THE CORONATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 957, 21 February 1911, Page 3

THE CORONATION.

STILL NO INVITATION. Christchurch, Feb. 19. Sir Joseph Ward informed an interviewer yestercay that no communication bad been received from the Imperial authorities extending an invitation to the private members of the New Zealand Legislature to attend the Coronation ceremonies. Should any such invitation be received, he added, he would at once communicate with members. CURIOUS DETAILS OF THE CEREMONY. Africa will play a conspicuous role at the Coronation of King George and Queen Mary. For the great diamond that bears the name of the Star of Africa far and away the largest diamond in the world —weighing more than 500 carats —will figure lor the first time among the historic crown jewels of the vast British Empire, and will glitter from the head of the sceptre of the Sovereign. It will thus receive that same Christian consecration which that other great diamond, the Koh-i-Noor —a stone of 'the most romantic and sanguinary history, hailing from the Orient —received for the first time at the Coronation of King Edward. The Koh-i-Noor was sorely in need of some such purification, by means of a religious ceremony of such solemnity as a coronation in Westminster Abbey, For none of the celebrated diamonds of the world has been the cause of so many barbarous wars, massacres, and cruel deeds throughout the fifty centuries of its part authentic, part legendary, record. a stone with a history. Its presence as one of the eyes of the peacock throne of the Great Mogul, led Nadir Shah to besiege, storm and sack Delhi, with immense loss of life. He was assassinated on account of the stone, and his son, Shah Rokh, was not only deprived of his throne, but blinded and subjected to the most frightful tortures, to which he eventually succumbed, in order to induce him to surrender the gem. Shah Zaman, his brother, Shuja-ul-Mulk, besides several other Persian and Afghan Sovereigns, suffered the loss of their eyes, of their thrones as well as violent and cruel deaths, on account of the stone. Indeed, the only peaceful portion of its history has been since 1850, when, having been surrendered by the government of Punjaub on the annexation of that kingdom to the possessions of the East India Company by means of treaty, it was presented to Queen Victoria lor use as one of the crown jewels of England. Throughout India this stone is regarded by natives of high and low degree as a sort of emblem and talisman of the sovereignty of the empire, and it was for this reason that Queen Alexandra refrained from following the example of Queen Victoria in occasionally wearing it as a pendant or in the form of a brooch. She took the ground that being only a Queen Consort its use by her would be improper, and that its wear should be confined to the actual monarch of India. It is understood that Queen Mary shares her views in this respect.

Coronations, after all, are symbolic, and so, too, are all the various portions ot the regalia that figure in the ceremony. The Koh-i-Noor adorning the diadem used tor crowning King George is indicative of his sovereignty over India, and all its 300,000,000 of population. The Star of Africa shining from his sceptre is emblematic of his rulership over all that huge area of the Dark Continent subject to the British flag. It remains for the Commonwealth of Australia and tor the Dominion of Canada to be represented in some similar symbolic fashion among the Coronation regalia of the Empire of George V. ST. EDWARD’S CROWN. Although the crown which will be placed on King George’s head next June bears the name of St. Edward the Confessor, yet it really dates from the reign of Charles 11. For after the execution of Charles I. Cromwell caused the existing crown and all the regalia of which he could possession to be defaced, broken up, and sold for a mere song. Some of the jewels were subsequently recovered : among them the famous ruby given to Edward the Black Prince by Dom Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of Nagera, and worn in the helmet of Henry V. ot England at the battle ot Agiucourt. It now figures on the Imperial Slate crown, along with the Koh-i-Noor and the Cullinau; that is to say, the sister stone of the Star of Africa, some 200 carats smaller than the latter, but still three times the size cf the Koh-i-Noor.

There is also the big sapphire of Kdward the Confessor, which according to legend, endowed that King with a healing virtue for the cure of the cramps and of what is known as the “ King’s evil.” Perhaps the most interesting of all the regalia of King George is what is known as the ring of St. Edward, and sometimes, too, as the wedding ring of England. It consists of a large table ruby, of which the cross of St. George is engraved, set in plain gold, the stone being re set for each successive sovereign, so as to fit his or her fourth linger. According to its history, Edward the Confessor was asked one day for alms by a “fayre olde mauue,” and having no money drew his ring from his linger and bestowed it upon the mendicant.

Some years atterwards two English pilgrims travelling in the Holy Land, were met by a “ fay re ancient maune, with whyte heer for age,” who asked them what they were and whence they came. On learning that they were English pilgrims, be talked to them of the “ welfare and holyuesse ” of their King Edward, and when leaving them he told them who he was, and said, “I am St. John the Evangelist, and say ye unto Edward your King that I greet him (Continuedon Page 4.)