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Coronet of an Earl (as worn by the 17th Earl of Devon at the Coronation of Elizabeth II and now on display at Powderham Castle)

In English, a coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. By one definition, a coronet differs from a crown in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara does not. By a slightly different definition, a crown is worn by an emperor, empress, king or queen; a coronet by a nobleman or lady. See also diadem.

In other languages, this distinction is not made as usually the same word for crown is used irrespective of rank (Krone in German, kroon in Dutch, krona in Swedish, couronne in French, etc.)



The word stems from the Old French coronete, a diminutive of co(u)ronne ("crown"), itself from the Latin corona (also "wreath"), from the Ancient Greek κορώνη (korōnē, "garland, wreath").



Commonwealth usage[edit]

Depiction of a baron's coronet on a 17th-century funerary monument



  • The coronet of a earl has eight strawberry leaves (four visible) and eight "pearls" raised on stalks, of which five are visible (an example of one actually being worn can be seen here [1]);


Royal usage[edit]

The crown of the British Heir Apparent

Members of the British Royal Family often have coronets on their coats of arms, and may wear actual coronets at coronations (e.g., Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at the 1937 coronation of their father as George VI). They were made, according to regulations made by King Charles II in 1661, shortly after his return from exile in France (getting a taste for its lavish court style; Louis XIV started monumental work at Versailles that year) during the Restoration. They vary depending upon the prince's relationship to the monarch. Occasionally, additional royal warrants vary the designs for individuals. The most recent (and most comprehensive) royal warrant concerning coronets was the 19 November 1917 warrant of George V.[2]


There is evidence to support the wearing of coronets amongst Welsh royalty and nobility, particularly in the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Llywelyn's coronet was for a while kept with the English crown jewels.

British coronet rankings[edit]

Danish coronet rankings[edit]

Spanish coronet rankings[edit]

All over the world, Spanish heraldry has used these crowns and coronets:

Swedish coronet rankings[edit]

The coronet of a Swedish duke (always a Swedish prince).

Former monarchies[edit]

Kingdom of France usage[edit]

This hierarchy among the French nobility, which was identical for non-royal titles to the British hierarchy of peers, should not be understood to be as rigid in the ranking of titleholders as the latter. In particular, title was not a good indication of actual preeminence or precedence: Ancestry, marriages, high office, military rank and the family's historical renown (as documented, e.g., in the Honneurs de la Cour or in Père Anselme's histories of the nobility) counted far more than the precise title. Some distinguished families held no higher title than count or even baron, but were proud of their ancient origin. Moreover, most of the nobility was legally untitled, some hereditary titles could be acquired by a nobleman who purchased a "titled" fief, while titres de courtoisie were freely assumed in the absence of strict regulation by the French crown and became more numerous than titles legally borne. As an example, the title of marquis ranks in principle immediately after duke, but was so ridiculed by the late 18th century (cf. the phrase "petit marquis" meaning a presumptuous and vain person) that Napoleon omitted it from his own scale of titles. It should also be noted that, in the 17th and 18th centuries, people assumed and used freely coronets of ranks that they did not have; and, in the 19th and 20th centuries abuse was still made of "courtesy titles". Titles continued to be granted until the Second Empire fell in 1870, and legally survive among their descendants.

The only title that was never usurped under the ancien régime, and rarely without some excuse afterwards, was the title of duc, because it was so often attached to the rank peer of France, which carried specific legal prerogatives such as the right to a seat in the Parlement of Paris. As a result, the title of duc was actually, as well as nominally, at the top of the scale after the royal family and foreign princes, and a cut above all of the other nobility.

Prince: this was not a title in Old Regime France, but a rank, hence there was no coronet.

  • Roi: closed crown of fleurs-de-lis (the crown was open until the early 16th century).
  • Dauphin (or heir apparent): initially an open crown of fleurs-de-lis; starting with Henri IV's son (1601–10), the crown is closed with dolphins instead of arches.
  • Fils de France et Petit-Fils de France (children and grandchildren of a sovereign): open coronet of fleurs-de-lis.
  • Prince du Sang (Prince of the Blood – descended in male line from a sovereign): first a coronet alternating fleurs-de-lis and acanthus leaves (called strawberry leaves in English blazon), e.g., on François de Montpensier's coinage in Dombes, c. 1575. In the 17th and 18th centuries they used a coronet of fleurs-de-lis like the enfants de France. The legitimized princes (descended from legitimized children of sovereigns) ranked immediately after the princes of the blood (from 1694 to 1717 and from 1723 onward), and were given the same coronet.
  • Pair de France (Peer of the Realm): a coronet of the title (usually duke) with a crimson velvet cap, a mantle armoyé (reproducing the arms) fringed with gold and lined with ermine.
  • Duc (duke): a coronet of acanthus leaves.
  • Marquis: a coronet of alternating acanthus leaves and groups of three pearls in trefoil (or two pearls side by side in some versions).
  • Comte (count): a coronet of pearls.
  • Vicomte (viscounts): 4 large pearls (3 visible) alternating with smaller pearls.
  • Vidame (a peculiar French title, for protectors of the temporal estates of a bishopric): a small coronet with 4 crosses (3 visible).
  • Baron: a circle of gold wreathed with a string of small pearls.
  • Chevalier (knight): coronet, but a helm.
  • Ecuyer (squire): no coronet, but a helm. Helms were reserved for nobles, titled or untitled, by the 16th century regulations that were universally ignored. In principle, a helm without coronet indicated an untitled noble, chevalier or écuyer (on this distinction, see a discussion of the French nobility).

Holy Roman Empire[edit]

The Holy Roman Empire, and consequently its successor states (Austria, Germany and others), had a system very similar to that of the British, although the design varied.

  • Herzogskrone: the coronet of a Herzog (duke) displays five visible leaves, with a crimson bonnet on top, surmounted by five visible arches and a globus cruciger.
  • Fürstenkrone: the coronet of a Fürst (prince) shows five visible leaves, with a crimson bonnet on top, surmounted by three visible arches and a globus cruciger.
  • Landgrafenkrone: the coronet of a Landgraf (landgrave) shows five visible leaves, surmounted by three visible arches and a globus cruciger.
  • Grafenkrone: the coronet of a Graf (count) displays nine visible tines with pearls. Some of the senior comital houses used coronets showing five leaves and four pearls (some mediatized counties and minor principalities had other types of coronets that distinguished them from regular counts).
  • Freiherrnkrone: the coronet of a Freiherr (baron) shows seven visible tines with pearls.
  • Adelskrone: the coronet of an Adel (untitled nobility) displays five visible tines with pearls. Sometimes, the central and outer tines are leaves and the other tines are headed by pearls. In the southern states of Bavaria and Württemberg, usually all tines are headed by pearls.


Precisely because there are many traditions and more variation within some of these, there is a plethora of continental coronet types. Indeed, there are also some coronets for positions that do not exist or entitle one to a coronet in the Commonwealth tradition. Such a case in French (ancien, i.e., royal era) heraldry, where coronets of rank did not come into use before the 16th century, is the vidame, whose coronet (illustrated) is a metal circle mounted with three visible crosses (there is no documentary or archeological evidence that such a coronet was ever made).


Kingdom of Portugal coronet rankings[edit]

These coronets and crowns were used in Portuguese heraldry:

See also[edit]


  2. ^ 1917 royal warrant
  3. ^ Cox, Noel The Coronets of Members of the Royal Family and of the Peerage. Originally published in (1999) 22 The Double Tressure, the Journal of The Heraldry Society of Scotland 8-13. Acceded 8 April 2017

Sources and external links[edit]