Page:Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage.djvu/67

 XXIX TITLES, ORDERS, AND DEGREES OF PRECEDENCE AND DIGNITY. THE ROYAL CROWN. THE HERALDIC CROWN.* THE SOVEREIGN. FIRST, in honour and dignity, as in power indeed, the seat and fountain of all three is the Sovereign, who possesses, accord- ing to Camden, "Many rights and privileges peculiar to majesty, termed by the learned lawyers sacra sacromm, that is.sacred and individual, or inseparable, because they cannot be severed; and the ordinary royal prerogatives, termed the flowers of his crown, in which respect they affirm that the regal material crown is adorned with flowers. Some of these are held by positive or written law, others which, by right of custom, by a silent consent of all men with- out la_w, prescription of time has allowed, the king justly enjoys." Among the more clearly denned prerogatives of the British monarch are those of convoking adjourning, removing, and dissolving Parliament, refusing assent to Bills, without which assent they cannot become law, increasing the number of Peers, declaring war at pleasure, choosing and appointing all commanders and officers by land and sea, and all judges, councillors, officers of state, magistrates, Archbishops, Bishops, and high ecclesiastical dignitaries; bestowing all public honours, and pardoning criminals, besides exercis- ing many other powers, by the advice of the Cabinet Ministers, who, however, alone are respon- sible, the theory of English law being that the Sovereign cannot commit wrong. Another theory of our law is that the King (or Queen) never dies substantially, that the throne is never vacant, the succession of the heir being instantaneous. Hence the ceremony of a corona- tion is merely a solemn recognition and confirma- tion of the royal descent, and consequent right of 1838 with jewels taken from old crowns and others fur- nished by command of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. It consists of diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds set in silver and gold; it has a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and is lined with white silk. Its gross weight is 39 oz. 5 dwts. troy. The lower part , of the band, above the ermine border, consists of a row of 129 pearls, and the upper part of the band of a row of 112 pearls, between which, in front of the crown, is a large sapphire (partly drilled) purchased for the crown by King George IV. At the back is a sapphire of smaller size, and six other sapphires (three on each side), between which are eight emeralds. Above and below the seven sapphires are 14 diamonds, and around the eight emeralds 126 diamonds. Between the emeralds and the sapphires are 16 trefoil ornaments, containing 16 diamonds. Above the band are eight Fapphires, sur- mounted by eight diamonds, between which are eight festoons consisting of 148 diamonds. In the front of the crown, and in the centre of a diamond Maltese cross, is the famous ruby, said to have been given to Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Edwa'd IIL, called the Black Prince, by Don Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of Najera, near Vittoria, A.D. 1867. This ruby was worn in the helmet of Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt, A.D. 1415. It is pierced quite through, after the Eastern custom, the upper part of the piercing being filled up by a small ruby. Around this ruby, in order to form the cross, are 73 brilliant diamonds Three other Maltese crosses, forming the two sides and back of the crown, have emerald centres and contains respectively 132, 154, and 130 brilliant diamonds. Between the four Maltese crosses are four ornaments in the form of the French fleur-de-lis, with four rubies in the centres, and surrounded by rose diamonds, contain- I ing respectively 85, 86, and S7 rose diamonds. From the Maltese crosses issue four imperial arches composed of oak leaves and acorns; the leaves contain 728 rose, table,
 * The Imperial State Crown was made in the year
 * and brilliant diamonds; 32 pearls form the acorns, set

i in cups .containing 54 rose diamonds and one table I diamond The total number of diamonds in the arches and acorns is 108 brilliant, 116 table, and 559 rose I diamonds. From the upper part of the arches are sus- pended four large pendent pear-shaped pearls, with ' rose diamond cups, containing 12 rose diamonds, and j stems containing 24 very small rose diamonds. Above the arch stands the mound, containing in the lower hemisphere 204 brilliants,aud iu the upper,244brilliant8, the zone and arc being composed of 33 rose diamonds The cross on the summit, has a rose-cut sapphire in the centre, surrounded by four large brilliants, and 108 smaller brilliants. . Summary of jewels comprised in the crown : One large ruby, irregularly polishsd, one large broad-spread sapphire, 16 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies.1,363 brilliant diamonds, 1,273 rose diamonds 147 table diamonds, four drop-shaped pearls, and 373 pearls.