All About the Crowns That Will Be Used at King Charles and Queen Camilla's Coronation (2024)

The coronation of King Charles is around the corner.

The 74-year-old royal will officially be crowned the U.K.'s monarch on May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey. Along with many other royal traditions to be carried out at the ceremony, King Charles and Queen Camilla will don selections from the Crown Jewels.

In preparation for the event, which will be the first coronation in 70 years, both King Charles and Queen Camilla's crowns are undergoing slight modifications. In December 2022, the palace announced that the headpieces had been taken from the Tower of London, which have been guarded since 1661, in order for the alterations to begin.

On May 26, the royal regalia will return to the Tower of London and be displayed in a new exhibit in the Jewel House.

"The Crown Jewels are the most powerful symbols of the British Monarchy and hold deep religious, historic and cultural significance. From their fascinating origins to their use during the Coronation ceremony, the new Jewel House transformation will present the rich history of this magnificent collection with more depth and detail than ever before," Charles Farris, public historian for the history of the monarchy at Historic Royal Palaces, said in a statement.

Here's everything to know about the crowns that will be used at King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation.

King Charles will be crowned with the St. Edward's Crown

For his coronation, King Charles will be crowned with the St. Edward's Crown, which was first created for Charles II in 1661 and was a replacement for the previous crown that had been melted down in 1649. According to the palace, the original was thought to date back to the 11th-century royal saint, Edward the Confessor, who was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

The replacement St. Edward Crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band and a solid gold frame. It is set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. It was commissioned by the Royal Goldsmith, Robert Vyner, and incorporates elements of the original design by having four crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, as well as two arches. The crown is reserved for coronations and was last used by the late Queen Elizabeth.

King Charles will also wear the Imperial State Crown

After Charles is crowned with the St. Edward's Crown, he will swap the headpiece for the more commonly used Imperial State Crown as he leaves the ceremony. The Imperial State Crown was also worn by the Queen for her coronation and was last seen on the monarch's coffin at her funeral in September.

Per the Historical Royal Palace's website, the headpiece was first commissioned in 1838 for Queen Victoria's coronation. The stunning crown contains the world's fourth-largest polished diamond, the "Cullinan II," with a weight of 317.4 carats. (The stone was originally part of the Cullinan Diamond, which was found in Africa in 1905 and originally weighed a whopping 3,601 carats.)

Above the Cullinan II sits the breathtaking Black Prince's Ruby, one of the oldest pieces in the family's collection of crown jewels. The headpiece is also decorated with an additional four rubies, 11 emeralds, 17 sapphires, 269 pearls and more than 2,500 smaller diamonds.

The regal crown was one of Queen Elizabeth's best-known pieces, and the monarch donned the show-stopper for the State Opening of Parliament every year. When it isn't in use, the Imperial State Crown is closely guarded at the Tower of London, where it is a centerpiece of the Crown Jewels exhibit.

Will King Charles wear the same crown as Queen Elizabeth?

Yes. At her 1953 crowning ceremony, Queen Elizabeth wore the St. Edward's Crown at the moment of her crowning. Like her son will do, she wore the Imperial State Crown for her return to Buckingham Palace.

On her coronation day, Queen Elizabeth also wore the George IV State Diadem for her journey to the ceremony. Dating back to 1820, the stunning headpiece features roses, shamrocks and thistles with 1,333 diamonds and 169 pearls.

Queen Camilla will wear Queen Mary's Crown

Ahead of the coronation, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen Consort will wear Queen Mary's Crown, which features 2,200 diamonds and was worn by Queen Mary when she took part in the coronation alongside her husband, King George V, in 1911.

The choice to wear an existing crown as a Queen Consort (rather than a new commission) is unusual and hasn't been done since the 18th century, when Queen Caroline, consort of George II, wore Mary of Modena's crown. The palace noted the decision was made "in the interests of sustainability and efficiency."

As a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, the headpiece will be reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds, which are part of the famous Cullinan diamond, the largest ever found. The jewels were a part of the late monarch's personal jewelry collection and were frequently worn as brooches.

The Cullinan diamonds have been added to Queen Mary's Crown before; in 1922, the Cullinan III and IV were temporarily set for the 1911 coronation.

Buckingham Palace also announced that four of the eight detachable arches will be removed from Queen Mary's Crown to create "a different impression to when the Crown was worn by Queen Mary at the 1911 Coronation." Queen Mary wore the crown without the arches at the coronation of her son, King George VI, in 1937.

It was previously speculated that Queen Camilla might wear the controversial crown that Queen Elizabeth wore to her husband King George's coronation in 1937. The centerpiece of the crown is the Koh-i-Nûr diamond, which was imported to Britain by the East India Company and has been subject to ownership claims in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Will Prince William and Kate Middleton wear crowns?

There's been no official announcement from Buckingham Palace as to what Prince William and Kate will wear to the coronation. Some have speculated that the Princess of Wales might forgo wearing a tiara altogether, which would break from the past precedent of women in the royal family wearing bejeweled toppers.

As of March, PEOPLE understood that the conversation around Kate's tiara was still ongoing.

"Tiaras were worn by nearly every royal lady at the Queen's coronation in 1953, as well lots of aristocratic women but times have certainly changed in 70 years," Lauren Kiehna, writer of The Court Jeweller, told PEOPLE.

In place of a tiara, The Times reported that Kate may be planning to wear "a floral headpiece."

"There are also rumors within palace circles that no royal women will wear tiaras," added the outlet.

Should Kate forgo a tiara, it's possible she won't wear a long gown either, instead opting for a more casual outfit that might be more appropriately matched with a hat or fascinator.

"I'm certainly hoping we'll see coronation tiaras, but it's possible that Charles is following the example of some of his European counterparts, like the King of the Netherlands, and setting a daytime formal dress code for the event," Kiehna explained.

If Kate does wear a tiara, some expect she may choose one with a floral design.

"The idea of the 'floral headpiece' actually being a tiara is really interesting, but there aren't a ton of floral options in the collection (that we know of) that would fit," Kiehna said. "There is the Strathmore Rose Tiara, an antique diamond bandeau that belonged to the Queen Mother, but it's pretty tiny."

Still, Bethan Holt, fashion director at the Daily Telegraph, said that the bandeau would be a thoughtful choice. "I think if Kate did decide to wear a tiara, that would be a nice one for her to wear because Charles was so close to the Queen Mother, and it's very demure," he told PEOPLE.

Alternatively, Kate could likely choose from the few tiaras she's rotated between since becoming a royal: Queen Elizabeth's Cartier Halo tiara, worn on her wedding day, the Lotus Flower tiara, which was also previously owned and often worn by the Queen's late sister, Princess Margaret and the Lover's Knot tiara.

As for Prince William, while it's still unclear if he will wear a headpiece of any kind, he will play an important role in the ceremony: kneeling before King Charles soon after he is crowned and reciting the Homage of Royal Blood. With such a high-profile role, William will certainly be dressed to impress.