The imperial state crown, the latest incarnation of which has been resting on the Queen’s coffin as thousands of people have filed past this week, has witnessed many resonant moments in history, and a few less majestic ones too.
After the death of the Queen’s grandfather, George V, for instance, the king’s coffin was being transported from London’s King’s Cross station with the crown on top when the jolting of cobbled streets caused the diamond-encrusted globe on top, and the cross and sapphire it supports, to snap off and roll into a gutter.
