The Coronation Chair – in which Kings and Queens have been crowned since 1399 – is one of Westminster Abbey’s greatest treasures.
But did you know it was built specially around a 150 kg piece of ‘holy’ plundered stone?
Or that over the years, that precious stone has been broken, buried, stolen, brought back and finally returned back to where it came from?
The stone, which originally formed the Chair’s seat, is known as the Coronation Stone or the Stone of Destiny. There are many stories about its history – that it is mentioned in the Bible; that it was then brought to Ireland and used for Irish kings’ coronations and that it was later taken to an Abbey in Scotland for the same purpose.
What is sure is that when Scotland was an independent country the Stone was of mystical importance to them – and so King Edward I made sure to seize it in 1296 when he was invading Scotland. Back in London, he quickly had the Chair made to enclose and display it, to send a message of power to his people – and to the Scots. The Chair is made of oak and was painted by a master craftsman with patterns of birds, foliage and animals on a gilt background. To make a point, the figure of a king – possibly Edward I himself – with his feet resting on a lion was painted on the back, where people could see it as the Chair faced the altar during coronations.
The Chair and the Stone have been the centre of much action during their lives. in 1914 a Suffragette bomb damaged the Chair and broke the Stone in two, and the Chair has graffiti scratched in its back by boys from the next-door Westminster School and others, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. One message claims that the carver spend the night sleeping in the Chair (though it doesn’t look too comfortable)! The Chair was removed for its safety in the Second World War, while the Stone was buried deep in the Abbey vaults and soon after, in 1950, four Scottish Nationalists stole it and took it back to Scotland, where it was later retrieved.
Eventually the Scots got their wish for the Stone to return to Scotland and in 1996 it was taken to Edinburgh Castle amid a lot of ceremony, though it will return to the Abbey and the Chair for Coronations. But otherwise, the Coronation Chair, the oldest piece of furniture in England still used for its original purpose, stands empty after 700 years.
Who would have thought that a lump of stone and a wooden chair could mean so much and play such an important role in the history of a country?
Join my tour of Westminster Abbey to learn more about the Chair, the Stone and the many other treasures and sights of this unique building