The Elizabeth Sword

A New Sword of State for Scotland

A site on the north coast of Iona was selected for its iconic status and because the 3000 million-years-old Lewisian Gneiss that forms most of the island is among the oldest rocks in Scotland.

The gneiss at the chosen site has been intensely sheared by a later geological event 420 million years ago, during the continental collision that united Scotland and England. This resulted in the formation of minute crystals of dark-green chlorite and veins of paler green epidote that gave the stone its texture and mottled red and green colour.

Four large cobbles of gneiss were collected from the Iona foreshore in early March 2023 by four members of the team, Godfrey Fitton, Mairghread Ellis, Alan Herriot and Pete Waugh, and one cobble was selected for the pommel stone. The sphere was made in the SMLC workshops by Godfrey Fitton and Mairghread Ellis, and a 9-mm-diameter hole was drilled through its centre by Ian Butler at the University of Edinburgh’s Grant Institute. A polished offcut of the stone is on display in the SMLC. 

While the pommel stone was being made in Leith, the sculptor Alan Herriot, working in his studio at Howgate, used wax to make the rest of the sword’s hilt (the grip and quillons), which was then cast in bronze at Powderhall Foundry in Edinburgh. A billet of Damascus steel, forged by Mick Maxen in Essex, was ground into the blade by sword-maker Paul Macdonald at his forge in the Scottish Borders. It was then passed to Dane Vogelpohl in Perthshire who etched and decorated it with gold inscriptions and made the scabbard from the local oak.

The final stage in the fabrication of the sword’s components was carried out in Glasgow by silversmith Colin Morrison-Ignatieff, who polished and gold-plated the bronze grip and quillons and the scabbard mounts. Pete Waugh filmed the whole manufacturing process. 

After assembly of its various parts by Alan Herriot and Paul Macdonald, the sword was unveiled to the team at Alan’s house, Longcroft, on 25 June 2023 and presented to King Charles at Holyrood Palace the following week on 3 July. It was used during the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication at St Giles’ Cathedral on Wednesday 5 July when it was presented ceremonially to King Charles III along with the Crown and Sceptre.

What was to have been The Millenium Sword is now formally known as The Elizabeth Sword and is on display in Edinburgh Castle alongside the older Honours of Scotland.