CROWNING A KING

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 35, 10 August 1936, Page 7

CROWNING A KING

RITUAL AND PAGEANTRY

ITS ANCIENT ORIGIN

When King Edward is crowned in Westminster Abbey on May 12, 1937, he will be the first English Monarch to be crowned since the Statute of Westminster set out in legal form the complete independence of the Dominions, says a special correspondent of *iie "Daily Telegraph." The Statute lays it down that every member of the British Commonwealth ?;=3 equal rights in relation to the Crown, which is the symbol of their free association. 1 Hidden microphones in the Abbey •will carry the service to every corner of the Empire, and the greatest congregation ever known will join in the solemn act of consecration. ■ In planning the Coronation, procedure dating back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon kings is followed. Westminster Abbey will be closed probably three months before the ceremony. The stage or theatre will be erected by the Office of Works at the point where the transepts divide the nave from the choir. • Orders will be given for weaving the hangings of blue and silver grey which will acl>rn the Abbey, and for the cloth of gold which from earliest times has been used at the crowning of English Kings. The Law Officers have to examine the Coronation Oath to decide whether the new status of the Irish Free State, and the passing of the Statute of Westminster necessitate any amendment. English Coronation ritual is the oldest and most elaborate religious ceremony of its kind in the world. It has been performed 38 times since William the Conqueror was crowned at Westminster on Christmas Day, 1066. . i • CORONATION BOOK. ! The main outlines of the service are set down in the Liber Regalis, or Coronation Book, which was inscribed by unknown monks 600 years ago. Much of the' ceremonial can be traced to pageantry ■which marked the coronation at Constantinople of the Eastern Emperors of Rome and to the anointing of the Hebrew Kings.The Liber Regalis is based directly on the Pontifical of Egbert of the ninth century, which was the_order for tIM crowning or "hallowing"* of the AngloSaxon monarchs. The words of some of the anthems sung in this service will be used at King Edward's Coronation. By constitutional practice the Liber Regalis is in the custody of the Dean of Westminster, Dr. Foxley Norris, who by the right of a thousand years instructs the King in his duties at the Coronation. I The book is preserved in the Abbey library, where it is open to inspection. All sovereigns from Richard II to Elizabeth carried the book at their Coronations. The Latin service was translated for the Coronation of James I, during the period which produced the matchless prose of the authorised version and turned the Latin formula of the Coronation service into "King's English." Modifications were made on the instruction of James II to meet his Roman Catholic views, and there were a few changes when William and Mary came to the throne. 600-YEAR-OLD SERVICE. 11l essentials, however, the service when King Edward is crowned will be the one in which peers, knights, and burgesses have joined through 600 years. ' Yet the crowning of King Edward VIII will be unlike any other ceremony in the history of the world. ■..-, By aeroplane and modern liner representatives of the Empire will come "'■ to London for the crowning of their King. Many will fly from distant Dominions in shorter time than the king's lieges of former centuries took to ride from remote towns and villages of England to the Abbey Church of St. Peter at Westminster. Before the King may be crowned -the people must signify their assent. From every side-of the "theatre" in which the people are gathered, Dr. Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, will proclaim: "Sirs, I present to you King Edward, the undoubted King of the realm. Wherefor all you who are come this day to do. your "homage ,' are you willing to do the same?" The King will rise and turn slowly to the four sides, showing himself to all in the Abbey. From every corner •will come the cry with which through the centuries the people have acclaimed their sovereign: "God save the King. God save the King. God save King Edward." The hidden microphones will carry the shout to the crowds thronging the streets. And in countless churches and halls throughout the Empire the cry will be taken up while the trumpets sound a fanfare of rejoicing. LIFTED TO THE THRONE. The King, preceded by the peers whose duty it is to carry the regalia, will walk to the' altar, and there, kneeling, will deliver an oblation of gold, thus in the words of the service fulfilling the Commandment: "Thou shalt not appear before Thy God empty." Then after the Litany the voice of King Edward will be heard pronouncing the Coronation Oath. He will pledge himself to govern Britain and the Dominions "according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on and the respective laws and customs of the same." In the next part of the service King Edward will be anointed on the head, hands, and the breast with conse- j crated oil. In medieval times this was regarded as the most important part of the ceremony, for without anointing, the King was not a king. The Coronation robes will be placed on the King. He will be invested with the regalia and crowned by the Archbishop. Archbishops, Bishops, and Peers will lift'him to the throne as centuries ago , Teutonic warriors lifted their chief upon a shield. The Archbishops, Bishops, Princes, and Peers will come to do homage. The congregation and the Empire will make their acclamation, this time to the anointed and crowned King. The drums will beat, and again the trumpets will sound their fanfare. The Communion will be taken by the King, and, the Benediction pronounced, he will come from the Abbey like his predecessors for a thousand years to meet the welcoming cheers of his people.