The Petite Crown of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria wearing her small crown.

Queen Victoria wore the Imperial State Crown until the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861. He was the love of Victoria's life.  Ever since her husband's death, Victoria went into a deep state of mourning, and would wear nothing but black for the rest of her life.  She refused to make appearances in public. Eventually in 1870 the government wanted Victoria back out in public but she would not wear the Imperial State Crown.  Part of the reason was that she would be unable to wear it with her mourning veil.  Victoria said that the crown was too heavy as well.

This is to show how tiny the crown is.

As a solution to her complaints, the government made a small crown as a replacement.  This crown would be able to sit on top of her mourning veil. In the end Victoria was happy, as well as the government. The veil showed that she was a widow, while the crown still showed that she was the queen.  The crown was made by R & S Garrard & Company. This tiny crown also mimicked her size, as the queen was roughly 5 feet tall. The crown is 3.7 inches high and 3.4 inches wide, covered with 1,300  diamonds from the queen's personal collection.  It was considered acceptable for a woman in mourning black to wear diamonds.

Queen Alexandra wearing the small crown.

The first time the crown was worn was on February 9th, 1871 at the State Opening of Parliament in Westminster.  After Queen Victoria died, the crown was given to the British Parliament. The crown had been passed down to Queen Alexandra (whom I was named after) and then to Queen Mary.  In 1937 King George VI put the crown on display in the Tower of London, although the crown is property of the queen.