The crown we’re talking about here is the St. Edward’s Crown, the official headgear used in coronations. It’s the heavy one—literally. At over 4.9 pounds, it’s like wearing a small, very expensive, diamond-encrusted anvil on your head. No wonder monarchs don’t smile during the ceremony; their necks are fighting for survival.
Estimating its value is a nightmare for appraisers, mostly because you can’t exactly pop into a pawn shop with it. The crown is priceless in the official sense, but let’s be real—the Crown Jewels are insured, and guesses put the St. Edward’s Crown alone at £3.5 to £5 billion. That’s billion with a “b,” enough to buy every single avocado toast in London for a century.
What’s Actually On That Thing?
The crown is a medieval marvel made of solid gold, set with 444 precious stones. That includes 344 rose-cut diamonds, 18 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls, and a bunch of rubies that look like they’re plotting world domination. Fun fact booby trap: The “Black Prince’s Ruby” on the front is actually a spinel, not a ruby. Someone in the 14th century got really confused, and we’ve just rolled with it ever since.
If you tried to melt down the gold alone, you’d get about 5 pounds of 22-karat gold—worth around £100,000 these days. That’s pocket change for a crown that also has a diamond the size of a walnut. But honestly, who melts a crown? That’s like using a Fabergé egg as a paperweight. Sacrilege.
