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Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and a burial site for English and, later, British monarchs.
Catherine of Valois was the queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she married Henry V of England, and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of England. Catherine's marriage was part of a plan to eventually place Henry V on the throne of France, and perhaps end what is now known as the Hundred Years' War, but although her son Henry VI was later crowned in Paris this ultimately failed.
Crown jewels are the objects of metalwork and jewellery in the regalia of a current or former monarchy. They are often used for the coronation of a monarch and a few other ceremonial occasions. A monarch may often be shown wearing them in portraits, as they symbolize the power and continuity of the monarchy. Additions to them may be made, but since medieval times the existing items are typically passed down unchanged as they symbolize the continuity of the monarchy.
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company, formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London. The company's headquarters are at Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London.
The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, originally the Crown Jewels of England, are a collection of royal ceremonial objects kept in the Tower of London, which include the regalia and vestments worn by British kings and queens at their coronations.
St Edward's Crown is the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, it has been traditionally used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century.
The Imperial State Crown is one of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and symbolises the sovereignty of the monarch.
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in other European monarchies, all of which have abandoned coronations in favour of inauguration or enthronement ceremonies.
The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates and a flight of stairs.
The Coronation Chair, known historically as St Edward's Chair or King Edward's Chair, is an ancient wooden chair on which British monarchs sit when they are invested with regalia and crowned at their coronations. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to contain the coronation stone of Scotland—known as the Stone of Destiny—which had been captured from the Scots who kept it at Scone Abbey. The chair was named after Edward the Confessor, and was previously kept in his shrine at Westminster Abbey.
The French Crown Jewels comprise the crowns, orb, sceptres, diadems and jewels that were symbols of Royal power between 752 and 1825. These were worn by many Kings and Queens of France. The set was finally broken up, with most of it sold off in 1885 by the Third French Republic. The surviving French Crown Jewels, principally a set of historic crowns, diadems and parures, are mainly on display in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre, France's premier museum and former royal palace, together with the Regent Diamond, the Sancy Diamond and the 105-carat (21.0 g) Côte-de-Bretagne red spinel, carved into the form of a dragon. In addition, some gemstones and jewels are on display in the Treasury vault of the Mineralogy gallery in the National Museum of Natural History.
The Crown of Mary of Modena is the consort crown made in 1685 for Mary of Modena, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, and wife of James VII & II. It was used by future queens consort up until the end of the 18th century.
The Painted Chamber was part of the medieval Palace of Westminster. It was gutted by fire in 1834, and has been described as "perhaps the greatest artistic treasure lost in the fire". The room was re-roofed and re-furnished to be used temporarily by the House of Lords until 1847, and it was demolished in 1851.
The Westminster Retable, the oldest known panel painting altarpiece in England, is estimated to have been painted in the 1270s in the circle of Plantagenet court painters, for Westminster Abbey, very probably for the high altar. It is thought to have been donated by Henry III of England as part of his Gothic redesign of the Abbey. The painting survived only because it was incorporated into furniture between the 16th and 19th centuries, and much of it has been damaged beyond restoration. According to one specialist, the "Westminster Retable, for all its wounded condition, is the finest panel painting of its time in Western Europe."
St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar, a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch, and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. It is located in the Lower Ward of the castle. St. George's castle chapel was originally founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. It has been the scene of many royal services, weddings and, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, burials. Although occasional monarchs and their consorts were buried at the castle from the 15th century it wasn't until the 19th century that St George's Chapel and the nearby Frogmore Gardens superseded Westminster Abbey as the chosen burial place for the British monarchy. Windsor, England's premier castle, is a principal residence of the monarch.
The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey, London. Elizabeth II acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation was held more than one year later because of the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies before holding such festivals. It also gave the planning committees adequate time to make preparations for the ceremony. During the service, Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, invested with robes and regalia, and crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
The Speaker's State Coach is the oldest of the three great State Coaches of the United Kingdom. Like the Gold State Coach and the Lord Mayor of London's State Coach it is elaborately carved and gilded, and is decorated with allegorical paintings by G. B. Cipriani.
Ralph Heimans, , is an Australian-British contemporary portrait painter based in London, England. He is considered to be "one of today's leading portrait artists". He is best known for his large-scale Royal portraits of Elizabeth II, HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, along with portraits of leading contemporary cultural figures. In 2014 Heimans was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Portraiture.
The Imperial Monumental Halls and Tower was a proposed Gothic complex designed for a site in London adjacent to Westminster Abbey. The plans, exhibited at the Royal Academy in March 1904, included a 167-metre-high (548 ft) tower that would have dominated the Clock Tower and Victoria Tower of the nearby Houses of Parliament. It was never built.
The Coronation Theatre: Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II was painted by Ralph Heimans in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. While the sitting took place in Buckingham Palace, the Queen is portrayed in Westminster Abbey, standing at the centre of the Cosmati pavement where she had been crowned 60 years previously. The mosaic pavement referred to by Shakespeare as “the floor of heaven” is rich in symbolism and was created to evoke the “eternal pattern of the universe”. It has been an integral part of the coronation ceremony since Henry III of England and is where every English monarch has been crowned for the last 900 years.
References
- ↑ Trowles, T. (2008) Treasures of Westminster Abbey, London: Scala, p. 156. ISBN 978-1-85759-454-6
- ↑ "The Queen opens The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries with the Prince of Wales". Royal.UK. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ↑ Wainwright, Oliver (29 May 2018). "'A gothic space rocket to a secret realm' – Westminster Abbey's new £23m tower". the Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
