The Crown Jewels are around 140 objects held at the Tower of London, and the crucial thing to understand is that they are not a museum collection. They are working equipment, taken out and used, most recently at the coronation of Charles III in May 2023.
The main pieces
- St Edward’s Crown — solid gold, 2.23kg, used for the single moment of crowning itself. It is so heavy it is worn only briefly.
- The Imperial State Crown — worn leaving the abbey and at the State Opening of Parliament. It carries 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies.
- The Sovereign’s Sceptre — holding Cullinan I, at 530 carats the largest clear cut diamond on earth.
- The Sovereign’s Orb — a gold globe with a cross, representing Christian authority over the world.
- The Coronation Spoon — the oldest item, from the 12th century, and the only major piece to survive Cromwell.
Why almost everything is post-1660
Because Oliver Cromwell destroyed the originals. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, Parliament ordered the regalia broken up, the gold melted for coin and the stones sold, specifically to erase the symbols of monarchy. When Charles II was restored in 1660 the whole set had to be made again from scratch — which is why the coronation spoon, overlooked in the purge, is the one genuinely medieval survivor.
The contested stones
Two items carry live diplomatic weight. The Koh-i-Noor diamond, in the Queen Mother’s crown, was taken from a ten-year-old Sikh maharaja in 1849 after the annexation of the Punjab; India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed it. The Cullinan diamonds came from South Africa in 1905, and calls for their return are growing.
Camilla was crowned in 2023 with a recycled crown that pointedly omitted the Koh-i-Noor — a quiet diplomatic decision that was noticed everywhere.
Seeing them
They are displayed in the Jewel House behind armoured glass, and a moving walkway carries you past the main cases, because if it did not nobody would ever move along. You can ride it as many times as you like. Go early or late; the queue in the middle of the day is substantial.