Part 22 (1/2)
On August 9th the great cereh shorn of soelory which would have then surrounded the event its Inificance was in some respects enhanced and there was a deeper note in the festivities and an eventhan would have been possible on the 26th of June The solemn ceremony in the ancient Abbey--which had not been used or opened to the public since that final practice of the choir--was brilliant in all the colours and shadings and dresses and gems and uniforms of a Royal function while it presented that other and more sacred side which all the traditions and forms of the Coronation ceremony so clearly illustrate The enthusiasm of the people in the streets can hardly be described but the spirit and thought and feeling ell summed up in the words of a Canadian poet--Jean Blewett:
”Long live the King!
Long live the King who hath for his own The strongest sceptre the world has known, The richest Crown and the highest Throne, The staunchest hearts, and the heritage Of a glorious past, whose every page Reads--loyalty, greatness, valour, ht sunshi+ne, but becaress froathered early, and soon every seat in the many stands were filled with expectant and interested people who numbered in the end fully half a million Picked troops, chiefly Household Cavalry and Colonial and Indian soldiers of the King, to the nuuarded the route, with a picturesque line of white, black, brown and yellowand Queen appeared in their gorgeous state coach froreeted with tremendous cheers fro the way to the Abbey In the Royal procession were the Prince and Princess of Wales with thirty-one other members of the Royal fa Court old and a old over a dress of white satin eold and jewelled with diamonds and pearls Then followed Lord Knollys and Lord Wolseley and Admiral Seymour, Lord Kitchener and General Gaselee and Lord Roberts, with many other notabilities The Indian Maharajahs, who acted as Aides-de-Ca, were brilliant in red and white and brown and blue and gold and jewels
I was the Royal escort of Princes and Equerries with a body of Colonial and Indian troops The arrival at the Abbey was reat enthusias and seated in the crimson-covered stands which had been built on every side
The scene in the interior was indescribable The blend of many colours in costume mixed with the tihty structure, while the air was per Litany and the slowly pealing bells of loyal welcoreatest men and noblest and most beautiful women of Great Britain, and in the stalls was a veritable roll-call of fame in a world-wide Empire Lord Salisbury was practically the only British personage of historic repute as not present while the veteran Duke of Ca links present between the Coronation which hadof the Victorian era and that which was now to illustrate the birth of a new period Into this scene of splendour and revel of colour ca and the state officials of his realm
The procession as it passed fro and brilliantly-garbed gathering was one of the most stately spectacles recorded in history First caold, the Archbishops in purple velvet and gold, the gorgeously-clad officers of the Orders of Knighthood, and the Heralds Then caht Hon
O'Conor Don, the Standard of Scotland by Mr H S Wedderburn, the Standard of England by Mr F S Dyton Various great officials and nobles followed, the coronet of each borne by a beautifully dressed page They included the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord President of the Council the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the Lord Archbishop of York, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Then came the Earl of Gosford as Lord Chaalia and the Duke of Roxburghe carrying Her Majesty's Crown The Queen herself followed in robes of exquisite character and splendour and looking as only the land could look On either side of her were the Bishops of Oxford and Norith five gentleht and left of them and Her Majesty's train was borne by the duchess of Buccleuch assisted by eight youthful personages of title or heirshi+p to aristocratic position The Ladies of the Bedchaalia, carried by the Earl of Carrington, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Loudoun, Lord Grey de Ruthven, Viscount Wolseley, the Duke of Grafton and Earl Roberts
The next personage in this splendid procession of rich-robed nobleeously-clad officials was the Lord Mayor of London and then came the Marquess of Cholmondeley, as Lord Great Chah Constable of Ireland, the Earl of Erroll as High Constable of Scotland, the Earl of Shrewsbury as Lord High Steward of Ireland, the Earl of Crawford as Lord High Steward of Scotland (Deputy to the Duke of Rothesay and Prince of Wales), the Duke of Norfolk as Earl Marshal of England, the Marquess of Londonderry carrying the Sword of State, and the Duke of Fife as Lord High Constable of England
Following these high officers of state cah as Lord High Steward carrying St
Edward's ancient Crown, the Earl of Lucan carrying the Sceptre, and the Duke of So the Patina, the Bishop of Winchester bearing the Chalice, the Bishop of London carrying the Bible and then, behind hihty little Islands and of an E the world in power and wealth and service to civilization
His Majesty was clad in Royal crimson robes of state and wore the Order of the Garter His train was borne by the Earl of Portarlington, the Duke of Leinster, the Marquess Conynghaton and Hon P A Spencer, as Pages of Honour and Lord Suffield, Master of the Robes On either side of the King walked the Bishop of Bath and Wells and the Bishop of Durha the bearers of the Royal train came Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, the Duke of Portland, General Lord Chelrave, Lord Belper, various Lords-in-Waiting, Lord Knollys, Sir D
M Probyn and Major-General Sir Arthur Ellis
The services and ceremonies in the Abbey were beautiful and impressive in the extreme Enriched with a thousand years' traditions, ious character, syn and his subjects, registering by fore and ecclesiastical ritual the final consecration of the King to the govern solereat Abbey had been transformed by tier above tier of seats, covered with blue and yellow velvet, and so arranged as to forhtness and colour when filled with the peers in their gorgeous robes and peeresses in their criowns As the King and Queen entered the Abbey on this eventful day andwith exquisite feeling and sound the antheo into the house of the Lord” The King at different ti an ecclessiastical character with Royal old, the stole was lined with crimson cloth and richly embroidered, the alb, or sleeveless tunic of fine cambric, was trimmed with beautiful lace The whole effect was one of harmonized colour and splendour
