You Won’t Believe How Much Queen Elizabeth II’s Crown is Actually Worth
Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne more than 65 years ago, meaning that many people can’t recall a time when she wasn’t the monarch.
While a good number of royal fans either don’t remember or weren’t around to have witnessed her coronation ceremony, many of us have seen the iconic photo of her standing on the balcony with her husband, Prince Philip, wearing her coronation crown. The crown has a very rich history but can you guess how much it’s actually worth? Read on to find out.
When Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth
Upon the death of her father, King George VI, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her dad’s passing, the then-25-year-old was in Kenya with Philip and after hearing the news traveled back home as the new monarch.
Although King George VI died in 1952, Elizabeth II wasn’t crowned until the following year. The reason is due to the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time between a monarch’s passing and holding a celebration for their heir’s coronation.
The ceremony took place on June 2, 1953, and was televised with more than 20 million people around the globe tuning in.
How much the queen’s coronation crown is worth
The entire collection of the Crown Jewels is reportedly valued at around $3.5 billion. But how much is St. Edward’s Crown used for a monarch’s coronation actually worth? To find out, SavingSpot researchers virtually broke down each part of the crown piece by piece.
Cashnetusa.com noted that to estimate the value the team “used the International Gem Society‘s gem size guide and the images, to gauge the number of carats in the gems to determine their rough weight. We then estimated the weight of the velvet and ermine based on the size of the crown. We subtracted all of this from the total weight of the crown to give us the weight (and value) of the gold in the crown. We consulted the catalog of the queen‘s official supplier of fabric to get a value for the velvet and researched the average price of ermine to give us a value for this.”
The researchers then “estimated the value of each gem. Before we undertook this process, we consulted a registered gem valuer who explained the limitations and problems we were faced with. A qualified gem valuer would need to remove each gem from the crown and inspect them with specially designed instruments to ascertain the age, location, size and value of each one. So, we had to develop a methodology based on these limitations. For this, we used the International Gem Society’s pricing guide and images of the crown, including diagrams of the placement of each gem from the two-volume Crown Jewels reference book.”
The team concluded the crown to be worth a whopping $4,519,709.
How much headpieces worn by some other royals are worth
Although there hasn’t been another coronation ceremony in more than 65 years, fans have marveled at some of the stunning headpieces other royal ladies have worn on special occasions.
The day they got married Prince William’s bride, Prince Harry’s bride, and Her Majesty’s grandaughter Eugenie all wore tiaras loaned to them by the queen.
When the Duchess of Cambridge married William on April 29, 2011, she wore the gorgeous Cartier Halo tiara. Cartier made it in 1936 for the Queen Mother as a present from her husband, King George VI. It was gifted to Queen Elizabeth II in 1944. Gemologist and jewelry expert Deborah Papas estimates that the tiara is worth between £750,000 – £1,250,000 ($960,000 to $1.6 million USD).
When the Duchess of Sussex married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018, she wore the lovely bandeau diamond tiara, which was made in 1932 for Queen Mary. The last time anyone saw this piece was back in 1965 when Princess Margaret donned it. According to Papas, the sparking accessory is worth around £2 million ($2.5 million USD).
And finally, the tiara Princess Eugenie showed off when she and Jack Brooksbank tied the knot on Oct. 12, 2018, was The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara. That headpiece was created in 1919 by Boucheron for Queen Mary’s close friend, Margaret Greville, and later given to the Queen Mother. Papas said that at auction this tiara could get between £5-10 million ($6 to $12 million USD).
Read more: The Real Reason Queen Elizabeth II Never Wears Pants
