1 The crown in the photo is the Imperial State Crown. Charles III was crowned with St Edward’s crown. After retreating to St Edward’s chapel he emerged wearing the Imperial State crown for the procession to Buckingham Palace. It’s a much lighter and more valuable crown
2 Henry IV’s head was allegedly full of lice
3 The almost blind Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, placed the crown the wrong way round on the head of Edward VII. The Archbishop died before the end of the year.
4 The queen who refused to have anything to do with her husband’s coronation was Marie Antoinette in 1626. She was a catholic and objected to the protestant ceremony
5 The queen who insisted on attending but was refused entry to the Abbey was Caroline of Brunswick , estranged queen of George IV. She died of laudanum poisoning two or three weeks later.
6 The king who spent thousands on his queen’s dress and jewellery was James II for Mary of Modena.
7 The Scottish King Alexander III and his nobles released their horses for anyone to claim them at the coronation of Edward I. The English nobles apparently followed suit.
8 The acclamations of rival groups of Norman and Saxon nobles panicked the soldiers guarding the Abbey at the coronation of William I
9 The writer holding one corner of the canopy at the coronation of James II was Samuel Pepys!
10 The coronation of Edward VII was postponed owing to the need for an appendectomy. Edward was keen to go ahead with the coronation at the abbey. His doctor informed him it was a choice between the operation or going to the Abbey in a wooden box. The doctor was Sir Frederick Treves, the man who befriended Joseph Merrick, often known as ‘the Elephant Man’