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LONDON – There’s a piece of furniture so famous and so important to British history that it’s in its own chapel at Westminster Abbey, behind an iron gate so that onlookers can admire it but never touch it.
The item, the Coronation Chair, was commissioned by King Edward I of England to house the Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland in 1296. The chair was built in the early 1300s, and the stone sits directly under the chair.
The abbey says the chair is the oldest piece of furniture in Europe still in use for its original purpose, and 26 kings have been crowned since the coronation of Edward II in 1308. Although scholars have questioned what the original purpose of the chair was. to be used in the coronation, they agree that it has been the centerpiece of the ceremony for centuries.
Last month, the Abbey announced that the chair, which was last used at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, would undergo conservation work ahead of the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. The last chair underwent restoration from 2010 to 2012.
According to Abbey, conservation work will focus on cleaning the surface of the chair, which is made of oak and is 6 feet 9 inches tall. Sponges and cotton swabs will be used to remove dirt and stabilize the gilding layer that remains on the seat and its base, which was built in the early 18th century.
Krista Blessley, conservator of Westminster Abbey paintings, is responsible for restoring the chair, also called St. When Abbey declined to offer an interview with Ms. Blessley, saying he needed to focus on his work, last fall told Channel 5, the British broadcasting company, that the chair was “very fragile” and the gilded lining was vulnerable. flaking. The seats are also covered in graffiti from Westminster visitors and students in the 18th and 19th centuries, he said.
In an interview this spring with The Royal Family Channel, Ms. Blessley said the chair originally had gold-plated glass and a metal look. The chair is also decorated with punchwork – small dots used to create patterns and images – birds, saints, kings and foliage.
The Stone of Scone, sometimes called the Stone of Destiny, weighs 336 pounds. Over the years, this has been the subject of intense rivalry between Scotland and England. It was stolen by Scottish nationalists on Christmas Day 1950 but was recovered a few months later. The stone was returned to Edinburgh Castle in Scotland in 1996 and will be brought to London for the coronation.
“It’s not a very nice-looking thing,” David Torrance, a monarchy specialist at the House of Commons Library, said of the stone. “It is, at the end of the day, a sort of crudely cut rectangle of sandstone” that has been broken and pinned back together, he said.
Because the chair had not been used for decades, it had deteriorated to some degree, Mr. Torrance said. He added that the restoration must ensure that the chair can accommodate the weight of the stone and the weight of the king, nothing is steady on the chair.
The cost of the restoration has not been disclosed, but Mr Torrance said he expected conservation efforts to continue for several days before this weekend’s ceremony.
Other objects in the ceremony, including the orb and scepter that King Charles will hold, “symbolize power and authority in the monarchy,” said Anna Whitelock, professor of monarchical history at City, University of London.
Charles will be crowned with the Crown of St. Edward, who was removed from the Tower of London last year to allow the modification, according to the official website of the British royal family. The King will also wear the Imperial State Crown during the ceremony.
Queen Camilla, who will also be crowned during the ceremony, will have a smaller seat, Professor Whitelock said.
“It won’t be the Coronation Chair, but he will sit next to Charles,” he said. “He’s not the main event, but he’ll be there, symbolically and sort of, in a supporting role.”
While the Coronation Chair has been a fixture in coronations for centuries, it may not have been that way. Professor Whitelock said it had nothing to do with the ceremony. “Much of the monarchy’s popularity – in some sense, its legitimacy today – has been based on the fact that this is an ancient institution,” he said. “It’s always done like this.” Future kings can make the changes they want.
“I think a lot of people see things like the Coronation Chair and the history around it, as something that makes the coronation, and indeed the British monarchy, so special,” Professor Whitelock said. “When you start removing those things, you wonder what’s left and, what’s left corrects some of the other problems with the unelected head of state.”
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