IMPRESSIVE SOLEMNISATION OF ROYAL MARRIAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26624, 21 November 1947, Page 5

IMPRESSIVE SOLEMNISATION OF ROYAL MARRIAGE

BRILLIANT SPECTACLE

Ceremony in Westminster Abbey

BREATHLESS BEAUTY ON HISTORIC OCCASION

Rec. 1.30 a.m. LONDON, Nov. 20. Side by side before the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fishpr, Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten took their vows in Westminster Abbey. Quietly and without undue signs of nervousness, they gave their responses, the solemn calm of the Abbey contrasting with the joyous tumult which they had just left. The Archbishop of Canterbury, after charging both to confess if they knew any impediment to the marriage, spoke directly to the groom: “ Philip, wilt thou have this woman to be thy lawful wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou comfort her, honour her, and keep her in sickness, and in health, and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her so long as ye both shall live?” And the groom answered: “ I will.” The Archbishop of Canterbury then turned to Elizabeth, saying: “Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honour and keep him in sickness, and in health, and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him so long as ye both shall live? ” And the bride answered: I will. The Archbishop then turned to the King, who gave the bride away, and so the beautiful words and simple ceremony rolled on in the way so many brides and bridegrooms have known so well. Philip, with his right hand, took Elizabeth’s right hand and plighted his troth: they loosed hands, and Elizabeth, with her right hand, took Philip's right hand and plighted her troth.

The groomsman produced the ring of Welsh gold, which was placed upon the Book. The Archbishop of Canterbury handed the ring to Philip, who placed it on Elizabeth’s finger, and said after the Archbishop: “ With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

Both Philip and Elizabeth then knelt down, and the Archbishop of Canterbury repeated the ordained prayer, joined their right hands together, and said: “Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.”

The Archbishop then pronounced Philip and Elizabeth Alexandra Mary man and wife, and gave his blessing.

The bride and bridegroom, attended only by Princess Margaret and the pages, proceeded to the high altar, and the King moved to his place in the sacrarium. Meanwhile the choir sang Psalm 67. When the Psalm ended, Philip and Elizabeth knelt before the high altar. The Precentor, standing at the altar and facing them, said the Lord’s Prayer. The Dean followed with other prayers. Then a motet was sung, and the Archbishop of York delivered the address.

The choir then sang the hymn “ The Lord Is My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want,” to the old Scottish tune, “ Crimond,” for which the organist, Dr McKie, at Elizabeth’s request, had prepared a special descant. When the hymn ended the Archbishop of Canterbury gave the final blessing and the choir sang the great triumphant “ Amen.” A fanfare of trumpets sounded, and the choir sang the National Anthem.

The bride and bridegroom, their Majesties, Princess Margaret and the two pages then moved through the door at the left side of the high altar into the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor to sign the register, and during their absence the choir sang an anthem.

Another fanfare of trumpets signalled that the bride and bridegroom were returning. The final procession in a ceremony of magnificent processions had now begun, but in this the bride and bridegroom walked together, preceded by the King’s Scholars’ Choir and Canons of Westminster, and followed by the pages, bridesmaids, then the Archbishops, then the King and Queen, foreign royal guests and the Royal Family and their suites. The procession moved down the nave, where it was filmed under brilliant lights, and out of the Abbey, concluding one of the most memorable events in the long history of Westminster Abbey.

Pomp and Splendour Of Abbey Processions

Their Majesties’ 2000 guests had taken their places, in Westminster Abbey when the bridegroom, accompanied by his groomsman, the Marquess of Milford Haven, arrived quietly at the Poets’ Corner door of the Abbey. Philip Mountbatten and the groomsman had driven from Kensington Palace escorted by a police car and two police motor cycles. One of his Majesty’s gentlemen ushers escorted the groom and groomsman to seats at the south side steps leading to the sacrarium (the sanctuary). The organist, Dr W. McKie, meanwhile played music by Elgar, Widor and Bach, and overhead could be heard the pealing bells of the Abbey.

The main entrance to the Abbey to the great west door was hung with heavy curtains of gold-coloured satin, and a red carpet six feet wide stretched from the entrance* along the nave through the choir and up to the steps of the high altar.