After brief prayer, kneeling on faldstools in front of their chairs, the King and Queen took their seats and then the Archbishop of Canterbury turned north, south, east and west and, while the King stood, he said to the people: ”Sirs, I here present unto you King Edward, the undoubted King of this Reale, are you willing to do the sa,” to the sound of trureeted this part of the cerealia were then borne to the Altar, and the Coland proceeded with Then followed the taking of the Coronation Oath, the Archbishop of Canterbury first asking His Majesty if he illing to do so and receiving an affirmative reply The questions and ansere as follows, the King holding a Bible in his hands:
_Archbishop_ Will you soledom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Do to the statutes in Parliareed on and the respective laws and custo_ I solemnly promise to do so
_Archbishop_ Will you to your power cause law and justice, in _ I will
_Archbishop_ Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reforion established by law? And will you maintain and preserve inviolably the Settleland and the doctrine, worshi+p, discipline and governland? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England and to the Church therein coes as by law do, or shall appertain to the_ All this I promise to do
His Majesty, when he had said these words passed to the Altar, knelt down and with his hand on the Bible said: ”The things which I have here before proning the Oath the King returned to his chair A hymn, a prayer by the Archbishop and an anthe relieved of his crimson robes by the Lord Great Cha Edward's Chair, near the Altar and, and while four Knights of the Garter in their nia--the Earl of Rosebery, Earl of Derby, Earl of Cadogan and Earl Spencer--held over hiolden Silk, the Archbishop, assisted by the Dean of Westminster, anointed him with holy oil on the crown of the head, on his breast and on his hands His Grace of Canterbury concluded this part of the cere by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet, so be you anointed, blessed and consecrated King over this People whoovern In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost, A, after a brief prayer by the Archbishop then resu Edward's Chair and was robed by the Dean of Westirdle
INCIDENTS OF THE CEREMONY
Various typical or symbolic functions were then perfor's feet with a pair of golden spurs as constituting the ancient ehthood; a Sword of State, with scabbard of purple velvet, was then handed with elaborate cere it upon the Altar and delivering a short prayer proffered it to His Majesty about whoirt by the Lord Great Cha injunction: ”With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the Holy Church of God, help and defend s and orphans, restore the things that are going to decay, s that are restored, furnish and reforood order; that by doing these things you lorious in all virtue; and so faithfully serve our Lord Jesus Christ in this life that you n for ever with hi then placed the Sword upon the Altar from which it was presently taken and held drawn fro the rest of the ceremony The Dean of Westold bracelets, and with the Iold, while the Archbishop presented the Orb of Einally for Charles II with a band covered with gems and a cross set in brilliants As he did so His Grace said: ”Receive this Imperial Robe and Orb; and the Lord your God endow you with knowledge and wisdoh; the Lord clothe you with the robe of righteousness and with the gar of a gold ring--carried off by Jaht, and afterwards recovered in Roht hand with an Episcopal injunction to receive the ring as ”the ensign of kingly dignity and of defence of the Catholic faith” Then came the presentation of the Sceptre by the Archbishop as the ensign of kingly power and justice, and the rod of equity and mercy, while the Duke of Newcastle as Hereditary Lord of the Manor of Worksop, had the privilege or right of placing a glove upon the King's hand Following this came the central andof the Crown upon His Majesty's head by the Archbishop of Canterbury As the action was performed the venerable Abbey shook with the accla” while the trumpets blared and the scene, already brilliant with varied splendours, flashed in added beauty when the Peers and Peeresses put on their glittering coronets A brief prayer and the presentation of a copy of the Bible by the Archbishop folloith a benediction ending in the words: ”The Lord give you a fruitful country and healthful seasons; victorious fleets and arht Counsellors and entry; a pious and learned and useful Clergy; an honest, industrious and obedient co by the choir, His Majesty for the first ti officials, nobles and clergy, and listened to a brief exordiu with the hope that God would ”establish your Throne in righteousness that it may stand fast for evere First the Archbishop of Canterbury, kneeling in front of His Majesty with all the Bishops in their places, repeated an oath of allegiance Then the Prince of Wales, taking off his coronet, knelt in front of the King and the other Princes of the blood royal knelt in their places and repeated the quaint e man of life and limb and of earthly worshi+p, and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die against all manner of Folks” At this point occurred an abbreviation of the ceres As the Prince rose from his knees touched the Crown on his father's head and kissed his left cheek in the the for rose, threw his arms round his son's neck for a moment and then took his hand and shook it ware of the Heir Apparent each Peer of the realm should have followed the traditionary form in the order of his rank and touched the Crown and kissed the King's cheek
This was rade of the nobility to perforh its representative of oldest patent--the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess of Winchester, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Viscount Hereford and the Baron de Ros After this had been done the trumpets once more sounded their acclai Edward”