King Charles coronation Chair which is about 700 years old, has been unveiled by the British Royal family on Monday.
The King Charles coronation chair which was unveiled by the Royal family on their official social media handle as part of the preparation for the May 6th coronation day, is a recycled chair used by King George VI.
King George VI is the grandfather to King Charles III, and he used the throne chair in his 1937 coronation.
The to-be King Charles coronation chair has been re-upholstered but still features the original embroidered coats of arms on the front and back.
Camilla, the Queen Consort, has an identical chair, used by the Queen Mother during the 1937 coronation.
However, the Queen Mother’s coats of arms have been replaced by newly embroidered versions created by the Royal School of Needlework (RSN).
The King wanted to reuse things where possible for the Coronation, explained Caroline de Guitaut, deputy surveyor of the King’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust.
“So it’s giving the chairs, I suppose, a new life in a slightly different guise, but at the same time respecting that they are historic objects, and conserving them for the future,” she said.
As is tradition, on 6 May, a succession of chairs will be used by the King. He will move from a chair of estate to the ancient coronation chair to be crowned, before moving to the throne chair for the moment of enthronement.
The Queen Consort will be crowned in a chair of estate before sitting in a throne chair.
The chairs of estate, which have also been re-upholstered, were originally made for the late Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh for the late monarch’s coronation in 1953.
The cyphers have been replaced by those of King Charles and Camilla and embroidered by the RSN.
The RSN, which celebrated its 150th-anniversary last year, has been used in five successive coronations, including Edward VII’s crowning.
It took two months to renovate the throne chairs, during which a family-run firm of upholsterers stripped them before building them back up with layers of wool and using red and gold braid and fringes for decoration.
Ian Block, from AT Cronin Workshop, said traditional methods were used in the work, adding: “There’s 100 years of life in these.”
There will also be 100 congregation chairs in Westminster Abbey, made from sustainable British oak and covered in blue velvet with the King and Queen Consort’s cyphers.
These will be sold after Saturday’s ceremony and the proceeds donated to charity.