The Coronation Chair

In 1296, Edward I had a valuable spoil of war from his conquest of Scotland and he needed a secure but visible place to keep it.  His forces had captured the Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny, the ancient coronation stone of Scottish kings, and brought the stone to England.  For Edward, who hoped to see a united Britain under his rule, this was a rare propaganda opportunity and he had just the plan.  He commissioned a coronation chair for future English kings that would contain the stone.

The chair one sees today in Westminster Abbey is old and battered, only some gilding showing signs of its former glory.  However, in Edward's time, the wooden arm chair carved by one Walter of Durham was much more ornate.  The chair was originally gilded with gold leaf, and inset with glass mosaics as well as painted.  The outlines of foliage, birds and animals can be seen etched into the back and sides of the chair.  An image of a King, either Edward I or St. Edward the Confessor, is also outlined on the back.  Originally, the chair itself rested directly on the floor, but in the 16th century, carved lions were added to serve as feet.  The original lions were replaced and regilded in 1727.  One of the lions was replaced again in 1821 in preparation for George IV's coronation.  Further, the original design of the chair called for the monarch to sit directly on the exposed stone encased in the base of the chair.  A wooden seat was added in the 16th century.  Every English monarch, beginning with Edward II in 1307, would be crowned while sitting in this chair.  Only Mary II, ironically herself of Scottish descent as a Stuart, would have to use a replica chair to sit beside her husband, William III, also part-Stuart, to be crowned in 1689.

A chair so steeped in history and dedicated to England's patron saint should be off-limits to anyone else.  However, in the 18th century, when tourism in England was becoming more of a thing, anyone could sit in the chair by paying one of the Abbey vergers a small fee.  Tourists and choirboys carved their names and doodles on the chair, and some tourists whittled pieces of it to take home.  In June, 1914, Suffragists were able to pull off a bomb attack in the Abbey itself.  The explosion shook the Abbey walls and was heard as far away as Parliament.  It damaged a corner of the chair, but no one else was hurt.  The Chair was restored.  In one final indignity, on Christmas Day, 1950, Scottish Nationalists broke into the Abbey and stole the Stone of Scone.  It was later returned in time for Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.  The stone itself was returned to Scotland in 1996, but with the proviso that it would be returned to the chair for future coronations.

The sovereign uses a series of thrones during the coronation, beginning with Chairs of Estate during the pre-crowning stage, then another throne in the transept of the Abbey for the homage of the royal family and peers of the realm.  These chairs are often made new for each coronation and later dispersed to various royal palaces.  St. Edward's Chair returns to its place in St. George's Chapel, which it has only left twice.  Once in 1653, when Oliver Cromwell was inducted as Lord Protector of England, and again during World War II, when the chair was kept at Gloucester Cathedral throughout the war.