The Crown Jeweller is responsible for the maintenance of the

Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom The Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, originally the Crown Jewels of England, are a collection of royal ceremonial objects kept in the Tower of London which include the Coronation of the British monarch, coronation regalia and vestments worn ...

, and is appointed by the

British monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

. The current Crown Jeweller is Mark Appleby, who was appointed in 2017.

History

The post was created in 1843 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, who issued a royal warrant to

Garrard & Co Garrard & Co. Limited, formerly Asprey & Garrard Limited, designs and manufactures luxury jewellery and silver. George Wickes founded Garrard in London in 1735 and the brand is headquartered at Albemarle Street in Mayfair, London. Garrard also ...

., and the title of Crown Jeweller was vested in an employee of the company. Until then, Rundell & Bridge, who advertised themselves as Crown jewellers, had been responsible for maintaining and preparing Jewels for use at state occasions. If the title had existed before 1843, it would have applied to William Jones of Jefferys & Jones (1782–96), Philip Gilbert of Jefferys, Jones & Gilbert (1797–1820), and Rundell & Bridge (1821–43). Before 1782, the work of repairing and making the Crown Jewels was distributed to various goldsmiths and jewellers on an ad-hoc basis. David V. Thomas (1991–2007) stated that he had been always on call, ready to attend to the Jewels.

William Summers William Summers (4 November 1853 – 1 January 1893). Retrieved on 27 August 2009. was a British politician and barrister. He was born in Stalybridge, the second son of John Summers, the local ironmaster, and his wife Mary. Education Willi ...

, the sixth Crown Jeweller (1962–91), said of his job: "Where the Crown goes, there go I". In 2007, Garrard & Co. were replaced, the reason given that it was time for a change. The company had been acquired by a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

in 2006. Harry Collins of the family business G. Collins & Sons, who was also Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

's personal jeweller, was appointed the new Crown Jeweller. In 2012, Collins stepped down from the role and Martin Swift of

Mappin & Webb Mappin & Webb (M&W) is an international jewellery company headquartered in England. Mappin & Webb traces its origins to a silver workshop founded in Sheffield in . It now has retail stores throughout the UK. Mappin & Webb has held Royal Warra ...

became the Crown Jeweller. In 2017 he was replaced by Mark Appleby, the head of Mappin & Webb's jewellery workshop.

List of Crown Jewellers

*1843: Sebastian Garrard *George Whitford *Henry Bell *C. E. Newbigin *1910: Cecil Mann *1962:

*1991: David V. Thomas *2007:

Harry Collins Harry Collins, (born 13 June 1943), is a British sociologist of science at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Career While at the University of Bath Professor ...

*2012: Martin Swift *2017: Mark Appleby

Notes

References

External links

David Thomas in a clip from ''Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work''
(2007) British monarchy Positions within the British Royal Household

History

List of Crown Jewellers

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links