Crowns are worn by kings and queens, coronets by princes, princesses and the nobility. All women are entitled to wear any coronet her husband wears, except for the wife of the king of arms. No man gets a coronet because of who he married, unless he married the monarch. People wear the highest ranking coronet they are entitled to.
They are only ever worn for the most formal of occasions, and are made according to a very precise and well understood formula. They are also displayed on the coat of arms of the person who possesses it,and can be used in place of a monogram.(Or rather, monograms were invented by people who didn’t have coats of arms or coronets,but wanted something on their linen, papers, silver….)
Crown’s are made of gold or, in one case,platinum, and are covered in jewels. Coronets are made of silver gilt, and have no jewels, except that of Charles III,when Prince of Wales, which had a few diamonds.
The coronet of a man, and all crowns, cover the entire head.The coronet of a peeress is smaller, and made to perch on top of the head, behind her tiara. If a coronet is being worn by a princess, it has a purple cap. If worn by a peer,or by a prince who is also a peer, it has a red cap. Basically, the cap matches the robe.
Each of the different elements of a crown or coronet has its own level of prestige. The higher the rank,the more high prestige elements.
The elements are, in order of importance:
Strawberry leaf(generally referred to simply as a strawberry)
Ball or pearl, which is just a big silver ball
Crowns and Coronets of children of the monarch have alternating Cross Pattes and Fleur de Lys. Prince Philip also had this.
(Harry and Meghan,Anne,Andrew,Edward and Sophie)
Coronets of a child of the heir apparent have alternating Cross Pattes, Fleur de Lys and Strawberries
Coronets of a child of the monarch’s son have alternating Cross Pattes and Strawberries
(Archie,Lili, Beatrice,Eugenie,James, Louise,Duke and Duchess of Kent, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent)
Coronets of a child of the monarch’s daughter have alternating Fleur de Lys and Strawberries. I can find no proof that these exist except Wikipedia, and perhaps the granddaughters of Edward VII,who he made princesses , wore them,but I’m not sure anyone will wear them.
(Peter Philips,Zara Tindall, Earl Snowdon, Lady Sarah Chatto)
Coronets of a Duke have Strawberries
Coronets of a Marquess have alternating strawberries and balls
Coronets of an earl are the most interesting, having strawberries and a line of balls on spikes above them
Coronets of a viscount have a complete circle of small silver balls
Coronets of a Baron have a few larger balls spaced far apart
There are also Arches. These are the main difference between coronets and crowns.
It used to be that only the Holy Roman Emperor had an arch on his crown, and it symbolized his rule over other monarchs.
As a sign of independence, other European monarchs began adding arches to their crowns during the renaissance. In James V of Scotland’s case, he literally had 2 arches welded onto an already existing crown (It was worn with a red cap in it, but I chose the photo with the cap removed so you can see how the arches were an afterthought.)
Most European crowns have 8 half arches,or 2 arches .(Here’s the crown of Louis XV of France.French crowns had only fleur de lys, the symbol of the French monarchy. French coronets had strawberries,pearl triangles, and pearls on sticks. )
Most British monarchs content themselves with 4 half arches, or 2 arches , seeming to feel no need to compete with the others in the arches game.
This is except Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, who did want 4 arches, probably because it actually looks better.The Queen Mother went back to the traditional English style.)
(Queen Alexandra,the Queen Mother, Queen Mary)
(There are also miter crowns,like the Austrian and Russian crowns but since these are based on the clothing of bishops, its a completely different topic. Also, those are mostly worn by emperors, and emperors of new empires at that.)
There are two coronets that have arches,one still used, one abolished. These are the cornets of the Prince of Wales, Heir Apparent of the UK ,and the Dauphin, Heir Apparent of France.
The Prince of Wales has a single arch, The Dauphin has two arches, or 4 half arches shaped like dolphins. I highly suspect that the French had their heir use the same amount of arches as the British monarch in an one up-manship game, but admit that there exist no grounds for my suspicion, other than that is exactly the sort of thing they would do.
There are other elements in the coronets of continental nobles. However, these coronets don’t actually exist, but are merely drawn on their coats of arms.That is because coronets are only worn to coronations, and to sit in the House of Lords during a state opening, and only the UK has coronations, and a House of Lords.
There are two other British crowns, but they are not worn by royals.They are worn by the king of arms, the chief herald of the monarch, who also wears the monarch’s coat of arms.
The crown, or cornet of the British King of Arms is unique in that, instead on any of the usual elements, it has shafts of wheat
The crown of the Scottish King of Arms is even more shocking in that it has arches,something only the king’s crown has.It also is pretty much a copy of the king’s crown, just without the jewels.
Oh, and there is the multipurpose “cap of state” that was designed by Norman Hartnell for the coronation of Elizabeth II. He designed a robe and cap that any peeress of any rank could wear. Almost no one bothered getting it.
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