Here’s the third card in the series of Churchmans Cigarette Cards that was produced in 1935 for the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. So, what does the coronation of King Edward I have to do with King George V? Well, aside from some historical connections, there is the chair. King Edward’s Chair to be exact—also called St. Edward’s Chair. This has played a part in every coronation of a British Monarch since its creation.
The chair was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I expressly to house the coronation stone of Scotland — known as the Stone of Scone. The stone was captured from the Scots who had kept it at Scone Abbey and was placed in a compartment beneath the coronation chair which has historically been kept in the shrine of St Edward's Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
Since 1308, all of the soveriegns of Britain (until 1603) have sat in this chair at the moment of their coronation. The exceptions are Queen Mary I and II. Mary I was crowned in a chair given to her by the Pope and Mary II was crowned on a copy of the chair. Otherwise, St. Edward’s Chair has been used by all sovereigns--last used on the occasion of the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.
The high-backed chair is created in the Gothic style and was carved in 1297 from oak by a celebrated carpenter who was called Master Walter. The legs in the shape of four gilded lions are a a relatively new addition, having been added in a restoration of the chair in 1727. The new legs replaced similar lions which were added in the 16th century.
Today, the chamber beneath the chair is emptry. In 1996, the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland with the provision that it be returned to the chair on the occasion of the next coronation.
Evidence suggests that St. Edward’s Chair was once brightly painted and gilded. Similarly, it is believed that the chair once had an image of Edward the Confessor painted on the reverse. The chair, as it remains today, is bare wood which has been defaced over the centuries as tourists, pilgrims, and choir boys in the Abbey carved their initials and other marks onto the chair—mostly during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The chair was also mangled when the carved finials at the back of the chair were sawn off.
St. Edward’s Chair was also damaged in 1914 when it was the seat of a bomb attack, at the hands of suffragettes.
Presently, the chair is highly protected and is only removed from its pedestal in Westminster Abbey for a coronation.
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