Crowned Jewels: A Short History of Coronations Quiz

Answer: 43

In the first and most of the second millennia, European countries, in general, had kings and queens, and Asian countries had emperors as heads of state. These rulers, through hereditary claims, were usually both head of state and head and government. These absolute monarchs had absolute power with often judicial oversight as well. Over time, the power of the monarch has diminished or the monarchy has been eliminated. Most, but not all of these countries that have retained a monarchy, have formed constitutional monarchies with the monarch being retained as the head of state, mostly in a ceremonial role, and a separate elected figure as head of government.

Of the 193 members of the United Nations in 2025, 43 countries are monarchies. While the number of monarchies fell rapidly in the early 20th century, only one monarchy became a republic. In 2021 Barbados, one of the Commonwealth of Nations, replaced the Queen as Head of State with a president. Before that, Iran changed from a monarchy to a republic in 1979.

(The photo shows one of many of Richard Petty's NASCAR stock cars - perhaps his most famous. Nearly all of his cars were numbered 43 including this one with the number purposely obscured.)

Answer: South America

There are seven reigning royal houses in Europe: The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom (2022). The monarch of the latter is also the head of state in 14 other countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations, the largest being Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Also in Europe, Andorra has two princes, (one each from France and one from Spain), and Liechtenstein has a sovereign prince and Luxembourg has a Grand Duke.

In addition to Europe, monarchies can be found in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Malaysia is unusual as its monarch is elected.

In South America there are no monarchies in its 12 independent nations, which are all all republics. This is because there were no independent countries in South America until 1821. When the colonies of European nations cut ties, they all became republics (rather than maintain a monarch as head of state) to further distance themselves from their former European Masters.

(The photo depicts a jaguar which is predominantly found in South America).

Answer: Japan

Japan's royal family has been very stable, having reigned in the country for over 2,600 years under the same hereditary line. Initially, the Emperor had absolute power, but during the Meiji Restoration a period of significant political and massive social change in Japan took place. The office of prime minister as head of government was established in the 1880s, making this role head of government. Initially, the PM was chosen and appointed by the emperor. After the change of constitution in 1947, the prime minister was selected by the Diet before being formally appointed by the emperor.

In 2025 the seven countries that were absolute monarchies were Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and Vatican City. Within the UAE, each of the emirates is an absolute monarchy as it is a federation of monarchies. In an absolute monarchy, the monarch has full and absolute political power as they can amend, reject, or create laws, represent the country's overseas interests, and appoint other political leaders.

(The photo depicts the cherry blossom, an endearing symbol in Japanese culture.)

Answer: A ceremony to mark the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power

A coronation is the formal investiture of the monarch giving them regal power (pictured). There may also be a conference of regalia, which originally was ceremonial robes and vestments, but over time have included sets of emblems and symbols, or indicative of royal status, as well as the rights, and privileges to which a sovereign is entitled. There may be vows required of the new monarch. In some Christian denominations, (eg Lutheranism and Anglicanism), the coronation is also a religious rite that may include anointing the monarch with holy oil.

The monarch's consort may also be crowned at the same. This occurred in 2024 when King Charles III and Queen Camilla shared the same coronation.

Answer: Crown

A coronation is essentially a crowning of the monarch. In the days before coronations, the crowning of a monarch was the legal requirement for a monarch to rule. In the first millennia, there are several accounts of monarchs being crowned hastily to stop any other claim to the throne.

When King Charles III had his coronation in May 2023, he was crowned with St. Edward's Crown, which is the traditional British coronation crown used since 1661 when King Charles II was crowned; it was also the coronation crown worn by Queen Elizabeth II. The crown is considered sacred, and it only leaves the Tower of London for the coronation of a new monarch. (At the end of the coronation, King Charles wore the Imperial State Crown for the procession to Buckingham Palace.)

An enthronement is the ceremony of inauguration marking a monarch's accession to the role without there being a crown or crowning ceremony. There may or may not be a throne either. Enthronement in this context is the recognition of a symbol of authority in both secular and spiritual contexts.

(The photo depicts Kronentor in Dresden, Germany. The palace complex is an 18th-century Baroque gateway topped with an ornate crown marking the entrance to a palace complex).

Answer: one

At one point nearly all European monarchies had coronation ceremonies (ie a crowning). However, The Netherlands and Belgium have never practised them, and the four remaining constitutional monarchies, (Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Norway) have changed to simpler ceremonies. This means that the United Kingdom is the only monarchy in Europe that still practices coronations.

Other nations still crowning their rulers include Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Thailand, and Tonga. The coronations of Bhutan, Cambodia, and Thailand have coronations that are deeply embedded in Buddhist traditions. Tonga, the only monarchy in the Pacific that does not have the monarch of the United Kingdom as its head of state, is the one country that has a coronation proclamation similar to the grandiose spectacle of the coronations of the British monarchs.

(The photo depicts a Formula 1 racing car).

Answer: William I

The coronation of King Charles III was the 40th time a sovereign has been crowned in Westminster Abbey - the first was William the Conqueror (William I), who was crowned there on Christmas Day in 1066. The Battle of Hastings took place on October 14, 1066, making the beginning of the Norman conquest of England, displacing the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry (pictured).

