Origins
As the Prince of Wales and as Prince Regent George had been an extravagant figure, with controversial artistic tastes. When he became king, George planned an innovation in British coronations. Instead of having separate coronation and state crowns, he decided to have one crown with which he would both be crowned and would use on state occasions such as the State Opening of Parliament.
Alongside a change of crown, he also planned to redesign the crown. Traditionally English and British crowns were decorated with fleurs-de-lis, symbolising the previous claim of English monarchs that they were also King of France. George decided to abandon the fleurs, and replace them with symbols representing Scotland (the thistle), England (the rose) and Ireland (the shamrock). Part of his ungoing use of symbols of each of the kingdoms was to see him wearing a kilt in Scotland and to pay the first visit to Ireland of a reigning monarch since kings James II and William III fought for the crown in Ireland in 1690.
However the plan to remove the fleur-de-lis and introduce the thistle, rose and shamrock, was abandoned after objections from the College of Heralds.
Read more about this topic: Coronation Crown Of George IV
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