The Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey: 700 Years Old

Short answer: the Coronation Chair is the oak chair on which English and British monarchs have been crowned in Westminster Abbey since 1308. Edward I had it made in 1300 to 1301 to hold the Stone of Scone, taken from Scotland in 1296, so it is more than 700 years old. It stands behind glass in St George’s Chapel, off the nave, and was last used for King Charles III on 6 May 2023.

If you are here for the crossword clue “like the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey”: the chair is oak, and the Abbey describes it as an “oaken chair”.

Made for Edward I in 1300

Edward I ordered the chair to enclose the Stone of Scone, which he brought to the Abbey in 1296 and placed in the care of the Abbot of Westminster. The Abbey dates the chair to 1300 to 1301. Wikipedia names the carpenter as Walter of Durham and says the carving ran from summer 1297 to March 1300. A bronze chair was considered first and rejected as too expensive.

It was not always the dark wood you see today. The chair was painted by Master Walter, decorated with birds, foliage and animals on a gilt ground. On the back is a painted king, either Edward the Confessor or Edward I, with his feet on a lion. Most of the gilding and coloured glass has been lost.

The four gilt lions under the seat came later. The first lions were added in the early 16th century, and the present ones were made in 1727.

The Stone of Scone and its return to Scotland

The Stone of Scone is a block of sandstone weighing 152 kg. Scottish kings were crowned on it until John Balliol in 1292. It sat in a compartment under the chair’s seat for most of the next seven centuries.

Its modern history is eventful:

• 25 December 1950: Scottish nationalists stole it from the Abbey. It was recovered in April 1951 and returned to the chair in February 1952.
• Second World War: the chair was evacuated to Gloucester Cathedral, and the Stone was secretly buried in the Abbey.
• 3 July 1996: Prime Minister John Major announced the Stone would go back to Scotland, returning only for coronations.
• 13 November 1996: Historic Scotland removed it from the chair. It was shown at Edinburgh Castle until 2024 and is now in the museum at Perth.
• 2023: it came back to the Abbey and was reunited with the chair for the coronation of King Charles III.

So the chair you see today stands empty.

Graffiti from Westminster schoolboys

The back of the chair is covered in carved names. Westminster schoolboys and visitors cut them into the wood in the 18th and 19th centuries. One visitor carved “P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800” on the seat.

The chair has had harder knocks. In 1914 a bomb attack, thought to be the work of suffragettes, knocked a small corner off it. Wikipedia dates the attack to 11 June 1914 and records that none of the 70 people in the Abbey was hurt.

Used at every coronation since 1308

The Abbey says the chair has been used at coronations since 1308, though historians disagree about when it was first used for the crowning itself. It was certainly used by 1399, when Henry IV was crowned in it. From James I onwards it has been used for both the anointing and the crowning.

There are exceptions:

• Mary I refused it, believing it “polluted” by her predecessor; a different chair was used.
• At the joint coronation of William III and Mary II in 1689, William used the ancient chair and a second chair was made for Mary. It is still in the Abbey’s collections.

The chair has left the Abbey twice for state occasions: Oliver Cromwell sat in it when he was installed as Lord Protector in Westminster Hall, and it was used at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee services in 1887.

At a coronation the chair is moved to the centre of the church, in front of the high altar. For King Charles III on 6 May 2023, it stood on the central roundel of the 13th-century Cosmati pavement, and he was seated in it for the anointing, investiture and crowning. See coronations at Westminster Abbey.

Where to see it on a visit

The chair stands on a plinth behind glass in St George’s Chapel, off the nave. It has moved around: for centuries it was kept in St Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, then moved to the ambulatory in February 1998 after that chapel closed to general visitors. It went to St George’s Chapel in April 2010 for conservation, the restored chair was shown in 2012, and a new plinth and canopy designed by the Abbey’s Surveyor, Ptolemy Dean, followed in 2013.

It is on the standard visitor route, and personal photos without flash are allowed in most areas of the Abbey. The Westminster Abbey entrance ticket costs $43 and includes a multimedia guide. For the coronation story told on the spot, a guided tour of the Abbey costs from $100. See our guide to what is inside Westminster Abbey for the rest of the route.