ELIZABETH WILL WEAR
PRICELESS CROWN JEWELS
The fabulous crown jewels in the Tower of London
By ROBERT F. S. JONES
LONDON — Britain’s crown
jeewls — the most priceless col
lection of precious stones in the
world—are just about ready for
the face lift they get only once
in a generation.
Shortly, royal jewelers, and
goldsmiths will be * polishing up
the diamonds and rubies, streng
thening the setting's, making al
terations here and there to the
glittering crowns and sceptres in
readiness for the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II next June 2.
The crown jewels—the stones
money cannot buy, although their
intrinsic value has been put at
around 25 million dollars—have
n’t always been so well looked
after. In the thousand or more
years that English monarchs have
been crowned, the regalia has
been stolen, pawned, melted
down—or just lost.
Most of the historic regalia—
the crowns, sceptres and swords
each flashing with diamonds—is
only around 300 years old, which
is young in the history of Eng
land. Oliver Cromwell and his
Commonwealth Roundheads melt
ed down and sold as much as they
could lay their hands on after
they abolished the monarchy in
1649. Otherwise, Britain’s young
queen might be wearing the same
crown that Alfred wore when he
was crowned first king of a uni
fied England in 871.
The Roundheads broke up Al
fred’s crown for scrap together
with the sceptres, orb and great
sword of state. In an inventory
made at the time, Alfred’s crown
was contemptuously described as
of “gold wirework set with slight
stones and two little balls” and
valued at only 243 pounds^
Luckily the Roundheads didn’t
do a very good job of destroying
the regalia and when the mon
archy was restored with King
Charles II a few years later many
of the precious stones—including
the huge fateful “Black Prince’s
ruby”—turned up again.
Charles had an entirely new set
of regalia made for his coronation
and this—with a few minor ex
ceptions—will be the set used in
the coronation of Queen Eliza
beth II.
The regalia is not just a magni
ficent set of meaningless objects
—each part of it has a special
traditional significance, even
down to the color of the stones
in the massive Crown of England.
It's a Neck Breaker
This is the crown that is worn
for only a few minutes—during
the actual crowning ceremony—
in a monarch’s lifetime. It’s too
heavy to be worn any longer—it
weighs 5 pounds — and for the
rest of the coronation and on
other state occasions a lighter
crown known as the imperial
state crown is used.
There was a great hullabaloo at
the coronation of Queen Victoria,
when the great jewelled sword of
state, symbol of kingly power and
the most valuable sword in the
world, couldn't be found. It re
mained lost until after Victoria’s
death, when Edward VII discov
ered it tucked away at the back
of a dusty old closet.
Edward decided this sort of
carelessness had gone far enough,
and ordered the regalia to be
placed in its present octagonal
glass show case in the Tower of
London.
The two oldest parts of the re
galia are the spoon with which
the archbishop of Canterbury an
noints the monarch, and the am
pulla, or flask, which contains
the oil.
Somehow Cromwell missed
these, which date back at least
1,000 years.
The gold ampulla is shaped like
an eagle with outstretched wings
to represent imperial domination,
and the oil is poured through the
beak into the silver gilt spoon.
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Ben Young
$13 Million Asked
Rebuilt Seward
Dock Facilities
WASHINGTON, UP>—Sen. Mag
nuson (D - Wash) Saturday en
dorsed a budget request totaling
more than 13V£ million dollars to
rebuild the Seward-Portage sec
tion of the Alaska Railroad and
construct a new dock at Seward.
He announced his support in a
prepared statement after being in
formed by Undersecretary of In
terior Vernon D. Northrup that
officials of the railroad fear “act
ual peril of life and property”
because of the substandard con
dition of the track and roadway.
The Seward-Portage line was
permitted to deteriorate, Magnu
son said, under a plan which
called for its abandonment in
favor of converting the military
port of Whittier to civilian use.
The military, however, plans to
retain Whittier as an excusively
military port indefinitely.
Northrup advised the senator
that closing the Seward-Portage
line now would deal “a body blow
to civilian activities in Alaska,”
but added that the line and re
lated dock facilities in Seward
“constitute a transportation bot
tleneck which cannot be elimi
nated without extensive rebuild
ing.”
Bering Sea Club
Dining Room
Now Open
DINNERS ONLY
4 - 12 p.m.
Presbyterian Executives
To Survey S.E. Alaska
Mission Next Spring
SEATTLE, Uf)—National Pres
byterian executives, ministers and
laymen will make a cruise to Al
aska next spring to survey mis
sions.
The trip was inspired by last
year’s convention cruise of the
Presbyterian Synod of Washing
ton, said the Rev. Dr. J. Earl
Jackman, executive secretary of
Alaskan work for the denomina
tion’s board of missions.
The group will leave Vancou
ver, iB.C., May 31 on the steam
ship Prince George, and return
June 8. Stops will be made at
Metlakatla, Ketchikan, Wrangell,
Sitka, Juneau, Petersburg, Skag
way and Haines.
The objective is to have Pres
byterians leaders study the mis
sionary program of Southeast Al
aska with the aim of providing
more aid from the states.
No Sabres Lost In 3 Weeks
By GEORGE McARTHUR
SEOUL, Uto — Two U.S. Sabre
jet pilots fought a twisting, run
ning air duel with eight Commun
ist MIG jets Saturday and said
they shot down one in the blazing
unequal battle.
The Sabres picked the fight.
They jumped the eight MIGs at
45,000 feet over northwest Korea.
In Tokyo, the Air Force dis
closed two B-29 Superforts were
shot down by Red night fighters
during the week and that 13
MIGs were destroyed against no
Sabres.
But Communist ground gunners
shot down five Allied warplanes,
and three planes were lost to
other causes, presumably mech
anical failure.
It was the third straight week
that the speedy Sabres emerged
unscathed from battles with Red
China’s touted Russian - built
MIGs.
’ " —t
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