The Coronation Chair

17 coronations of king and queen consort together have taken place before Charles ii and Camilla

The Coronation Chair dates back to Edward I, who commissioned the throne to be a ‘relic case’ for the Stone of Scone (also known as the Stone of Destiny). A relic case is any piece of furniture built to house an important object and Edward I had recently captured the Stone of Scone from Scotland in 1296, where it had been used to crown its kings. An alcove just below the seat of the chair is where the stone sits. The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in 1996 and now resides at Edinburgh Castle, but it returns to London to be placed in the chair for coronations.

While Edward I commissioned the chair, it was his successor Edward II who would be the first monarch to be crowned upon it, in 1308. The Coronation Chair was decorated by Walter of Durham, the royal painter to Edward I, and although much of the decoration has faded you can still see the outlines of the golden plants and birds that adorned it. In the 16th century, additions were made to the chair such as four gilt lions. There are also some ‘improvised’ decorations, such as some graffiti scrawled on the back of the chair around the 18th or 19th century, supposedly by some schoolboys visiting Westminster Abbey. One inscription reads “P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800”.

The Coronation Chair resides in St George’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey and rarely leaves. Two notable exceptions were when it was used in the ceremony to make Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector at the Palace of Westminster in 1653 and when it was moved to Gloucester Cathedral during the Blitz in WWII to avoid damage, while the Stone of Scone was buried in the Abbey in secret.