British Royal Crowns on Display at Tower

The oldest surviving English state crown, dating to George I (1660-1727), and the most sumptuous coronation crown, created for George IV (1762-1830), went on display last week for the first time.

The crowns are in a new permanent exhibit, “Crowns and Diamonds,” at the Tower of London. The exhibit, mounted with the help of the De Beers diamond consortium, charts the evolution of British royal crowns and their use of diamonds. It includes the 105.6-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond.

The crowns on display are actually the frames, made of gold and silver, without the jewels. For centuries, monarchs would rent the jewels for their coronation crowns from the royal jewelers and later return them, according to Historic Royal Palaces spokeswoman Jacqueline Gazzard. That practice ended early in this century, she added. In the exhibit, a pile of more than 12,000 diamonds--the number originally set in the George IV crown--are displayed next to the frame.

The crowns were most recently owned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, younger brother of the sultan of Brunei. He returned them to Britain after acquiring them a year ago when he bought Asprey jewelers.

The Tower of London is open every day except Dec. 24 to 26 and Jan. 1. Adult admission is $14.50; special family, senior, student and children’s rates are available.