May 06, 2023 – Westminster, UK
King Charles III sat on this rock today.
The Stone of Destiny has been part of coronation rituals since, well, since nobody really knows when.
Also known as The Stone of Scone, the 335 lb block was used as a coronation seat by successive Kings of Scotland as far back as the fifth century, perhaps longer. Housed at Scone Abbey, near Perth, Scotland, each new Scottish king sat upon the stone as the crown was placed on his head.
In 1296 during the First War of Scottish Independence, King Edward I of England seized the stone and took it to Westminster Abbey as spoils of war.
The Stone of Destiny was imbedded in a wooden throne known as King Edward’s Chair.
But the Scots badly wanted their rock back. In 1328, in a treaty between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, England agreed to return The Stone of Destiny, but rioting at Westminster Abbey prevented the transfer. The stone remained at Westminster for another six centuries. It was used at the coronation of every British monarch, up to and including Queen Elizabeth II.
The Stone of Destiny lived a hard life in the 20th century. In 1914, a bomb was placed near it by the Women’s Social and Political Union (“Suffragettes”). No one was killed in the bombing, but the stone developed a diagonal crack and eventually broke in two.
During WWII, The Stone of Destiny was moved to a stronghold hiding place. The fear was that the Nazis might seize the ancient artefact and use it as a propaganda tool. Only a few people knew where the stone was hidden, (in a burial vault, behind lead-lined coffins). Fearing that the few individuals who knew the stone’s location might all be killed during the war, they shared the secret of the stone’s location with the Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, who kept the note in a vault at the Bank of Canada.
After the war The Stone of Destiny resumed its place in Westminster Abbey.
On Christmas Day 1950, a group of Scottish nationalists broke into Westminster Abbey to steal the Stone of Destiny and return it to Scotland. They succeeded by removing the stone in two pieces.
The stone went missing for several months. During that time one piece was buried in a field in Kent, where the Scottish nationalists were camping. The other half spent time in a trunk in the basement of the home of an accomplice. During the night of 11 April 1951, The Stone of Destiny was left on the alter of Arbroath Abbey in Scotland.
Because the stone had been repatriated illegally, Scottish authorities agreed to return it to England. The two pieces were glued back together by a Scottish stonemason, and the Stone of Destiny was returned to Westminster intact.
In 1996, 700 years after it left Scotland the first time, the Stone of Destiny had its destiny restored. It was transported to Edinburgh Castle to remain there in perpetuity, except for coronation ceremonies.
Today The Stone of Destiny is back at Westminster and King Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Canada and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, is sitting on it.
The ancient history of The Stone of Destiny is lost, but rumours about its origin abound. Some people believe it originated in Ireland as the Lia Fáil, on which Irish monarchs were crowned. Other people believe that the stone has biblical origins. It is believed by some to be The Stone of Jacob (Jacob’s Pillow from Genesis 28), transported to the British Isles by the prophet Jeremiah.
Geologists have since proven that The Stone of Destiny is a block of “lower old red sandstone”, quarried a few miles from Scone, Scotland around the time the first Scone Abbey was built in 1114 CE.
Which, from my cynical point of view, is confirmation that Charles is just a man, and The Stone of Destiny is …
… just a rock.
GG
Rock on man!