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United Kingdom: Crowns on Flags

Last modified: 2005-07-23 by rob raeside
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Names used to describe British crowns

The names used to describe British Crowns can be arranged into four categories:
Actual Crowns.
Representations of Actual Crowns.
Symbolic Representations of Crowns.
Abstract Crown.

Actual Crowns.
1. St Edward's Crown. Used to crown the Monarch at the Coronation Service.
2. Imperial State Crown. The working crown. Worn by the Monarch after the Coronation Service and for the Opening of Parliament.
3. Scottish Crown. Part of the Scottish Regalia.
4. Queen Victoria's Small Diamond Crown. Crown made for Queen Victoria in 1870.
5. Crown of India. Worn by King George V at the Delhi Durbar in 1911.

Representations of Actual Crowns.
1. St Edward's. The usual representation of the crown since 1952. Some Victorian representations of crowns are also obviously St Edward's Crown.
2. Scottish. Used, since 1952, where the Scottish Crown is more appropriate than the English St Edward's Crown.
3. Queen Victoria's Small Diamond Crown. Used on crowned effigies of Victoria, on coins and medals, after her Silver Jubilee in 1887.

Symbolic Representations of Crowns.
1. Various Victorian Crowns which are not identifiable as St Edward's Crowns, described by King Edward VII as, "Foreign Continental Crowns" and "different deviations of the British Crown".
2. Tudor Crown. The standard pattern representational crown with raised arches, used between 1901 and 1952. Introduced by King Edward VII who described it as - "the Tudor, 'Henry VII' Crown, chosen and always used by Queen Victoria personally". This was, presumably, a reference to Queen Victoria's Small Diamond Crown, which in shape, is similar to the Tudor Crown.

Abstract Crown. The Imperial Crown. (Not the Imperial State Crown).
Correctly used, the term "Imperial" can be applied to any crown, actual or representational, between 1547 and 1952. In 1952 some terms, that had been in used in Proclamations of Accession since 1820, were changed. The first draft included,
"... the Imperial Crown of Great Britain Ireland and all other His late Majesty's Dominions is surely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary our only lawful and rightful Liege Lady Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, ...".
But in the final draft it had been changed to;
"... the Crown is surely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Queen of this Realm and of all other Her Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth, ..."
Clearly some changes to the wording had to be made, but "Imperial Crown" could have been retained. On 9th February 1952, Sir Norman Brook, Secretary to the Cabinet, wrote, "I see now that it was unnecessary and perhaps mistaken to avoid references to 'Imperial Crown'."  "Imperial" was a reference to "sovereignty", not "empire", and was first used by King Henry VIII in an Act Forbidding Appeals to Rome; "... manifestly declare and express that this Realm of England is an empire and so hath been accepted in the world .." In his Commentaries, Blackstone wrote; "The meaning of the legislature when it uses the terms of Empire and Imperial and applies them to the Realm and Crown of England is only to assert that our King is equally Sovereign and independent within these his dominions as any Emperor is in his Empire; and owes no kind of subjection to any other potentate on earth."
David Prothero, 19 April 2005

State or Victorian Crown

[State crown] by Jarig Bakker, from the illustration of the Royal Mail pennant in Flags at Sea

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Tudor Crown

[Imperial or Tudor crown] by y T.F. Mills

St. Edward's Crown

[St Edward's crown] by T.F. Mills

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There have been three basic 'crown shapes' on British flags, though there are variations within each basic shape.

  • The state crown as made for Queen Victoria (c.1837). This is a square crown. The top is almost flat, with just a suspicion of a dip in the centre. This crown was phased out from 1880 onwards but continued on existing flags designs until about 1902, when an effort appears to have been made to replace it with ...
  • The imperial crown, often referred to as the Tudor crown has a rounded top. It was introduced by Edward VII in about 1902 and was in use until the accession of Elizabeth II in 1953 when it was replaced by St. Edwards crown. A Colonial Office Circular Dispatch from 14th June 1901 refers to "Drawings showing Imperial Cyphers as selected by His Majesty." and "H.M. desires that the Tudor crown may be substituted for any other pattern now in use, as new articles become necessary." Later that year a Circular Despatch of 16th November directed that, in accordance with instructions from the Admiralty, those flag badges based on the seal should not be changed until the seal had first been changed. Both Circulars in PRO Document CO 854/37.
  • St Edward's crown. This is similar to the first crown above, but with a much more pronounced dip in the centre of the top. It was introduced by Elizabeth II in 1953. See below for discussion on the reasons for the change in the crown.
Unfortunately, the Queen Victoria state crown was often drawn in a weak, ill-defined style and later illustrators, presumably imagining that it was a badly drawn St Edward's crown, redrew it accordingly.

David Prothero, 23 February 1999, 27, 30 September 2000

I am posting drawings of the imperial or Tudor crown (1902-1953) and the St Edward's crown (1953-present). As was noted above, the Victorian crowns were not very well regulated and there are numerous variations. But the Tudor and St. Edward's crowns are very well regulated. There was a transition period of up to five years (1953-58) for the adoption of the St. Edward's crown in many institutions, and there were, of course, exceptions where it was never updated.

T.F. Mills, 24 February 1999

Contemporary documents in 1901 and for some time after that refer to the "Imperial Crown" mean the real "Imperial State Crown" and not the icon