High above the nave, between the west door and the choir screen, hung eight batteries of immensely powerful electric lamps to illuminate that part of the return wedding procession between the choir screen and the entrance which was to be filmed. Many guests occupied chairs on each side of the nave. Guests in the choir stalls included members of Cabinet, former Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition, official guests from the British Commonwealth and members of the diplomatic corps in brilliant uniforms. The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms were on duty in the lantern and choir, the King’s bodyguard of Yeomen of the Guard in the nave, and the Military Knights of Windsor outside the Chapel of St. George. The high altar shone like sunshine with light gleaming from the gold plate and ceremonial vessels which the Abbey traditionally uses to decorate the altar on such great occasions. Masses of flowers in alabaster jars flanked the altar on either side. In beautiful St. George’s Chapel, to the right of the west door, the bridesmaids and pages awaited the arrival of the bride. There was an excited stir among the guests seated on each side of the nave as the Dean and Chapter of Westminster greeted Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, foreign royal guests, and members of the Royal Family, and the first procession inside the Abbey began. Two gentlemen ushers and officials of the King’s household led this procession up the nave to places in the sacrarium. Members of the Royal Family, including the Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and foreign princes and princesses were in the van of this procession moving -in three lines.

Then came the Master of the Horse, the Duke of Beaufort, the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Clarendon, and the Lord Steward, the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. Behind them were Princess Andrei of n e-ce and Queen Elizabeth, then the King of Norway and Queen ttf v. '

Following them were foreign Sovereigns, and behind them came the Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary, the Duchess of Devonshire, Hie Mistress of the Robes to the Queen, the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland, and Palace attendants.

The organist played selections from Handel’s Water Music during the procession. ,

Now came a second procession as the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Dean of his. Majesty’s Chapels, the Royai Bishop of Norwich, the Clerk of tne Closet and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, who had assembled in the Jerusalem Chamber, began to irfove up the nave to their places in the sacrarium. They made an impressive spectacle, clad in their sacramental robes, the archbishops mitred and arrayed in capes of white and gold brocade. Dur ing this procession the organist played a voluntary. A few minutes passed and then his Majesty and her Royal Highness the bride arrived at the west door. For a moment or two there was silence as the bridesmaids and pages joined the bride and formed into processional order. Then from the chantry chapel rang out a fanfare of trumpets as the signal that the wedding procession of the bride had begun. First in the bridal procession came two officials of the King’s Household, then eight King's scholars of West minster School in long surplices. Then the choir, including the children ana gentlemen of his Majesty’s Chapel Royal, in livery of cloth; gold knee breeches, stockings and silver-buckled shoes. Then minor canons and canons in the coat of red and gold. Then the High Bailiff of Westminster, Mr H. U. Willink, M.P., and the High Steward of Westminster, Earl Halifax; then other Abbey clerjcs and the Dean of Westminster in his coat of cloth gold.

After the Dean came the bride herself, radiant in her wedding gown. His Majesty supported her, and close in attendance were the pages, Prince Michael of Kent and Prince William of Gloucester, and the bridesmaids, walking in two lines in this order: Princess Alexandra of Kent and Princess Margaret, Lady Mary Cambridge and Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Lady Pdmela Mountbatten and Lady Elizabeth Lambart, Miss Diana Bowes-Lyon and the Honourable Margaret Elphinstone.

Two Ladies-in-Waiting, Lady Margaret Seymour and Lady Margaret Egerton, followed the bridesmaids, and the procession was concluded by the Groom-in-W-iting, the Lord-in-Wait-ing. and two Equerries-in-Waiting. Throughout the long resplendent procession, the voices of the choristers rose in the hymn “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven.” When his Majesty and the bride arrived at the steps of the sacrarium the bridegroom joined them. The King, bride and bridegroom ascended the steps and took up their positions for the marriage ceremony, while the bridesmaids and pages and the groomsman remained standing at the foot of the steps and members of the suites took their places in the lantern (a space directly under the central tower of the Abbey). The Dean opened with the familiar words: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

Retinue of Royalty Proceeds to Abbey

Rec, 2 a.m

Troops drawn from the Brigade of Guards, the Navy, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, the Marines, Sixteenth Airborne Division, Territorial Army, and the Royal Air Force, lined the procession route from Buckingham Palace, along The Mall, through Admiralty Arch, Whitehall and the west side of Parliament Square. Six bands drawn from the Brigade of Guards, the R.A.F., and the Metropolitan Police, were stationed along the route. One band from the Scots’ Guards was in the courtyard at Buckingham Palace where a King’s guard of honour was provided by the Scots’ Guards. Queen Mary’s motor car procession of six cars, which left Marlborough House smartly after 11 a.m., was the first to enter the procession route. Queen Mary was in the first car, which flew her standard, her suite in the second and Juliana, Princess Regent of the Netherlands, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Gustav and the Crown Princess 1 Louise of Sweden, and the Gloucesters and their suite followed in the other cars. Queen Mary’s procession was the first to arrive at the great west door where the Dean and Chapter of Westminster received them.

