempted theft by Thomas Blood in 1671, and was broken up under the reign of Queen Anne.
==History==
Following the abolition of the monarchy and the execution of Charles I in 1649, both the state crown of England (now known as the Tudor Crown) and St Edward's Crown were broken up and their valuable components sold. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II ordered the creation of two new imperial crowns by Sir Robert Vyner to replace those lost.
On 13 May 1671, Colonel Thomas Blood made an unsuccessful attempt to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London, flattening the state crown with a mallet in the process.
A slight alteration to the crown was made for the coronation of James II in 1685, and some further alterations were made for William III. It was later judged too heavy and broken up under the reign of Queen Anne who wore the State Crown of Mary of Modena. Succeeding Hanoverian kings would wear the State Crown of George I.
==Description==
Sir Edward Walker, who was Garter King of Arms under Charles II, provided a sketch of the crown in his account of the 1661 coronation, though it was not published until 1820. Cyril Davenport's The English Regalia, published in 1897, criticised Walker's illustration as 'of such an elementary character that little reliance can be placed on it'.
The Lord Chamberlain's books record that the crown was 'refreshed and repaired' by Sir Robert Vyner for the coronation of James II, but otherwise little changed. Francis Sandford wrote The History of the Coronation of James II in 1687 which included a detailed drawing and description of the state crown under James II. The crown was decorated with diamonds and other jewels, including an emerald with a circumference of seven inches, a large pearl, and a ruby set in one of the four crosses, the latter valued at £10,000 at the time. The aquamarine monde, added by James II, survives in the emptied frame of George I's state crown and is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
A new cross was made for the coronation of William III, and the shape of the frame was altered from circular to oval.
==Gallery==
File:Charles II of England in Coronation robes.jpg|Charles II in coronation robes and wearing the state crown, circa 1661–1662
File:Portrait of H.M. King Charles II of England (2).png|Charles II wearing the state crown, 1665
File:Regalia of Charles II.jpg|Regalia of Charles II, circa 1670–1679
File:Charles II as President of the Royal Society.jpg|Charles II with the state crown
File:Charles II (1675).jpg|Charles II with the state crown, circa 1675
File:Charles II (Genarri).jpg|Charles II with the state crown, 1678
File:Godfrey Kneller - King Charles II - Google Art Project.jpg|Charles II with the state crown, minus velvet cap, 1685
File:King James II by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg|James II with the state crown, 1684
File:Crown of Charles II as set for James II in 1685.png|The crown as set for James II in 1685, from Francis Sandford's The History of the Coronation of James II…
File:William and Mary cropped.jpg|William III in the state crown
File:William III and Mary II.jpg|Depiction of William III in the state crown, with Mary in the consort's crown
File:WilliamIII.jpg|William III with the state crown, circa 1690
==See also==
* St Edward's Crown
* Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
Charles II
Category:Charles II of England
Category:James II of England
Category:1661 works