The Crown of Queen Adelaide was the consort crown

Consort crown

A consort crown is a crown worn by the consort of a monarch for her coronation or on state occasions.Unlike with reigning monarchs, who may inherit one or more crowns for use, consorts sometimes had special crowns made uniquely for them and which were worn by no other later consort.All British...

 of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen

Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...

, wife and Queen consort

Queen consort

A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

 of King William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...

. It was used at the coronation of William and Adelaide in 1831. It was emptied of its jewels soon afterwards, was not worn again by Queen Adelaide, and has never been worn since.

Reasons for creation

Since the 1690s English

Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...

 and British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 queens consort had been crowned with the Crown of Mary of Modena

Crown of Mary of Modena

The Crown of Mary of Modena was the consort crown of Mary of Modena, queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland, wife of King King James VII and II.-Origins:...

, first made for the wife of King James II

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

. However criticism of the continued use of this crown had mounted, for reasons of age, size, state of repair and because it was seen to be too theatrical

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 and undignified. In the preparations for the coronation in 1831 it was ruled that the Modena crown was "unfit for Her Majesty's use". Plans were made for the creation of a new consort crown.

Design

The new crown followed British crown tradition in having four half arches, meeting a globe, on top of which sat a cross. The Queen had objected to the standard practice of hiring diamonds and jewels for a crown prior to its use. Instead diamonds from her own private jewellery were installed in her new crown. Following the coronation, the diamonds were all removed, and the crown stored as a shell.

Subsequent history

Since Queen Adelaide, all British queens consort have had their own special consort crown made for them, rather than wearing the crowns of any of their predecessors. Later consort crowns were made for Alexandra of Denmark

Alexandra of Denmark

Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...

 (1902), Mary of Teck

Mary of Teck

Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....

 (1911) and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

 (1937).

The formal portrait of Queen Charlotte, the queen consort of George III, in her coronation robes by Allan Ramsay show her with a similar diminutive crown with which she had also been crowned and had had set with her own jewels, diamonds which George IV

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 later had set into the famous insignia of the Order of St. Patrick

Order of St. Patrick

The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by George III. The regular creation of knights of Saint Patrick lasted until 1921, when most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State...

 which were later stolen from Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

.

Footnote

1. Anne Keay, The Crown Jewels (Historic Royal Palaces, 2002) p. 58.