Replicas of Crown jewels on tour

Press, 29 June 1987, Page 5

Replicas of Crown jewels on tour

A kilted Scotsman will bring the official replicas of the English and Scottish Crown jewels to Christchurch this week. The real English Crown jewels never leave the Tower of London, except for coronations, while the Scottish honours are in Edinburgh Castle. Dr Micheil MacDonald, a Scottish anthropologist who is travelling with the exhibition, said it was hard to tell the replicas, valued at $500,000, from the real jewels, valued at $1 billion. It is the first time the replicas have travelled to New Zealand. School pupils and others .have shown a lot of interest in the exhibition. Dr MacDonald tells many stories which breathe life into the figures from history. -The English

jewels were either broken or melted down by Oliver Cromwell, the “Rabuka of his time.” The English regalia were remade after the monarchy was restored in 1661. The Scottish Crown jewels were hidden from Cromwell, and so are older and less ornate than the English jewels. The Scottish jewels were so well hidden that they were lost for more than a century, to be rediscovered in 1818 by Sir Walter Scott in a chest in Edinburgh Castle. The exhibition will begin at Merivale Mall tomorrow. With the Crown jewels are photographs of the Royal Family over the last 50 years, and an exhibition of tartans worn by the Royal Family. The exhibition will end on July 11. V,