THE CORONATION.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 403, 9 April 1937, Page 3

THE CORONATION.

CRIMSON THRONES. Homage of the Princes. Special—-By Air Mail. *_»ondon, March 23. The thrones on which, the King and Queen <v4ll he solemnly enthroned after their Corot ation, are now being made. Bach th) one will be covered with crimson velvet. The King’s throne will be embroidered back and front with his oat of-arms, and the Queen's will bear her own. This embroidery is being” carried out <at the Royal School of Ileedjework at South Kensington, totaere the canopies and banners are also being worked. The ehairs of State, which Their Majesties will occupy :>rior to the crowning, are also being made at the same tchool? Thesa are- of crimson satin, iecorated with the coat-of-arms. As there is no JMnce of Wales, no eldest son, the Duke of Gloucester will do homage to his brother in the name of all the Princes of the Blood Royal, and he, too, will have a specially embroidered chair. The Duke of Kent and Prince Arthur of Connaught- will have new chairs made for them, but the older Princes already possess _ them, and will use the one?' they had for previous coronations. Position of Princess. The position of Princess Elizabeth in {he procession has been creating a- problem for th? authorities. The question arises whether she should occupy the position held at the last Coronation by the Prince of Wales, or take a similar place to that of the Prihcess Royal, who was then 14. In the former case she would lead the pioceesion, and: be followed by her u icles, the Duk-? of Gloucester and tile Duke of Ke«t. As the Duke of Gloucester, however, is performing th® chief function or lhe Prine® of

Wales—doing h image on behalf of tlie Princes —it would be correct for him to lead the procession of British Royalties into the Abbey. In that case, the Princess would follow her uncles. Whatever is decided, for the first time Princets Elizabeth will be officially attended by a lady-in-waiting. One reason for the shortness of her ei minq-bordered purple velvet robe, w th its triple bars of gold, is that it w ill not ne< d to be carried. She j will have a laiy-in-iWaiting to follow her instead of a page. Princess Margcaret Rose is noit expected to join tht procession, but she will watch the ceremony from the Royal box. I . ” . . Bouquets for the Queens. The bouquets w’hich Queen Elizabeth and Quern Mary will carry at the Coronatio i will be the gifts of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners. Queen Elizabeth will receive two bouquets. One, which she will throughout the ceremony, will oe composed of scarlet carnations, white- roses, lily of the valley and the royal blue iris. The other, a larger bouquet, will be made of “Mrs Crawlford’’ white roses and “Richmond” red rcses. Queen Mary’s bouquet will be made of her favourite flowers, self-pink carnations. At her coronation, Queen Mary 'Was presented with a bouquet of self-pink and self-white carnations by the Worshipful Company of Gardeneis, and every year since, on the anniversary of her coronation, a siinilar liouquet has been sent, by them to her. The Gardeners’ Company also presented the bridal bouquets to the Duchess 1 of Kent and the Duchess oi' Gloucester on their marriage. ] Owing to the fact that everyone [(even the ,>eers find: peeresses' and Royal guests, as well as the crow'ds who have booked seats and windows, and those who w 11 stand on the kerb) will have to make tan early start, the length of the ceremony itself may be curtailed. Guests in tb.e Abbey will find the sit or seven hours.' from the time they arrive, until they | depart, long enough. It is also suggested that the Litany should b»

sung during the procession, as a measure of shortening the ceremony. Before the Coronation procession begins, Scotland Yard will know the exact whereabouts and movements of every undesirable person in the country. The authorities are determined to allow no repetition of the incident which occurred when King Edward reviewed this Boards last year, and a man threw d revolver at him. Their inquiries hate extended to all agitators who might endeavour to incite persons with an imaginary grievance against the Government, to miake a similar attempt. Activities of Deteoti\es. During the next few weeks every building on the route of the procession is likely to be visited by the police. They will want to know who will be invited -to the building on the day, and to «hom the various rdomthave been let. And the strongest Force of detectives ever employed will mix among the crowds on the procession route. Conttngenls of pfficert will be recruited from every ity and town in England, and it is estimated -that about 30,000 will be >n duty on Coronation Day. So many mounted police will be required in the streets" to control the crowds, in addition to the foot police, that Scotland Yard has borrowed 100 horses from the Army remount depots-. This training of the horses consists of walking up and down stairs, passing through fiery arches, and having banners waked in their faces. Horses -are also ridden between lines of men blowing trumpets, and amplified gramophone records of brats bands will be used. They will also have an old aeroplane engine roaring in their ears.