King Charles III’s Coronation will involve many moving pieces, most of them charged with significant history, especially following His Majesty’s decision to reuse pieces from previous Coronations.
One of those pieces will be the glove, also known as the Gauntlet, a piece used by the King to hold the Sceptre. His Majesty has decided to reuse the one created by Dents for King George VI’s Coronation in 1937.
Many of the garments the King has chosen to reuse were created for his grandfather, the last male Sovereign, as he is not able to reuse items created for the 1953 Coronation, since they were made for a Queen.
The Gauntlet is made of white leather, with the wrist being lined in red satin. It was embroidered using gilt metal thread, wire and spangles, needled in a motif that includes national emblems such as the Tudor Rose, thistle, shamrock, oak leaves and acorns.
The back of the hand presents an embroidery representing a ducal red velvet coronet above the coat of arms of the family of the Dukes of Newcastle.
All of this needlework was created in 1937 by Edward Stillwell & Company, on the artifact created by Dents the glovemakers, which, with the support of the Worshipful Company of Glovers, has been in charge of the conservation of the piece.
It was the Company who was tasked with presenting the glove for a second time, this time to King Charles III ahead of his Coronation.
His Majesty has only commissioned one new piece: the screen that will block him and Queen Camilla from view during the anointing – and even that piece was created keeping sustainability in mind.
Everything else, in line with the eco-friendly Monarch, will be reused from previous Coronation, adapting the pieces when necessary, as was the case with changing the cyphers on the two Thrones.
