into
the hands of the English. In this extremity, they were rescued by
Christian Fletcher, wife of the Rev. James Granger, minister of
Kinneff. She obtained permission from the English general to pay a
visit to the Lady Mareschal and succeeded in carrying off the regalia.
Her husband buried them in the church of Kinneff, just in front of the
pulpit. When they were brought to light again after the Restoration,
an Act of Parliament was passed which, after reciting Christian
Fletcher's services in the matter, stated : "Therefore, the King's
Maj-estie, with advice of his estates in Parliament, doe appoint Two
Thousand Merks Scots to be forthwith paid unto her by his Majestie's
thresaurer, out of the readiest of his Majestie's rents, as a testimony
of their sense of her service."
In
1707, after the union of England and Scotland, it was considered wiser
to remove the regalia from public view, since they were calculated to
arouse memories of the old Scotch monarchy. These precious objects were
therefore inclosed in a chest, which was their usual receptacle, and
locked up in the crown-room, a strong vaulted apartment in Edinburgh
Castle. There the regalia remained until 1817, when, as doubts had been
expressed as to their existence, a commission of investigation was
appointed, one of the members being Sir Walter Scott. The chest—which
had probably been the jewel-safe of the Stuarts— was forced open, and
the regalia were found within, just as they had been deposited in 1707.
An
imperial German crown does not exist ; a design has been made and
accepted, but at the present date, 1907, it has not yet been executed.
On festive occasions, when the imperial insignia are necessary, the
Prussian insignia are used, especially the Prussian royal crown. This
consists of a circlet of gold set with thirteen diamonds. On this are
five leaves, each composed of three larger diamonds and a smaller one,
and four prongs, each bearing a diamond and above it a large pearl.
From the five leaves start the same number of semicircular arches,
tapering toward the central point, where they unite. Each of these is
set with ten diamonds of decreasing size. On the center rests an
imperial globe. It consists of a large Indian-cut sapphire, —the
counterpart of the one on the Austrian imperial crown, evidently dating
from the time of the Crusades,—and above it rises a chaplet ornamented
with diamonds. The crown has a lining of purple velvet reaching to the
arches. Between the arches are eight pearl pendants of an average
weight of 80 grains ; they are 25 millimeters in length, and have a
fine, brilliant white color, although they are not perfectly regular in
form.
In
addition there belongs to the regalia a pearl necklace of three rows;
the first consists of thirty-seven pearls averaging 28 grains
