The Crown of Mary of Modena

Here is a very classic consort crown from British history.  This is the Crown of Mary of Modena, the wife of James II of the United Kingdom.  Explaining how it came into being involves a short story from English history.  The classic English crown of the Tudors and Stuarts was torn apart and sold as pieces at the order of Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate (1653-1659).  Charles II was the first king of the restored monarchy, but since he was unmarried at the time of his coronation, no consort crown was produced for his queen the Portuguese, Catherine of Braganza.  After the death of Charles II in 1685, his brother, James became king for 3 years until deposed in the glorious revolution.

James had never imagined he would become the King of England and had initially married a commoner. When she died in 1671, he took an Italian princess, Mary of Modena as his bride.    Above is the state consort crown which Mary bought and paid for (from her own pocket).  It was crafted by the jeweler, Richard de Beauvoir, and was originally set with diamonds.  Because it was such a lovely piece, the state crown was used as a coronation crown by all subsequent consorts until 1831.  Although it was initially crafted with a fortune of diamonds (£35,000 worth of jewels in pre-inflation 1685 money!) the jewels have since been replaced with crystals and the diamonds were cannibalized for use in later crowns.  You can see the original crown at the Tower of London, that is if anybody likes crowns by the end of the year.  

 

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