The life of a monarch can often be a mystery to us; we only really know about the few things that make it out of the palaces.
In the new documentary Coronation Girls, King Charles revealed that his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who passed away in September 2022 at the age of 96, used to wear her crown to bath time with her kids.
The King spoke about his coronation
In the documentary Coronation Girls, which follows the story of Canadian girls who attended Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, King Charles III spoke about his.
He recalled feeling “slightly anxious” at his own Coronation, as he was worried the heavy crown would “wobble.”
King Charles recalled how his mother dealt with the crown
The King recalled what his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had done prior to her Coronation to get used to the heavy weight of the St Edward’s Crown, which weighs five pounds.
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The Queen would wear it around the palace, including during her kids’ bath time.
Queen Elizabeth II wore the crown to bath time
“My mama used to come up at bath time wearing the crown to practice,” the King told his Canadian visitors in the documentary.
“You have to get used to how heavy [the crown] is,” he explained before adding, “I’ve never forgotten, I can still remember it vividly.”
Coronation Girls follows an interesting story
The new documentary Coronation Girls follows the story of 50 women who were sent from Canada as teen girls to attend the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
The girls were sponsored by a Canadian businessman, Garfield Weston, on their trip to the UK.
The women are now revisiting that experience
Today, 12 of those girls are seen revisiting their experiences in the UK in 1953 where they stayed for 7 weeks. Many of them hadn’t left their home areas before, let alone left Canada.
Having not seen much outside of their local lives, the trip to London as teenagers was an unforgettable one.
The King took his guests on a tour
As King Charles walked his Canadian guests around Buckingham Palace, he told them about the St Edward’s Crown, the one used at Coronations.
“It is much heavier and taller, so there’s always that feeling of feeling slightly anxious, in case it wobbles. You have to carry it, you have to look straight ahead,” he said.
He also recalled his mother’s Coronation
The King also shared his memories from Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, saying, “My grandmother explained things to me while I was there. I can remember quite a lot, yes, well, particularly what I was dressed in and what the barber did to me before.”
King Charles still remembers the Queen’s Coronation
King Charles told his guests that he still remembers the experience prior to his late mother’s Coronation, which they had also attended.
In talking about the Queen wearing the crown to practice, he said, “I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening.”
The King shared why his mother would wear it often
“It is very important to wear it [the crown] for a certain amount of time, because you get used to it then,” The King explained why his mother would often wear the crown prior to her Coronation.
The King was four years old when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, one year after her father, the late King George VI, passed in 1952.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown
It seems that the crown is heavy in more than one way, and being a monarch doesn’t only take a lot of mental resilience but physical strength too.
The heavy 17th Century St Edward’s Crown continues to be placed on every British monarch’s shoulders.