Queen Elizabeth’s procession was the first to leave Buckingham Palace. It was a carriage procession with a captain’s escort of household cavalry. In the glass coach at the head of the procession were Queen Elizabeth and Frincess Margaret, while in the three carriages behind followed King Haa'kon of Norway. King Frederik and Queen Ingrid of Denmark, King Michael of Rumania, Queen Frederika of the Hellenes, and Queen Elizabeth’s suite. The procession reached the abbey shortly after Queen Mary’s procession and again the Dean and Chapter of Westminster received them. A great shout of welcome went > up from the crowds in The Mall and in the distance the bells of Westminster Abbey were pealing merrily as the procession of His Majesty and Her Royal Highness the bride came out of Buckingham Palace, skirted the Queen Victoria Memorial and entered The Mall. A Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry escorted the procession, which was headed by the Irish State coach carrying the King and the bride. Two carriages followed them. In the first were the Ladies Margaret Egerton and Margaret • Seymour, Ladies-in-Waiting to the. bride, and the Earl of Eldon, Lord-in-Waiting to the bride. In the other carriage were the Grooms-in-Waiting and Equerries-in-Waiting. The procession followed the same route as the others and arrived at the Abbey west door about 11.30 a.m.

LONDON, Nov. 20,

Privacy Respected

The great quadrangle outside Buckingham Palace was, a sea of faces as a patient multitude waited for the bridal party to emerge and enter their waiting coaches. Flashes of colour from the tunics of the escorting cavalry and the plumes of the Guards’ helmets could be seen as the procession was formed, and many of the crowd must have been hoarse with cheering long before any of the Royal Family were seen. Children and even tiny babies were lifted above the heads of the crowd for a glimpse of the spectacle. Before Princess Elizabeth had entered her carriage at the Palace the crowd had broken the police cordon at one point and was quite impossible to control. All down the Mall the cheering followed the procession, and as the first flashes of scarlet from the uniforms of the Life Guards became visible through the green of the plane trees from Admiralty Arch, the crowd was “on tiptoe with scarcely controllable excitement.” The Princess paused for a moment and looked at the Abbey before she went in, to be greeted by the triumphant music of the heralds, choir and great organ.

FUTURE HAPPINESS

“ UNSELFISH LOVE IS TRUE SECRET”

ARCHBISHOP’S ADDRESS Rec. 1 a.m. LONDON, Nov. 20. The Archbishop of York, Dr Cyril Garbett, in the address after the marriage pronouncement and blessing, said the service in all essentials was the same as would be for any cottager who might have married this afternoon. “ You have now become man and wife. Never before has a wedding been followed with such interest by so many and this has not been merely passive —it has been accompanied by earnest prayer and hope that throughout your married life you have every happiness. One of you, the daughter of our beloved King, has gained already by your charm and simple grace, the affection and admiration of all.

“ The other, as a sailor, has a sure place in the hearts of the people, who know how much they owe to the strong shield of the Royal Navy. You have given yourselves each other in unselfish love. Unselfishness is the true secret of married life. It must show itself continually in all small problems and incidents of everyday life."

Dr Garbett continued “ through this unselfishness you will be able to make your home an oasis of peace and love in the midst of a life which is certain to be crowded with public duties. “With the high confident hope for all that this day means for ourselves and the nation, we send you forth from the Abbey to the great multitudes outside who are eagerly waiting to welcome you as man and wife. You go forth with the affectionate good wishes of all who are here. May God’s unfailing love always surround and protect you. May He now and always give you every blessing, peace and happiness.”

The people of Romsey, where the honeymoon will be spent, will respect the couple’s wish for privacy, but hope to see them at church on November 23. There will not be a civic welcome. The people will line the approach to the flower-bedecked town and the short stretch of road to Broadlands. Eight Scotland Yard detectives and*a number of Hampshire County police arrived at Romsey, and will patrol the grounds and guard the gates of Broad - lands.

Dukedom for Philip Mountbatten

Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 19. The King has made Philip Mountbatten the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, given him the Order of the Garter, and authorised him to use the prefix “ His Royal Highness.” The King in conferring the ne\v titles on Lieutenant Mountbatten in private at Buckingham Palace, touched his future son-in-law on each shoulder with a naked sword as he knelt before him in the ceremony of the Accolade of Knighthood and invested him with the insignia of the Order of the Garter.

Felicitations From Dominion

“In assuring your Majesty of the homage and unabated loyalty of Government and peoples of New Zealand its island territories and Western Samoa, I beg with humble duty to express on their behalf most sincere congratulations on the occasion of the marriage today of H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten and to convey most earnest and heartfelt good wishes for their future happinness.”—B. C. Freyberg, Governor-General.

