UNCROWNED KINGS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 395, 31 March 1937, Page 7

UNCROWNED KINGS.

SIMPLE RITES ON CONTINENT. Denmark Has No Elaborate Ceremony. For gorgeous pageantry and ovtr v,helming magnificence there is no ceremony in Europe like the Corona tion of a British Monarch, stat s a writer in the Sydney Sun. In the monarchial countries of the Continent, and there are not many of them left, the- ceremcfay of enthroning a new king is a poor and pale performance compared with the rite in West minster Abbey. Some countries, in fact, dispense with a Cord.iaition ceremony altogether. The new king, Leopold of Belgium, for instance, was never crowned. Another uncrowned king is. Victor Emmanuel of Italy. One of the treasures of the Royal House is the celebrated Iron Cro'. '.i of Lombardy, venerated because it is supposed to con. Lin one of the nails from the I True Cross. The crown, however, rests undisturbed at Monza, which by a tragic coincidence was the scene o', the assassination of the former King Humbert. Denmark, a most s'mple and demo cratic of monarchies, dispenses with all elaborate ceremony wh:n it has ,a new king. Tee chief of the Ministry, as representing the people, proclaims the monarch, who takes the oath and that is all. The other Scandinavian countries have almost as simple a rite, and in such cases, too, the Ministry of the day fakes a prominent part in the proceedings. They are, hov'ever, assisted by representatives of the Church. Of monarchs that were, the Kings of Spain and Portugal were not offi cially crowned The Ute Ktog Manuel of the last named country, now a republic, went through a brief, but interesting cjremony. It took place, not in a Cathedral, but in the Chamber of Peers and was presided over by the President of the Cham her. A throne was erected and on this the new monarch took his seut holding a sceptre In his left Placing his right ha.id on the Gospels lie took the oath and th n addressed a fe 1 .,' words to the assembled legislators. Then the President of the Chamber, as conducting the ceremony, solemnly proclaimed him King. Alfonso XIII, went through a rather .simiUr scene, though his Royal father, Alfonso XII., had a rough-and-ready proclamation in absence, b.y General Martinez Campor; commanding the armies which had been fighting the Carlists. It was some days after this that Alfdnso XII. landed at Barcelona and proceeded to take up the burden of kingship.

The last French King, Louis Philippe, had no Coronation. He took his seat an a throne in the Tuileries, while four marshals displayed the emblems of sovereignty, crown, sceptre and hand of justice. The sound of cannon firing afid salute and of band playing the “Marseillaise’’ came in through the windows as the new king signed th© charter and the oath. Everybody present scouted “Vive le Roi,’’ and for the first time there Was a King of the French. All Louis Philippe’s predecessors had bren Kings of France, which mlade a difTerence.

The next monarch to ascend the throne of France, Napoleon 111 was not crowned either. Paris woke up one morning- to find that, after four years of Republican, rule, a new Empire was in being. The Emperor made a gorgeous State entry but was never actually crowned.