The Stone of Destiny – an oblong block of sandstone – will be under the Coronation chair where King Charles will be sitting when he’s officially crowed in ten days’ time.
Also known as Stone of Scone, it’s long been an ancient symbol of the Scottish and British monarchy, used since the 1300s for the inauguration of kings and queens.
While the stone’s origins are unclear, some place them in Biblical times and identify it as the Stone of Jacob, taken by Jacob from Bethel while on the way to Haran in the Middle East, as told in the Book of Genesis.
But an academic has poured cold water on this theory, arguing that it’s ‘highly doubtful’ the one used in the Coronation is the ‘original’ from the Holy Land.
The original relic could have been swapped by the Scots before it was stolen by the English in 1296, as some believe.
