The Stone of Destiny, the ruby ​​of the Black Prince, the sacred oil of Jerusalem, some of the mystical ingredients of the coronation of Charles III

On May 6, in a thousand-year-old ceremony, the last coronation rite of the Western world will take place in London. Charles III will sit on the Stone of Destiny, on a 720-year-old chair named after a holy English king, and will be crowned with the same crown that crowned the last reigning Stuart monarch. As the choir sings the words of the Bible, “Sadoch the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed King Solomon and all the people rejoiced”, he will be anointed with oil from the Mount of Olives which has been blessed by the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There will then be a loud cry of “Vive le Roi”.

St Edward’s chair

The most sacred part of the proceedings is not the coronation, but the anointing (which will not be filmed, out of respect). The King sits in an old battered seat called St Edward’s Chair, named after Edward the Confessor and made for King Edward I in 1300-01 to hold the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, on which the kings of Scotland were crowned from time immemorial until the last king was defeated by Edward I in 1296. This chair was once gilded and painted, but although it has been used at every coronation since then it has was surprisingly left unprotected at one point as it is carved with graffiti, including the information that a certain P. Abbott is said to have slept there on 15/16 July 1800. The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in 1996 by then Prime Minister John Major, but was dismissed for the ceremony.

The golden eagle

The king will be anointed on his chest, head and hands with the oil contained in the ampulla, a golden eagle made for the coronation of Charles II on April 23, 1661, the previous vessel having been melted down in 1649 by the Commonwealth after the execution of Charles I. It is an eagle to evoke the shape of the first container of holy oil, supposedly given to St Thomas at Becket by the Virgin Mary almost 900 years ago.

The golden spoon

The golden spoon, or coronation spoon, into which the oil is poured is the oldest object used in the ceremony, dating from the 12th century. It was saved from destruction in 1649 by a loyal official who gave it to King Charles II when the monarchy was restored eleven years later.

The golden mantle

Once the king is anointed, he will be clothed in priestly vestments: a white robe, a gold cloth tunic, a stole, and a cope-like coronation mantle, known as the imperial mantle, designed for coronation incredibly sumptuous of George IV. in 1821 – of gold and silver threads and silk, embroidered with the national flowers of the United Kingdom.

Crown of Saint Edward

Dressed as a priest-king, Charles III would then be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury with St Edward’s Crown, made for Charles II, but with many later alterations. Thereafter, however, the King will don the Imperial Crown of State (the word imperial not referring to the colonial empire but to the autonomy of the English monarchy), which has been recreated six times since its first appearance in the Sixteenth century.

The Imperial Crown Jewels

The Imperial State Crown contains two jewels with extraordinary histories. The huge red stone in front, known as the Black Prince’s ruby ​​(actually a spinel), belonged to Abu Said, a 14th-century Moorish prince of Granada, from whom it was taken by Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile, who gave it to the Black Prince, supposedly for the color of his armor, in thanks for his military services.

It was then worn in famous battles by two medieval kings who are thought to be known by Shakespeare: Henry V, victorious at Agincourt (“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”), and Richard III, defeated at Bosworth , crying, “One horse, one horse, my kingdom for one horse” as he fights to the death. The recut sapphire in the cross at the top is both a holy relic and a crown jewel, as it was taken 900 years ago from the tomb of the 11th-century Anglo-Saxon king and saint, Edward the Confessor.

All these, and other regalia used in the coronation, do not belong to the king, but to an abstract entity called the Crown and if ever the monarchy is abolished they will vest in the state and probably be retained as objects of museum, stuff of antiquarian and art historical interest, but no more. Today, however, they still share – just – what remains of the archetypal aura of royalty. If you missed medieval history, think the Lord of the RingsKing Aragorn, and the Jewels of Power, the Rings and the Elfstone.

These things are more than things.

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