P.A. WELLINGTON, Nov. 20. The Governor-General, Sir Bernard Freyberg, sent the following message to the King on the occasion of the marriage of H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

Rec. 2 a.m

The bride and bridegroom, when they left the Abbey, entered a carriage and drove to Buckingham Palace alqng the procession route with a captains' escort of the Household Cavalry. The bridesmaids and pages returned to the Palace in motor cars. Their Majesties returned to the Palace together in the Irish State coach with the Sovereign’s escort of Household Cavalry. Foreign sovereigns and Palace attendants followed in other carriages. Queen Mary and the other foreign royal guests followed them along the same route to the Palace.

Cheering, happy crowds thronged the route, the royal couple acknowledging the tumultuous reception with smiles and waving. There was a continuous surge of sound as the multitude awaited the appearance of the royal couple on the balcony of the Palace, the deafening roar of cheering rising to a crescendo as members of the Royal Family appeared, and reaching its clim?x with the appearance of the bridal pair. The was a brief interlude before their appearance when a lad climbed the great stone gateposts and attempted to make off with the Royal Standards which were flying, alert policemen chasing him off before he had achieved any success.

LOCAL INTEREST

DISPLAYS OF BUNTING CEREMONY BROADCAST In feminine circles at least the royal wedding superseded such contemporary news items as the election results and the Christchurch fire as the main topic of conversation yesterday. The publication of photographs and details of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown in the Daily Times afforded ample scope for discusison among the womenfolk and gave some basis for a mental preview of the ceremony. Serving as reminders of the occasion, city business premises were almost all flying flags, and the Town Hall was festooned with bunting. Vessels in the port had scoured thensignal lockers in order to dress ship, and the laden halyards added bright splashes of colour to the waterfront. Vessels at Port Chalmers were also dressed for the occasion.

For some days past several city stores have devoted window space to displays of photographs of Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Mountbatten, together with other members of the Royal Family, and these have attracted a considerable amount of attention from passers-by.

Earlier rebroadcasts of news from the 8.8. C. yesterday doubtless had many more listeners than is normally the case, for people were keen to learn details of last-minute preparations and just how the weather was in London. The ceremony was broadcast from the 8.8. C. between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. (New Zealand time), and the full commentary was rebroadcast by the main stations throughout New Zealand, which must have had an extraordinarily large listening public for that hour of the night.

LONDON, Nov. 20,

TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Tumultuous Reception for Bride and Groom

HAPPY CROWDS LINE ROUTE

Like a mediaeval painting, the trumpeters stood ready to sound their fanfare as the royal couple left the Abbey, the organ’s great voice pealing out the traditional Wedding March. The reception which greeted them as they emerged from the west door of the Abbey exceeded even the tumult of applause which had followed the procession earlier, the great bells of the Abbey pealing above the roar of cheering which almost submerged the voices of the commentators.

There was a humorous moment as the foreign royalty emerged, a policeman mistaking the youthful King of Iraq, who had boyishly moved out to inspect some of the coach horses, for somebody out of the crowd beckoning to him to move back. All along the avenues to the Palace the riotous welcome continued, every one of the thousands upon thousands of people crammed in the Mall standing on tiptoe in an endeavour to catch even a glimpse of the spectacular cavalcade.

ALL NIGHT VIGIL

CROWDS OUTSIDE PALACE EVERY AVAILABLE POINT THRONGED Rec. 1.30 a.m. LONDON, Nov. 20. Densely-packed thousands, some o i whom had waited since early yesterday afternoon, thronged every available point along the wedding route at 9 a.m. The police in Pall Mai; had to link arms at 9 a.m. and push back people forced into the street by crowds of newcomers. A mother with her baby, aged 19 months, waitec outside the Abbey from 6 p.m. yesterday. The crowds who waited all night outside Buckingham Palace saw the Palace lights switched on in the earl} half-light. Soon after 9 a.m. a var delivered to the Palace the bride’s bouquet. A little later cars left the Palace to collect the bridesmaids. The first excitement for the crowds

was the march of the Grenadier Guards along Buckingham Palace road to take up positions along the procession route. Double-decker buses took hundreds of police to the Abbey. Reuter’s estimated that 2,000,00( people thronged the route and its approaches an hour before the wedding It was almost impossible to reach the Abbey and every window along the route was packed with people who paid up to £25 for standing room. When the Buckingham Palace floodlights went out after the Royal Family’s appearance last night, thousands mostly women stayed singing and dancing, or just sleeping, on pavements or in doorways throughout the night. In the morning streams of others converged on Westminster.

The drizzling rain which fell during most of the night ceased at dawn as the lights began to ;(ppear in the Palace’s upper storeys and the Meteorological Bureau’s promise of milder weather with a chance of some breaks seemed likely to be borne out. Traffic difficulties were occurring by 8 a.m. around Trafalgar Square and the Abbey where almost a continuous stream of new-comers poured from underground stations. It was almost impossible to cross the road. Never can London have seen so early an influx of sightseers for any parade before Nelson's Column, by then already fully in use as a grandstand.