Prince Charles’ Coronet Had Absurd Item Hidden He Wasn’t Aware Of

Prince Charles’ coronet reportedly had an absurd item hidden that even he himself didn’t know about.

Ispahani Bartos, a scholar of modern jewelry design, revealed that she has one of the original 1969 Electroform models of Prince Charles’ head in her private collection. She also confirmed that the orb on top of Louis Osman’s creation was, in fact, a ping pong ball that was just covered in gold.

Stellene Volandes, a journalist for Town & Country, explained why a ping pong ball was used to design Prince Charles’ crown. She said that two months before the future King turned 21, he was to have an investiture and needed a crown.

Since there was no coronet at that time, the Queen Mother decided to have one made for his grandson. The late royal tapped the help of Osman in creating the piece, and the coronet was described as something that was modern during the 1960s.

Bartos said that the 1960s was such a delicate time for Britain because there were labor protests and power outages everywhere. As such, the royal family wanted to do something rather low-key in keeping with the mood of the time.

Crown jeweler Garrard was the first one asked to design a coronet for Prince Charles. However, his creation was rejected because it was overly extravagant. Osman came into the picture as a maverick and a visionary.

“He didn’t adhere to any particular style. And he worked in many different forms… He was an architect, a sculptor, an arts patron and historian, and a jeweler… He was a highly unusual person, and not a great businessman, and was known to never be on time,” Bartos said.

Osman created Prince Charles’ coronet to also feature diamonds, the sign of the Scorpio, four crosses, four fleur de Lys, diamonds, emeralds, and more. It also featured a cap of purple velvet that could also be worn by Prince Charles today.