6 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE CROWN JEWELS

With a coronation on the horizon, we reveal some lesser-known facts about the nation’s most precious treasures

- JONATHAN WRIGHT

1 THE OLDEST ITEM AMONG CORONATION SPOON

Even in 1349, the Coronation Spoon was thought to be of "ancient forme". Probably made either for the first Plantagenet monarch, Henry II (r1154-89), or his successor, Richard the Lionheart (r1189-99), the silver gilt spoon measures 26.7cm in length, likely just a little longer than the spoon you use to serve spuds on a Sunday afternoon.

Viewed alongside some of the spectacular items that make up the Crown Jewels, it might easily be overlooked. However, it is of huge ceremonial importance. The bowl of the spoon is divided in half by a ridge. During the coronation, the archbishop of Canterbury dips two fingers into either side of the bowl before anointing the new monarch as supreme governor of the Church of England.

Further back, the spoon may once have been used for mixing wine and water, but its first recorded ceremonial use in a coronation came in 1603, after James VI of Scotland came south to take the throne of England and Ireland as James I (r1603-25).

On succeeding James, Charles I (r1625-49) proved unequal to holding the throne and England descended into civil war. When the English Commonwealth was created in 1649, the decision was taken to flog off or melt down the medieval and Tudor items that made up the original Crown Jewels. The spoon fetched 16 shillings when it was bought by a member of the royal household, Clement Kynnersley.

And so the spoon might have passed into private hands forever, except that after the Interregnum, Kynnersley presented the spoon to Charles II (r1660-85). With the Restoration, Kynnersley became the new monarch's first yeoman of the Removing Wardrobe, a job that involved looking after the royal furnishings that travelled from palace to palace.