King Charles’ Coronation Chair and the Cheeky Message No One Saw at Westminster Abbey
TL;DR:
- King Charles III sat in the Coronation Chair during his May 6 coronation.
- Hidden from view was centuries-old graffiti on the seat and back.
- Restorations to the chair were made prior to the coronation.
Besides the Crown Jewels, which were on full display at King Charles III’s coronation, the ceremony included some hidden, or at least not-so-obvious, details. Case in point, the historic Coronation Chair. King Charles sat in the chair during the Westminster Abbey ceremony. However, viewers didn’t get to see all of its markings, complete with a more than 200-year-old cheeky message.
King Charles sat in the Coronation Chair during his anointing at Westminster Abbey
For the most important part of the coronation, the official anointing, when Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby carefully placed the St. Edward’s Crown on King Charles’ head, the king sat in what else but the Coronation Chair.
Also called St. Edward’s Chair, per the royal family’s website, it is more than 700 years old. King Edward had it made around 1300 to house the Stone of Scone, aka the Stone of Destiny, according to Westminster Abbey.
Other various chairs were used during the rest of the two-hour ceremony. They included refurbished Chairs of Estate, Throne Chairs, and newly-made blue velvet congregation chairs for guests.
King Charles’ wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, or the now-Queen Camilla, sat in one of the Chairs of Estate when she was crowned.
The Coronation Chair has a ‘was here’ style carving on the seat and other graffiti
Made of Baltic oak, the Coronation Chair is littered with carvings. Some were done at the time of the chair’s creation. Others were added through the years by “Westminster schoolboys and visitors,” per the abbey’s official website.
The majority of the graffiti on the back of the chair happened as a result of the students and visitors in the 1700 and 1800s.
Now for the Coronation Chair’s cheeky message. On the seat where King Charles and other monarchs sat before him is a ‘was here’ style message. It reads: ‘P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800.’
A small corner of the chair also went missing following a 1914 bombing believed to be organized by the Suffragettes.
A conservationist did restoration work on the chair before King Charles’ coronation
Despite being in what’s described as “remarkable condition,” the Coronation Chair underwent some sprucing up prior to May 6. Krista Blessly, a Westminster Abbey paintings conservator, did the delicate work using sponges and cotton swabs. She focused on “cleaning the chair” and keeping the gilding intact.
“It’s extremely fragile,” Blessly told BBC. “It has a complex layer structure, which means the gilding layers often flake off, so a lot of my work is sticking those layers of gilding back down.”
Blessly also noted how changes in humidity could cause areas of the chair to lift, meaning it can require more than the occasional restoration.
When not being used for a coronation, the chair resides behind glass at St. George’s Chapel.
