The disastrous mishap Prince Charles almost caused on the Queen's coronation day

Prince Charles the Queen
(Image credit: Getty Images)

It sounds like four-year-old Prince Charles was busy creating mischief on the Queen's coronation day back in 1953.

According to Princess Margaret's former lady in waiting, the future King almost caused a rather disastrous mishap with the Queen's coronation crown.

Speaking out about the special day on Annoushka Ducas' new podcast My Life in Seven Charms, Princess Margaret's ex left-hand-woman Lady Anne Glenconner recalled how the priceless Imperial State Crown had to be saved from damage by a curious little Prince Charles.

Reminiscing on the famous coronation in June 1953, Lady Anne said, "I wouldn't dare touch it. No, no, completely sacred.

"Prince Charles got his paws on it, however old he was, when we got back to Buckingham Palace.

Prince Charles the Queen coronation

"Because [the Queen] took it off, put it on a table, and Prince Charles made a beeline for it.

"We thought he was going to drop it. We thought, 'Oh my goodness, that would be a bad omen'. But luckily, I think my mother, as a lady-in-waiting, seized it from him and took it away."

Phew!

Lady Anne also revealed how Her Majesty would practise wearing the 1kg headpiece by sporting it during her letter writing sessions.

"I think Prince Charles says he remembers going in and seeing her [wearing it]. And asked her why she's wearing it and she said she was practicing."

The Queen herself has been known to joke about the weight of the crown and once cheekily spoke about its neck breaking abilities.

"You can't look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up. Because if you did your neck would break, it would fall off. So there are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they're quite important things."

Caitlin Elliott
Junior News Editor

Caitlin is a Junior News Editor for Goodto.com, covering all things royal, celeb, lifestyle, food, and family. Having set her sights on becoming a magazine journalist when she was a child, Caitlin took on work experience stints at local papers and titles such as Cosmopolitan, Now, Reveal and Take a Break while studying for her Multimedia Journalism degree and has interviews with celebs, reality stars and the Archbishop of Canterbury under her belt (of course, she couldn't resist asking him about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry).