My crown is so heavy it could break my neck, says Queen
THE Queen has to avoid looking down when she is reading her speech at the State Opening of Parliament because her crown is so heavy it would break her neck, she has confided.
The crown, made for her father’s coronation, is set with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and hundreds of pearls, including four originally worn as earrings by Elizabeth I.
Her Majesty has spoken about one of her heaviest burdens of state for a BBC One show exploring the role and symbolic meaning of the Crown Jewels to mark the 65th anniversary of her coronation.
In a conversation recorded with royal commentator Alastair Bruce, the 91-year-old monarch recalled her memories of the 1953 ceremony and also of watching her father George VI’s coronation in 1937.
Examining the Imperial State Crown, which is used at the end of the coronation ceremony and for the State Opening of Parliament, the Queen gave new meaning to the phrase used by William Shakespeare in Henry IV Part II: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
When Mr Bruce suggested that she had to keep her head very still to wear the 2.2lbs headdress, the Queen said: “Yes. And you can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up.
Humour
“Because if you did your neck would break, it would fall off.
“So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things.”
The crown also features a gem known as the Black Prince’s Ruby which is believed to have been worn by Henry V in his helmet at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
Although much lighter than the 4.9lbs gold St Edward’s Crown, used for the moment of crowning, it is still rather difficult to wear, despite being shortened by an inch for her coronation.
“Fortunately, my father and I have about the same sort of shaped head. But once you put it on, it stays. I mean, it just remains on,” she said.
In the hour-long programme, part of a season of BBC documentaries about treasures in the royal collection, the Queen is seen viewing both private and official film footage of her ceremony.
She described how in her long, heavy embroidered gown she got stuck in the carpet at Westminster Abbey and was unable to move.
“Well, I remember one moment when I was going against the pile of the carpet and I couldn’t move at all,” she said. “Really?” Mr Bruce replied. “Yes, they hadn’t thought of that,” the Queen said.
Displaying a dry sense of humour, she also appeared to take a dim view of famous footage of her then small children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
The siblings were captured playing under her gown’s 21ft train when the royal party returned to Buckingham Palace after the ceremony.
“Such fun for the children,” Mr Bruce said. “Not what they’re meant to do,” the Queen replied.
Mr Bruce was told not to ask questions but to introduce conversational topics, to maintain the illusion that the Queen, whose thoughts on her life have been recorded at various stages of her reign, has never given a media interview. The Queen could be seen prodding the crown and tapping the pearl earrings worn by Elizabeth I.
“They don’t look very happy now,” she said. “Most pearls like to be sort of living creatures, so they’ve just been out, hanging out here for years. It’s rather sad.”
The Coronation airs on BBC One at 8pm on Sunday.