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I got thinking about this after the Olympics when pictures of the Swedish and British royal family were floating around, and then after seeing this image of nine European monarchs pre-WWI.
I would guess it happened sometime during the industrial revolution, but there are still some famous images of Queen Victoria from that time period - hence the question.
Thanks!
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This is outside my realm of knowledge but I've always just assumed that the paintings we see of monarchs were they are wearing their crown is much the same as a modern day monarch in that they wore the crown for official occassions, official portraits etc. but would follow the fashions of the day the rest of the time.
I'd imagine wearing a crown on a day-to-day basis is cumbersome and tiring.
Seconded. Those things are heavy and would cause serious damage to just wear around casually. Earlier crowns were simpler, and tiaras may be different, but wearing one for a portrait is not the same as wearing one every day.
Also, just do a google image search for the queen, she is wearing a crown in more than half of those pics because those are portraits of some sort.
To the extent that the morning of the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears the crown about the house to adjust to it's great weight. Staff have reported the somewhat off-putting appearance of her majesty eating breakfast or reading a newspaper with twelve inch tall array of gold and jewels on her head
that's a joke, right? The mental image is hilarious.
Nope, she used to bathe her children at bath time while wearing the state crown to get used to its weight
That is so awesome
...very carefully, so as to not drop the crown in the bath.
nope. That shit be heavy
Man if I had a crown I'd do that too. "Oh man, see this awesome crown? I just need to wear it around all the time, y'know, to adust to the weight. Mmmmm, sure is a nice crown though, right?"
Never has a piece of relevant information come from someone with so fitting a username. How do they secure that thing, to make sure it sits properly on her head when she's moving around in that fashion? I always assumed it was largely poise, but if one is doing daily activities with it on...I mean, a crown is not exactly the kind of hat one can wear "askew."
It would not be a nice experience to sleep with a crown on.
I believe mock-crowns were worn in battle to help point out the kings in the chaos. Robert Bruce definitely had a kind of crown as part of his helmet but I'm less sure about others.
I'd imagine they used the crowns for formal occasions, as they do now. Then wore something lighter, like a circlet for less formal ones (for instance at mealtimes or when on the move, or at a tournament)..
Kings didn't just wear crowns on a daily basis ever. Most of the crowns you are thinking of are coronation or state crowns anyway, so they're only worn during coronations or state occasions/portraits. They did have other forms of headwear, but they were less elaborate than full-blown crowns and they're way out of fashion now, obviously.
Crowns are usually awkwardly sized or really heavy. The crown of St. Stephen, for example, was too big for the average head and had to be worn on top of a leather cap. The crown of St. Edward was almost 5 pounds heavy and a lot of queens and kings decided to not use it during coronation, including Queen Victoria. The Tudor imperial crown was even heavier - just the gold was 8 or something pounds. You can imagine how awkward and impractical it would be to wear these on a daily basis. Most crowns that survive today are between 2 and 5 pounds, which is still awkward to wear. Try getting a 5 pound sack of something and put it on your head for an extended period of time.
Historically different levels of nobility also had specific headgear, like the coronet. They've been long out of fashion though. You can still see these on top of heraldry.
St. Stephen, you mean the Hungarian crown? That was only worn at coronation, not even at state occasions.
That's what I'm saying - they were worn so seldomly that it didn't really matter how awkward and ill-fitting they really were, but that meant that historically they weren't wore outside of coronations either.
For one powerful monarchy we know exactly when the monarch stopped wearing his crown... Or rather: all three of them. As part of the Vatican II council in 1963, Pope Paul VI put down the tiara as a gesture of relinquishing claims to worldly power and possessions.
We don't think of the Catholic Church as an aristocracy any more, but it is deeply ingrained in its structure - the lateran treaties of 1929, which gave Vatican City (back) to the church, describe in detail the level of privilege and honors that must be bestowed on its hierarchy: the Pope is to be treated as a King, the Cardinals as Princes of the Blood, etc