A Geologist's view of the Coronation of King Charles III

James McFarlane, managing director at Tungston West plc recently posted on LinkedIn a timely geological aspect to the crowing of King Charles III.
This may be particularly interesting wherein the AusIMM is incorporated as a Royal Charter by the Australian Governor General at the time of Queen Elizabeth II.

1. While you may know that the coronation chair is the oldest piece of furniture in the UK still being used for its original purpose (at more than 700 years old), you may not know that it was designed and built specifically to hold a block of Devonian Lower Red Sandstone (Pictured).
   Known as the Stone of Destiny/Scone, and quarried in the region of Scone, Scotland, it is believed to represent the rock where kings of Scotland were crowned before removal to England by Edward I in 1296. As a way to assert authority over Scotland he had a chair built to hold the rock for future coronations.
   Speculation abounds if Edward I took the real stone or a duplicate, and after being damaged by a Suffragette bomb in 1914 and stolen and returned to Scotland in 1950 a minor fault in the sandstone caused the rock to break in two. It was repaired by a Glaswegian stonemason and returned in time for HM Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.
   Returned officially to Scotland in 1996, it resides in Edinburgh Castle but was returned for the coronation.
   
   The Sovereigns Sceptre held during the ceremony contains the worlds largest clear cut diamond; The Cullinan I. This is the largest of one of nine diamonds cut from the original Cullinan, the worlds largest ever diamond at 3,106 carats. Discovered in South Africa in 1905 just 5.5m below the surface at the Premier Mine by Frederick Wells (Pictured) and named after mine owner Sir Thomas Cullinan.
   The Transvaal government purchased it and presented it to Edward VII. The value of the diamond was such that a special protected steamboat was commissioned to escort the diamond to London, and with all eyes on that decoy, the stone was actually sent by registered post.
   Abraham Asscher in the Netherlands was selected to cut the diamond which meant another trip/risk of theft. Now the Royal Navy were given the task of protection, but once again this was a decoy and Abraham travelled home with the stone in his coat pocket.
   Abraham took weeks to deliberate how to cut the stone and supposedly fainted after making the first cut to break the stone.
   
   3. The King was crowned with St. Edwards Crown, however at more than 2kg in weight, the King left wearing the lighter Imperial Crown (Pictured) which holds the Cullinan II, the second largest stone cut from the original diamond. However, pride of place is an uncut red stone known as the Black Prince's Ruby and represents one of the oldest parts of the Crown Jewells having been presented to its namesake in 1367 and one of the few pieces of the original Mediaeval Crown Jewels to survive after their destruction post the English Civil War.
   However, and as most geologists will no doubt commiserate with, the Royal Family are also victims of mineralogists changing classifications of rocks and minerals. Therefore, due to its magnesium content, it's now officially classified as a spinel, not a ruby…