King Charles' Coronation Crown Begins Its Journey to the Big Ceremony as It Leaves Tower of London

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England. This is the first state visit hosted by the UK with King Charles III as monarch, and the first state visit here by a South African leader since 2010.

Chris Jackson/Getty King Charles and Queen Camilla

Preparations are underway for the Coronation of King Charles III!

The crown he will wear has left the famous Tower of London, where it is stored with the other Crown Jewels, to undergo work to get it ready for the historic service, which will take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023.

Buckingham Palace announced on Saturday that the St. Edward Crown, which is at the center of the solemn occasion, is on its journey and will undergo some "modification work" before the Coronation in five months' time.

Charles, 74, will have the crown placed on his head at the moment of Coronation during the service at Westminster Abbey. The crown was first created for Charles II in 1661, and was a replacement for the previous crown that had been melted down in 1649.

The palace said the original was thought to date back to the 11th-century royal saint, Edward the Confessor, who was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

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King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, waves as they leave Dunfermline Abbey, after a visit to mark its 950th anniversary, and after attending a meeting at the City Chambers in Dunfermline where the King formally marked the conferral of city status on the former town on October 3, 2022 in Dunfermline, Scotland.

Andrew Milligan/Getty King Charles and Queen Camilla

The replacement crown, commissioned from the Royal Goldsmith, Robert Vyner, in 1661, incorporated much of the original design by having four crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, as well as two arches. It is created with a solid gold frame and set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. It also has a velvet cap with an ermine band.

King Charles will also likely wear the lighter Imperial State Crown as he leaves the ceremony.

That Imperial State Crown is the more commonly-used one, and like his mother, Queen Elizabeth, Charles will wear it for occasions like the State Opening of Parliament. But the St. Edward Crown is reserved for Coronations themselves, and was last used by the late Queen, who died at age 96 earlier this year.

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South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa rides with Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort in the Irish State Coach, as they leave from Horse Guards Parade, headed to Buckingham Palace

KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images King Charles and Queen Camilla with the President of South Africa

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The service is likely to be pared-back compared to Elizabeth's of almost 70 years ago, most obviously in the number of attendees.

There will be around 2,000 in the congregation, as opposed to the 8,000 who crammed into the Abbey in 1953. But palace insiders insist Charles' event will still have the grandeur and traditions that would be expected from such a unique state occasion.