History
The crown was created for George V, in his position as Emperor of India, to wear at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. The need for the new crown lay in the fact that it is forbidden by Old Royal Law for the British crown jewels themselves to leave the United Kingdom.
King George and Queen Mary travelled to Delhi for the Durbar ceremonies, at which they were proclaimed as Emperor and Empress of India to the princes of India. George and Mary were not crowned as emperor and empress during the ceremonies because the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, did not think it suitable for a Christian religious service to take place in a country where the people were predominantly Hindu or Muslim. Also because, theoretically, the monarch's coronation in England suffices as a coronation for all his or her realms and territories simultaneously. Instead, George simply wore the crown as he entered the arena where the durbar took place, and the durbar was styled as an announcement of the coronation which had already taken place.
The Crown Jewellers, Garrard & Co, created the crown at a cost of £60,000 (£4,530,137 as of 2012),. It weighs 34.05 ounces (0.97 kg) and is set with emeralds, rubies, sapphires, 6,100 diamonds, and one large fine ruby. The weight of the crown led King George to complain after the durbar that his head hurt.The crown has not been worn since by any British sovereign.
Read more about this topic: Imperial Crown Of India
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“The visual is sorely undervalued in modern scholarship. Art history has attained only a fraction of the conceptual sophistication of literary criticism.... Drunk with self-love, criticism has hugely overestimated the centrality of language to western culture. It has failed to see the electrifying sign language of images.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)