"REGALL RING."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 296, 14 December 1936, Page 6

"REGALL RING."

KING GEORGE'S CORONATION RING. Court Jewellers Garrard and Company, Ltd., Albemarl# Street, Piccadilly, altering ' the ermine lining of liis father's Crown to fit King George's head, also are . making a new "Coronation ring" for the ceremonies next May. Known since tlie : eleventh century as the "Wedding Ring of England," it is to be slipped in the fourth ' finger (counting tlie thumb as number one) > of the right (sceptre) hand of the Kingr Emperor of one-fourth of the world. This plain gold band is set with a large, violet-coloured ruby surrounded by twentysix diamonds, the ruby chased with the Cross >' of St. George (argent, a cross gules). It is > a reproduction of all the Coronation rings worn • by England's Sovereigns since Edward the Confessor (1041-1000). The pious Edward, says legend, gave the original to St. John the 5 Evangelist, who appeared miraculously before J liim in the guise of a beggar. Later, St. John appeared again in Palestine, gave it to two English pilgrims; admonished them to return it to Edward with the message that Divine grace would encircle every English Sovereign invested with tlie ring at his or her Coronation. History is vague as to the first wearer 1 after Edward, though it is assumed that 1 Harold 11., his brother-in-law, wore it during his brief, turbulent succession, which ended ; when he was shot in the eye by a Norman r , archer serving William the Conqueror in the , Battle of Senlac. ' Usurper's Ring. 2 On the record is the fact that Henry VII., ' first Tudor King, usurping successor to Richard ("My Kingdom for a horse") 111., wore it during his reign, from 1457 to 1509. Parchments of the time called it the "regall , ring." From the Coronation of gay Stuart - King Charles 11., enthroned after tlie fall of 1 the Commonwealth's stern Lord Protector 1 Oliver Cromwell, investment with the ring has been an integral part of each Coronation. < Each Sovereign has a new ring, reproduction t of tlie last, which becomes the personal J property of the wearer. Theoretical inalterability of the traditional rites notwithstanding, an embarrassing faux pas marked the investment with the jewel of ' Queen Victoria in 1837. Her College of Arms forgot that pro-reformation practice counted the thumb as the first finger; and caused the f ring to be fitted for, and placed upon, tlie Queen's little finger as number four. 1 Horrified traditionalists, discovering the 2 error, insisted that the ring portion of tlie " ritual be hastily, and privately, repeated; j and a furiously blushing Archbishop of C'anter- . bury thereupon crammed the golden circlet f on the finger called for by ritual, for which - it was clearly too small. Rather than prolong > trie agony, Victoria insisted on wearing the - ring as it had come to her, regretting her ? magnanimity frequently when, each time she wished to remove it, she had to soak her hand in cold water to shrink it. "Long to Reign Over Us." British opinion found, conveniently, support for the legend that tlie tighter the fit the longer the reign; and Victoria bore out the legend by reigning sixty-three years, far ' longer than any other English Sovereign. >' The new ring in the making for George i VI. is in the custody of - seventy-seven-year- - old Major-General Sir George John Youngi husband, veteran of colonial wars in Afgliani- . stan, Burma, South Africa, tlie Sudan and . the World War, Knight .Commander of the . Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, . Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished » Order of St. Michael and St. George, and, , since 1917, Keeper of the Jewel House (Tower of London), in which the Crown Jewels are t stored under a battalion of Guardsmen. Next May it will be Sir George's duty to hand the ring solemnly to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will slip it on the Royal finger quite as tenderly as lie will place the Crown of St. Edward upon the regal head.. The actual value of the ring is negligible, since the diamonds are small and the violetcoloured ruby required by tradition is far outranked by innumerable pigeon-blood competitors. As a symbol, as a "sign of kinglv dignity and the defence of tlie Catholjc faith," among the world's most valuable rings. Tourists starting into the big. barred and burglar-alarni-wired round glass Jewel House 1 in the Tower this autumn and winter still will l see an impressive array of Crown Jewels, - rearranged that gaps may be unnoticeablc to s all but expert eyes. All the Coronation regalia is over in Albemarle Street for general r overhauling, polishing and dry-cleaning. No i settings are to be changed; but the ermine ' padding of the Crown will be altered at the base to fit the head of George VI. Like the ring, though no more directly, the - Crown which for eight and a half centuries 5 has been placed on the heads of England's f Kings comes down from Edward the Confessor. The original, valued at £1000, was - broken up and sold by order of Cromwell's Parliament. The bill from Court Jeweller Sir > Robert Vyner for two new crowns for Charles 11. at the restoration came to £32,000.