Nine million French people watched last Saturday as the Archbishop of Canterbury carefully fixed the crown of Saint Edward on the head of Charles III, the culmination of the coronation of the new king. While the archbishop endeavoured, with delicate gestures, to perfectly adjust the ermine border on the royal skull, commentators of all the chains made a point of describing in detail this extraordinary object that "serves" only once or twice a century – "two kilos of solid gold set with precious stones", which were, it is said, the source of several nights of nightmares, the archbishop dreaming that he had forgotten to bring them for the crucial moment. Leaving Westminster Abbey, the monarch – according to his son, the king suffered from neck pain – this time wore the imperial crown of state, a little lighter, it seems, but still adorned with "2,901 precious stones, including 168 pearls, 58rubies, 28diamonds, 19sapphires and 2emeralds".
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