Britain’s historic Coronation Chair which has been used by monarchs including Henry VIII for almost700 years is getting a makeover ahead of this year’s May ceremony for King Charles, London’s Westminster Abbey said. King Charles and his wife Queen Consort Camilla will be formally crowned on May 6 at the Westminster Abbey. It is the same location where the coronation of kings and queens has taken place for around thousand years.
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During the ceremony, the crown is placed on the head of the monarch sitting on the oak chair. The chair was originally covered in gold leaf gilding and elaborately decorated with coloured glass. King Charles will also be crowned on the chair like his grandmother Queen Victoria and mother Queen Elizabeth II.
“It is the oldest surviving piece of furniture still used for its original purpose,” Krista Blessley, Paintings Conservator at the Abbey said as per Reuters.
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The chair was made on the orders of King Edward I and includes the Stone of Scone or Stone of Destiny which had been used for the coronation of Scottish kings for centuries.
However, the chair has suffered wear and tear over the years. The conservation effort focuses on cleaning the chair’s surface using sponges and cotton swabs to remove dirt.
“The coronation chair is extremely fragile. It has a complex layer structure which means that the gilding layers on it often flake off,” Krista Blessley said. “So a lot of my work at the moment is sticking those layers of gilding back down and making sure it’s completely sound for the coronation,” the conservator added.
