Today, we uncover the incredible history of the Coronation Chair (also known as St Edward's Chair), the oldest piece of furniture in England still used for its original high-stakes purpose.Commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to house the legendary Stone of Scone, this magnificent oak chair has been the centerpiece for every British monarch’s coronation since 1399, including King Charles III. It is a true survivor—a historical relic that has endured centuries of wear and tear, political turmoil, and even a bomb attack in 1914.Discover the shocking truth of the chair's original design—it was once gilded in gold and adorned with colored glass! We also reveal the astonishing and irreverent graffiti carved into its back by 18th-century schoolboys and tourists.Join us as we explore the secrets of this beautiful, battered, and irreplaceable symbol of the British monarchy, housed within Westminster Abbey.
Welcome to Old as Gold.
Today we're stepping back over 700 years to look at a piece of furniture that isn't just an antique.
It's a dramatic, splintered, and graffitied survivor of British history.
Forget Museum Velvet, this is the oldest chair in England still used for its original high-stakes purpose.
The Coronation Chair.
It lives appropriately in Westminster Abbey, but its story doesn't begin in London.
It starts with an act of war.
In 1296, King Edward I, known as the Hammer of the Scots, seized the legendary Stone of Scone,
a sacred slab used for crowning Scottish kings, and brought it to England as a prize.
He immediately commissioned a carpenter named Walter of Durham to build a magnificent, high-backed, Gothic-style oak case to house it.
That chair, completed around 1300, is what we see today.
For seven centuries, from Henry IV in 1399 right up to King Charles III in 2023,
every single crowned English and British monarch has been seated upon it.
It is, quite simply, the oldest dated piece of furniture in the country made by a known artist.
It wasn't always the rough, aged wood you see today, though.
When it was new, it was covered in glittering gold leaf, painted with images of saints, and inlaid with colored glass.
It would have shone like a priceless jewel, but the centuries have not been kind to its glamour.
Over time, the golden jewels have worn away, revealing the humble oak underneath.
But the signs of history run deeper than just wear and tear.
If you look closely at the back, you can see faint, crude carvings.
These are not the work of medieval craftsmen.
They're graffiti left by 18th- and 19th-century Westminster schoolboys and tourists,
who, unbelievably, were once allowed to sit on the chair for a small fee.
One famous inscription reads,
The chair has been a witness to, and a participant in, some of Britain's most turbulent moments.
It was taken out of the abbey and used by Oliver Cromwell when he was installed as Lord Protector.
It survived a bomb attack, likely by suffragettes, in 1914.
And during World War II, it was carefully evacuated to the crypt of Gloucester Cathedral to protect it from the Blitz.
It truly is a testament to the old-is-gold philosophy.
A functional relic, beaten, carved, and battered, yet still holding its central, irreplaceable role in the monarchy.
The coronation chair is more than a seat.
It's a time capsule that links us directly to the power, pageantry, and sometimes the irreverence of a thousand years of history.
