Conservator Krista Blessley works on the restoration of the coronation chair at Westminster Abbey (Picture: PA)
New details have been discovered in the decoration of the historic chair King Charles will be crowned on.
Henry VIII, Charles I and Queen Victoria were crowned in this throne, and the last time it was used was for the late Queen’s coronation in 1953.
Despite its 700-year-old history, it was famously covered in graffiti by schoolboys and tourists, who left their initials or names in the 18th and 19th centuries.
One visitor carved ‘P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800’ on the seat. Slithers of wood were also cut off as souvenirs.
Detail of graffiti on the chair, which is being restored ahead of the upcoming coronation (Picture: PA)
Tourists used to carve their initials or names in the 18th and 19th centuries (Picture: PA)
Krista Blessley, paintings conservator at Westminster Abbey, was tasked with the cleaning and preservation of the gliding.
But she believes she has found a previously overlooked part of a figure during the work.
She said: ‘I think they are previously undiscovered toes in the punch-work gilding on the back of the chair.
‘So there are areas of drapery where you can tell there would have been a figure.
It is thought the chair was made in 1,300 out of oak (Picture: PA)
‘It might be they are figures of kings or it might be a figure of a saint, because so much is lost we cannot tell at the moment but will do some further investigation.’
Estimated to have been made in around 1,300 for King Edward I, the throne was used to house the coronation stone.
Constructed from oak, decorated with coloured glass, and gilded with gold leaf, it is ‘a complex layered structure’.
Ms Blessley, who has been working on the chair for months ahead of the May 6 coronation, said it is ‘a real privilege’ to be conserving a historic object central to the life of the nation.
Detail of a golden lion on the throne (Picture: PA)
‘It is so important to our country’s history and in the history of the monarchy, and it is really unique as a conservator to work on something that is part of a working collection and still used for the original function it was made for,’ she said.
She has been meticulously preserving the flaking gilding and cleaning the chair’s surface using sponges and cotton swabs.
Ms Blessley added: ‘It has a very complex layered structure, which means it is very prone to the gilding on it flaking.
‘So a large part of what I have been doing is sticking that gilding down to make sure it is secure, and then I will surface clean it and that will improve the appearance a little bit.’
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