St Edward's Sapphire
{{Short description|Part of the British Crown Jewels}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
File:Imperial State Crown of Queen Victoria.jpg, c. 1838–1848]]
St Edward's Sapphire is an octagonal rose-cut blue sapphire that forms part of the British Crown Jewels.
History
Its history is older than any other gemstone in the Royal Collection.{{cite book| title=United Empire| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ez-lAAAAMAAJ| volume=28| year=1937| publisher=Royal Commonwealth Society| page=253}} The sapphire is thought to have been set in the coronation ring of King Edward, known later as St Edward the Confessor, who ascended the English throne in 1042, twenty-four years before the Norman conquest.{{cite book| first1=Sir George| last1=Younghusband| author2=Cyril Davenport| title=The Crown Jewels of England| url=https://archive.org/details/TheCrownJewelsOfEngland| year=1919| publisher=Cassell & Co.| pages=[https://archive.org/details/TheCrownJewelsOfEngland/page/n140 57]–58}}
Edward, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England, was buried with the ring at Westminster Abbey in 1066.
File:Edward the Confessor, the Wilton Diptych.jpg, c. 1395–1399{{cite book|author=Anna Keay|author-link=Anna Keay|title=The Crown Jewels: The Official Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwpjtwAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51575-4|page=126}}]]
It was reputedly taken from the ring when Edward's body was re-interred at Westminster Abbey in 1163.{{cite book| first1=Kenneth J.| last1=Mears| author2=Simon Thurley| author3=Claire Murphy| title=The Crown Jewels| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1GJnAEACAAJ| year=1994| publisher=Historic Royal Palaces Agency| page=30}}
According to an inventory of royal regalia drawn up in 1649, St Edward's Crown, the traditional coronation crown of English monarchs, contained, among other precious stones, a sapphire valued at £60, which may well have been St Edward's Sapphire.{{cite book|last=Loach|first=Jennifer|title=Edward VI|year=2014|page=62|isbn=978-0-300-14398-0}}
How it survived the abolition of the monarchy during the English Civil War in the 17th century is not clear, but it was most likely re-cut into its present form for Charles II after the restoration of the monarchy.
In 1838, Queen Victoria added the jewel to her new crown, giving it a leading role in the centre of the cross pattée above the monde surmounting the crown, where it remains today in the 1937 version worn by King Charles III.{{Royal Collection|31701|The Imperial State Crown}}
The Imperial State Crown is on public display with the other Crown Jewels in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom}}
{{Named sapphires}}