THRONE NEVER VACANT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 390, 16 May 1910, Page 2

THRONE NEVER VACANT

SAME INTERESTING FACTS. POSITION OF PARLIAMENT. "Debrett's Peerage," defining the titles and orders of precedence, says:— . ,\ . •. Another theory of our law is that the King (or Queen) never dies —substantially, that the throne is never vacant, the succession of the heir being instantaneous, and a meeting of the Privy Council is held immediately after the demise of the Crown (usualy the next day) to give directions for proclaiming the new Sovereign and to swear in the members of the new Privy Council, the proclamation taking place in London at St. James' Palace, Temple Bar, and Royal Exchange, two or three days later. To this first meeting of the Privy Council of the new reign, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, etc., of London, although not themselves Privy Councillors, are invited. Since the Reform Act, Parliament does not dissolve at the demise of the Crown, and, if at the time adjourned or prorogued, meets immediately, or, if dissolved, the old Parliament must meet at once and may serve for six months. The ceremony of a coronation is, therefore, merely a solemn recognition and confirmation of the Royal desceat, and consequent right of accession, and is not necessary for the security of the title to the Crown. It is, therefore, highly essentia!, inasmuch as it tends to a formal establishment of those right* which the people claim from the Monarch in return for the duty and allegiance they are bound to obs'erve towards the new Sovereign. The date of the coronation is «pproxi-t mately fixed and proclaimed in London] at the same places as the accession some I months before the ceremony itself takes place, and >a special commission is appointed to hear and determine petitions and claims in connection therewith. The coronation ceremonial is probably more splendid, emblematic, ad elaborate in England than in any other country. Instance the anointing with oil, poured into the golden anointing spoon from the Ampulla or Golden Eagle, a practice which has been continued upwards of one thousand years; the formal crowning with the Royal or King Edward's crown carried in the initial procession immediately in front of the Sovereign between the orb on the right and the, sceptre with dove on the left, the sev-| i pi-nl religious ceremonies, besides the in-, si'.nin of Royalty, among 'which regalia ! :v,-<> a r."hv ring, to signify faithfulness;' ! the Armillae, or bracelets (not now iKpfl). f.-.r good works; purple robes, to attract reverence; and a diadem, to blazon glory; also the Orb (a golden sphere enriched with jewels and surmounted by 'a cross, the whole being some eleven inches in height), the emblem of Sovereignty; two sceptres

(Royal Sceptre with the Cross and the Sceptre with the Dove);, four swordsall carried upright—the Sword of State' in scabbard, two-handed, borne in front of St. Edward's Crown; the Sword of Mercy, or Curtana (without point), carried between, on the left the Sword of Justice to the Spirituality (obtusely .pointed); the Golden Spurs (-prick spurs) tone in front of Curtana, between on the right of St. Edward's staff (with an orb at the end of it), and on the left the 'Sceptre with the Cross.