CORONATION COLOURS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 91, 7 June 1911, Page 7

CORONATION COLOURS.

I non Calthorp, in the “London,, calls the Coronation ceremony a pageant of symbols in which raiment of unequalled splendour lor once holds sway.” He proceeds to show how the wardrobes of the past, are throw n open, and a tangle or history brings together the Garter of Edward the Third, the white satin trunk hose of the Elizabethans, Georgian coats, medieval tabards, Indian embroideries and all manner ol sumptuary clones. Even the Dean and Chapter of Westminster will put m then claim, amongst other things, icr six eUs of dark coloured cloth, and ten yards of scarlet.” fho Lord GreatChamberlain, who may dress His Majesty for the day, can claim as ne--quisite forty yards of crimson veh et for his robes, as well as canning all the furniture of tK« room in which the Kinig slept tire night jcforc, and any basins and towels used in the Royal toilet during the twentye i im . r q it lias a homely, >tt Antique, sound to hear that Duchesses wear “kivtles,” but all the.poaiersos may walk proudly in crimson velvet and ermine. The H°y al rc . mantle is as honourable to-day a- it was in ancient Ireland, when a shore had always to be dressed in garments of a single or “self” colour, a farmer ia two, and so on up to a king oi queen, who might flaunt resplendcnclv in six, but red might never lie chosen by anyone below; the son• of a chief. The use of ermine, a so, has its significance, dating from the time in the Middle Ages, when person? went about conveniently labelled as to their high or low; degree. Sable, ermine, vair, and gtas, were rosei vec for the kings and nobles; between ranks wore squirrel and lamb; peasants wore badger and cats skins. The nobles at the Coronation are still labelled, from barons up to dukes, by the number of rows ol ermine worn on their crimson mantles. As for the King’s robes, their importance is marked by the ceremonial dressing and undressing in symbolical garments which lorm a largo pai t of the Coronation ritual. tie also arrives in kiltie or surcoat of crimson velvet, with mantle and hood furred with ermine; hut from tins attire he is promoted before long to vestments of an ecclesiastical cut “only granted to Abbots and to Kings ami Emperors,” and he sits amongst crimson nobles distinguished by' fee Imperial Mantle of Cloth of Cold. “Clothes,” says Mr Caltrirop, “for one day in our black and prey ’world, are triumphant. Weavers,' embroiderers, jewellers, all those who colour the tapestry with -pleasant splendour, come foilh lor this ore day, into butterflies with thc_iirst snn.” And for. once tin' woid “lobe” mav give some hint of its connection with the old Geiman word that meant “to rob/’ that is la sltip from an enemy the. valuable ‘•roil of his line garments. In n clay when dress was not only meant 1) clothe but lo adorn, such vestments must have been rather anxious properly, and it was not jrom unmercenary motives that a foiaera would choose the “prey of divas colours, of clivers color; a ol needlework.”