royaltour1954

In 1954, the royals visited 57 towns and cities during the 58 days they spent in Australia. They traversed the country by plane, train, ship, and car from Cairns in the north, Broken Hill in the west to Hobart in the south. Their children, Prince Charles (aged five years) and Princess Anne (aged three years) did not accompany them on the exhausting trip. Source: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/1954-royal-tour-queen-elizabeth-ii

By tradition, the British monarch is crowned using St. Edward’s Crown, the oldest and heaviest crown in Britain that is still being used today. Like most of the crown jewels, the crown dates to the restoration period. It was made in 1661, based on the design of a medieval crown that bore the same name. That original crown was sold during the interregnum, following the execution of King Charles I, and the new one was made following the restoration of King Charles II. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, placed St. Edward’s Crown on Elizabeth’s head during one of the most memorable moments of the coronation ceremony. The crowd shouted “God Save the Queen!” three times as the crown touched the monarch’s head. This was the one and only time that the Queen wore this particular crown. It is only used for coronations, and it is kept at all other times in the Tower of London. At the end of the coronation ceremony, the heavy St. Edward’s Crown is swapped out for the lighter Imperial State Crown. The Queen wore the latter as she departed from the Abbey, and for the official photographs and balcony appearances that followed. The Imperial State Crown was made in 1838 for the coronation of Queen Victoria, based on the design of earlier crowns. While St. Edward’s Crown is the coronation crown, the Imperial State Crown is the “working” crown—the one, for example, worn by the Queen at almost every State Opening of Parliament during her reign. (There were two exceptions to this rule: two monarchs, Victoria and Edward VII, were actually crowned with the Imperial State Crown during their coronation ceremonies. Source: www.thecourtjeweller.com/2022/09/the-queen-a-life-in-jewe...

St Edward's Crown is widely used as a heraldic emblem of the United Kingdom, being incorporated into a multitude of emblems and insignia. As the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a responsible government, the crown can also symbolise "the sovereignty (or authority) of the monarch." It can be found on, amongst others, the Royal Cypher; the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom; the Royal Badges of England; and the badges of the police forces of England and Wales, NHS ambulance services, Her Majesty's Coastguard, the British Army, the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force, and HM Revenue and Customs. It also forms the logo of Royal Mail, the United Kingdom's postal service.[9] (In Scotland, the Crown of Scotland may appear in place of St Edward's Crown). Edward VII intended to revive the tradition of being crowned with St. Edward's Crown in 1902, but on coronation day he was still recovering from an operation for appendicitis, and instead he wore the lighter Imperial State Crown.[27] Jewels were hired for use in the crown and removed after the coronation until 1911, when it was permanently set with 444 precious and semi-precious stones. Imitation pearls on the arches and base were replaced with gold beads which at the time were platinum-plated.[6] Its band was also made smaller to fit George V, the first monarch to be crowned with St Edward's Crown in over 200 years, reducing the crown's overall weight from 82 troy ounces (2.6 kg) to 71 troy ounces (2.2 kg).[27] It was used to crown his successor George VI in 1937, and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, who adopted a stylised image of the crown for use on coats of arms, badges, logos, and various other insignia in the Commonwealth realms to symbolise her royal authority. In these contexts, it replaced the Tudor Crown, which had been instated by Edward VII in 1901. The use of the crown's image in this way is by permission of the monarch. On 4 June 2013, St Edward's Crown was displayed on the high altar in Westminster Abbey at a service to mark the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II's coronation, which was the first time it had left the Jewel House at the Tower of London since 1953. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Edward%27s_Crown