The Canons Ashby Crown

This month our new king, King Charles III will be crowned, and so I thought it might be fun to look back at his very first crown as Prince of Wales, designed and made in Northamptonshire. It was of a controversial design, using untested techniques, and it was only just ready in time. Here’s the story of the Canons Ashby crown.

Over the centuries there have been several crowns made for the Prince of Wales. The earliest regalia included a crown, ring, rod and a mantle. In Tudor times for Prince Arthur, a sword and a girdle were added. In 1677, King Charles II specified the design of the crown, declaring that the heir to the throne should wear a crown composed of Crosses and flowers de liz, with one Arch, and in the midst a Ball and cross. This design specification has been followed ever since.

In 1902 a new set of Welsh regalia was made for Prince Edward, also known as Bertie by the Royal Family. He became King Edward VIII briefly, before abdicating and becoming the Duke of Windsor. But it seems that when the abdicated King left for the USA, he took his Prince of Wales crown with him. It was only returned on his death in 1972, too late for the 20 year-old Prince Charles’s investiture in 1969, so a new crown was needed. The Royal Society of Goldsmiths offered to make and donate the new crown to the Queen, who accepted gracefully.

In addition to following the design guidelines set in 1677, Prince Charles requested that it should be ‘a crown of our time’ rather than a throwback to the traditional design. The crown had to fit a man with natural hair and visible ears, rather than a regal wig as in the past. And it should be as light as possible for comfort.

Garrard, the official Royal Jewellers were considered too traditional in design for the avant-garde tastes of the young Prince Charles. The Goldsmiths’ Company chose something of a maverick in Louis Osman, an architect by training, who was not even a member of Goldsmiths. But he was a man of vision, with a fertile imagination fuelled by thorough research. His style had a natural simplicity and was often finished with a handmade look.

Louis Osman was not always an easy man to work with, deadlines meant little to him, and he paid little heed to the budget. He would acquire whatever materials he felt were necessary to the project he was working on, feeling little pressure to settle his bills. Despite his brilliance, his behaviour proved frustrating to many of his clients. Sir Anthony Wagner, Garter Principal King of Arms said ‘Osman’s work is beautiful; his personality at times presents difficulties’.

At this stage in his career, Louis, along with his wife Dilys a talented enameller, lived at Canons Ashby, a grand old Tudor manor house in Northamptonshire. They had leased the estate from the Dryden family who were living abroad at the time. The Osmans set up workshops throughout the house for all aspects of the production of gold and silver objects, including silversmiths, engravers, and enamellers. Dilys also installed her herd of Jersey cows, whose natural curiosity regularly found them exploring the Great Kitchen, and her Great Danes, who have left their claw marks on the Great Hall door to this day.

The commission was given to Louis in 1968, and he instantly set about researching and drawing sketches, and commissioning a scale bust of Prince Charles’ head to ensure a perfect fit. The final design was accepted on 4th February 1969, leaving less than five months before the investiture on 1st July 1969.

The design was deliberately chosen to reflect the past, but also to focus on the present day.

As it was for a Prince, the crown has a single arch, with four crosses and fleurde-lys, with a central orb and cross as specified in 1677. The design includes seventy-five diamonds, and twelve small emeralds plus three larger square cut deep green emeralds, green being the National colour of Wales. The central orb above the arch represents the world and is engraved with many symbolic elements including the Welsh Dragon, a Lion, and the Prince of Wales feathers. Surrounding the orb are delicate bands of sky-blue enamelled platinum with diamonds depicting the constellation of Scorpio, Prince Charles’s star sign. More diamonds representing the gifts of God and the deadly sins circumnavigate the globe. Even more diamonds adorn the central cross above the orb.

The material to be used was of course Welsh gold, hammered from the same nugget from which many royal wedding rings are made. The chosen finish was to be a natural buffed peach skin gleam rather than a shine.

Platinum was also used for strength, and a new technique for applying enamel to it had to be invented by Dilys, something never seen before.

The challenge was to keep the crown light enough to be worn for an extended period. Previously crowns were made from hammering solid gold sheets, or cast, with the elements soldered together with the weighty gold polished to a high shine. Always innovating, Louis developed the idea of electroforming the crown. He made the crown in wax from which a resin mould was made. Then a gold solution was poured into the mould with an electrical current passed through it to deposit the gold onto the resin. This had been done before with silver, but gold was a new concept, taking much trial and error.

The difficulty was in electroforming the perfect sphere rendering it strong enough to be engraved. In the end a ping-pong ball was used as an inner mould, although Louis did try to keep this a secret. The ball remains inside the crown today. And unknown to Louis, the engraver added the initials of all who worked on the crown to the underside of the orb before it was attached.

Crown or Coronet?

Although referred to as a coronet, the Prince of Wales actually wears a crown. A crown is worn by monarchs and their heirs and have arches above the circlet. A coronet is worn by members of the nobility and has no arches.

The construction was time consuming and intense, as all the innovations had to go through trials before they could be used reliably. A few days before the investiture the crown was nearly ready and went to be hallmarked. Shockingly the delicate gold fractured during the process, and it had to return to Canons Ashby for repair. The crown was mended and successfully hallmarked just in time. The day before the ceremony Louis and Dilys hid the crown in its specially made box, placed it in the back of their battered and untaxed Land Rover under some hay bales and the Great Danes, and set off for Wales.

This was long slow journey of more than a hundred and seventy miles. They arrived much later than expected, causing a great deal of stress to the officials waiting anxiously at Caernarfon Castle. In response, Louis shook some hay at them from the Land Rover, and replied ‘Go, feed your unicorns’.

The following day the investiture took place in front of 4,000 invited guests. Charles made his vow to his mother the Queen, and he was presented with the golden rod, the mantle, sword, ring, and girdle, and then the crown with the purple silk velvet cap of state added inside.

The ceremony was watched on TV by 19 million in the UK and 500 million worldwide. The new crown gleamed and the diamonds sparkled. A modern crown for modern times.

This month sees Charles coronation as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He will be crowned with St Edward’s crown, made for Charles II coronation in 1661. It is the only time he will ever wear it. I wonder if he will wish he was wearing the lightweight crown made especially for him 54 years ago. And I also wonder if we will see Prince William wear his father’s crown, made in Northamptonshire, and if he does, perhaps the diamonds will be rearranged to show William’s star sign, Cancer.

God Save the King!

For more information about Louis Osman and the Canons Ashby Crown, read Louis Osman by Jenny Moore

ISBN 978 1 84114 490 0

The Northamptonshire Heritage Forum has something for everyone interested in learning more about our county’s history. If you would like more information, or are interested in joining the Forum and supporting its work, please visit www.northamptonshireheritageforum.co.uk

Coronation