It was Henry III who rebuilt the church in the Gothic style which is the abbey as we know it today. The abbey was designed especially so there was a dedicated, very visible space for coronation ceremonies. Edward I was the first monarch to be crowned in the current church.

The signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 by King John, limited many of the absolute powers of the monarch by establishing the rule of law, asserting that the king was subject to the law in the same manner as his subjects. As such, the document could be considered the foundation for the start of a constitutional monarchy as it provided the foundation for democratic proclamations.

Answer: Edward V

Not all English and British monarchs had a coronation. Two kings and one queen were never crowned. As a period elapsed between accession and coronation, usually, to give the incumbent some time to grieve for their parent's passing, sometimes events intervened to prevent the coronation.

Edward V was only twelve when he died. He became King when his father died in 1483. He and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, were known as the Princes in the Tower. They disappeared after being sent to the Tower Of London by their uncle and Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester. Their disappearances and deaths were attributed to this man, who subsequently became King Richard III. Edward V ruled for all but three months and was never crowned.

In June 1553 King Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Lady Jane Grey as his successor to the Crown as she was a Protestant. After nine days of rule, the Privy Council of England deposed her and proclaimed her cousin, Mary I, a Catholic, the new Queen on 19 July 1553.

Edward VIII, who ruled for most of 1936, also had no coronation, as he abdicated on 11th December before the end of the then customary one-year gap between accession and coronation. It should be noted that the monarch in Britain becomes monarch upon their parent's death. The coronation merely ratifies an event that occurred previously.

Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector, never a king, though he was offered the title. He and then his son Richard ruled England as a republic from 1649 to 1660 until Charles II was brought back from exile in The Netherlands to restore the monarchy.

King John was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in May 1199, after his brother, Richard I died without an heir. He ruled until 1216.

(The photo depicts a portrait of King Edward V.)

Answer: Elizabeth II (UK) 1953

When Queen Elizabeth's coronation took place in 1953, Britain was still reeling from the cost of WWII. Rationing was still in place until 1954 and life in Britain at the time, was austere. Coronations that century were not infrequent. They had taken place in 1902, 1910, and 1937, but this was the first one since the war ended. Princess Elizabeth was popular with the British. She had worked as an army mechanic during the war. Her marriage to Prince Phillip in 1947 (pictured) in Westminster Abbey attracted a worldwide audience on radio. While it was not televised, highlights were seen on TV the same night and a newsreel was available in cinemas.

Queen Elizabeth's coronation was seen as a shining light in a fairly bleak 1950s Britain. It was a lavish affair and the church service itself was televised inside Westminster Abbey. This was a first. (King George VI's coronation procession was televised in 1937, but there were no cameras permitted inside the abbey.). The UK population in 1953 was 44 million, but 27 million watched the televised events. A license was required to own a television in 1953. Licenses doubled from 1.5 million to three million in the time between the Queen's ascension and coronation.

The coronation itself, despite the pageantry, was traditional. Queen Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, and draped and adorned with robes and regalia. She was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. (As India was part of the Commonwealth of Nations but had joined as a republic on independence, India was no longer part of the Dominion, so an allegiance to India was not necessary.) After the service and the procession back to Buckingham Palace, the Queen made a live radio broadcast to thank the public for their support. A public holiday was declared. The United Kingdom, once again looked to the future optimistically. Queen Elizabeth served her country faithfully and diligently without pause for seventy years.

(The picture shows the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1947 which also took place in Westminster Abbey.)

Answer: King Charles III

There was a period of great uncertainty when Henry V died in 1422. His son Henry was only nine months old at this time. His mother, Catherine of Valois, was only twenty years old at this time, a minor. However, she was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, so technically the new king, Henry VI of England was also the King of France. A guardian position, 'Protector and Defender of the Realm and the Church' (Regent of England) was created until the King was old enough to rule which was declared to be the age of 16. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry IV's youngest son, was given this position. However, because of the political situation between Britain and France, the new King was crowned in 1437 in Westminster Abbey when he was only eight years old (pictured). He was crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris in December 1431. While the regent was the effective monarch of both England and France, the fact Henry VI had been crowned ratified his position as King of England and France.

Charles, Prince of Wales was the oldest heir apparent until his ascension as King Charles III when he was 73 years 298 days old. Charles was also the longest-serving heir apparent, as his mother ruled for 70 years 214 days, all of which Charles served as heir apparent. (His mother besides having the longest reign of any British monarch, was also the longest-lived British monarch who was aged 96 years, 140 days when she passed). Queen Camilla was crowned in the same ceremony. King Charles modernised the service (the last one was 70 years ago) but it was still based around an Anglican service of Holy Communion.

The coronation of King Charles III was the most-watched TV program in the United Kingdom in 2023 with 20 million viewers. This was, however, smaller than the television audience for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral the previous year, in which 29 million people watched this ceremony.

The second photo (right) is of a Camilla flower. This was a hint about the answer. Queen Camilla is of course, the consort of King Charles III.