THE CORONATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10269, 22 June 1911, Page 5

THE CORONATION.

The ceremonial prescribed for the Coronation of English Sovereigns has been guarded with the most jealous oonservatism, and has been preserved almost intact through religious reform and politicial revolutions. Some minor changes, however, have from time tc time crept into the ritual, and have immediately become precedents, and this, no doubt, will be the case with the alterations which were introduced at the Coronation of King Edward and Queen Alexandra. According to the earlier ceremonial, the Sovereign, before his Coronation, slept one night in the Tower. The next day he went in procession to .Westminster, by way of Tower Hill, Cornhill, Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, and the Strand, which is, as far at least as the Strand and City are concerned, the same route, though in reverse order, as that of the post-Cor-onation procession of 1902. At a brief interval, the Queen Consortfollowed the King. On his arriv-ii at Westminster Palace, the Sovereign

kept vigil, and was instructed by the I Dean (formerly the Abbot) of WestTminster in the Abbey services of the ensuing day. The nest morning, the King and Queen, wearing their Parliamentary robes, entered Westminster Hall and held solemn court seated on the King's Bench. On the table before them were laid the Regalia, brought in by the high officers of State , and the Dean and Prebendaries of i Westminster. At this point the Re- | galia were distributed to the proper j officers, who were to bear them in the Procession. The proceedings in Westminster Hall and the Procession therefrom to the Abbey have been given up since the Coronation of George IV. ' THE ENTRANCE INTO THE j CHURCH. , At the west door of the Abbey the : full brilliancy of the scene first manifests itself. At that historic portal it i is the custom for the civil and eccles- j iastical dignitaries who bear the Re- , galia to meet the King and Queen. I Thence, preceded by the choristers singing the anthem, " Iwas glad when '' they said unto me, Are will go into the House of the Lord," they advance up the Navo and through the Choir to the Theatre, which the clergy and great officers cross. The spectacle that greets their <Maijosties on their entrance into the Abbey is of unexampled splendour.. Within the Presbytery are the Princesses of the Blood, and in the transepts the Peers and Peeresses, in crimson velvet and ermine, occupy their separate galleries. At the last Coronation the faithful Commons were seated in a gallery commanding the whol-» vista of the Abbey, which on such occasions, from the Sanctuary to the West Door, is one blaze of scartet and gold. By this time, all present have found their appointed places;, and the King and Queen are seated In their Chairs of Repose. Then His Majesty rises, and stands by his chair, in readiness for the impressive ceremonial of THE RECOGNITION, ~...'. which is thus performed: The Archbishop of Canterbury, turning to the East sidi- of the Theatre, challenges the assembly with this question: "Sirs, —I here present unto you King

George, the undoubted Kins of this realm; wherefore, all you who are come this day to do your homage, are you willing to do the same?" The "Primate, accompanied by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Lord High Constable, and the Earl Marshal, and preceded by the Gtrter King of Anns, in his •gorgeous tabard emblazoned \vith the royal escutcheon, solicits the assent of the corgregation in like manner on the South, West and North. The King all the while stands, and turns his face to the several sides of the Theatre as the Archbishop is speaking at each of them, the people at every repetition signifying their assent by acclamation. As the last shout of "God Savo King George!" dies away, the trumpets sound, ilie drums roll,

CROWNING OF KING GEORGE V. DETAILS OF THE CELEBRATION.

and the opening bars of the anthem ' "Let thy hand be strengthened," rise from the Choir. During the singing the King resumes his seat. The Archbishop and officiating Bishop next assume their rich copes, lending to the group of the clergy a touch of brilliant colour, arid the Archbishop proceeds to the Altar and prepares to receive , THE FIRST OBLATION. The King now rises, and, preceded by the great officers bearing the Regalia, and supported by the Bishops of Durham and Bath and Wells, with the Dean of Westminster, the King's instructor, in close attendance, goes up the steps of the Altar. There kneeling, he presents an altar-cloth of cloth-of-gold and an ingot of gold of a pound weight, the latter being received by the Primate in a golden basin. The justification of this ceremony is found in the Scriptural command, "Thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God empty." The King, after an obeisance, retires to his chair on the South side of the Altar, and the Queen, advancing, offers a similar altar-cloth —but no ingot of gold—-and seats herself in a chair on the King's left hand. The great officers and prelates who bear the King's and Queen's Regalia now deliver these emblems to the Archbishop, who places them reverently upon the Altar. Here follows the Litany, after a prescribed form. The Archbishop immediately proceeds to the first part of the Communion Service, and then the Bishop of London, ascending the pulpit, delivers the Coronation sermon, during which His Majesty wears' his Cap of Estate, and the Archbishop sits in a purple-velvet chair on the North side of the Altar. At the end of the sermon, His Majesty proceeds to take THE OATH. Standing before the King, the Archbishop asks whether His Majesty is willing to take the Oath, and, receiving the reply, "I am willing." ministers the questions requiring the. King to govern the United Kingdom and the Dominions beyond the Seas with Equity and Justice, and to maintain the true Profession of the Gospel. The King, having answered, "All this I promise to do," arrises out of his chair, goes to the Altar, the Sword of State being carried before him, and, kneeling on the Altar steps, places his right hand on the Gospel and makes

solemn oath, saying, "The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep, so help me God." Then the King kisses the Book and signs the Oath, a silver standish being furnished by tho officer appointed to present it. THE ANOINTING. is begun with the hymn, "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," after the singing of which the Archbishop, laying his hand on the Ampulla ing the oil, prays for the blessing and sanctification of the Monarch. Such is the impressive preliminary to the ser- I vice which is, in reality, the most J sacred and significant rite of the whole Coronation Order. Although, in later times, the importance of the ceremony of anointing has been somewhat over-shadowed by the crowning. J which partakes more of a temporal J character, the Unction is the mosti ' ancient form of "sacring" a King, jmd has indeed the highest sanction divinity. To the noble music . of Handel's "Zadok the Priest,"" the King rises from his devotions, goes to the Altar in the same order as for the First Oblation, and there is divested of his crimson Parliamentary robes. He then ascends King Edward's historic chair, Avhich stands in the middle of the.Sanctuary, and over His Majesty is held a rich Pall, supported by four Knights of tne Garter habited in the dark blue mantles of their order. The King is now anointed by the Archbishop with the consecrated oil • poured from the Eagle's' beak into the • Spoon, and thereupon, while His Majesty kneels at the faldstool, the Archbishop invokes a blessing upon \ him. In ancient Coronations, the | Sovereign was here invested with the J 1 Colobium Sindonis, an under-garment '; of fine cambric, and with the Supertunica, a closed cope of cloth-of-gold woven with rich patterns, and over these was put tho Sword belt. • THE SPURS AND SWORD. At the conclusion of the Blessing, 1 ) the Dean of Westminster brings from the Altar the Gift Spurs, symbolising the King's knighthood, and hands them to the Lord Great Chamberlainr who touches the King's heels with them. The Monarch forthwith serid'S them back to the Altar. Here follows what is technically known as the Girding on of the Sword. Before the reign of Victoria, it was the custom for every sovereign, whether King or Oueen, tojiave the Sword actually I girded on. but her late Majesty mere- | ]y receive'! the Sword, sheathed in a i purple velvet scabbard, and this she held in her right hand., while the J Archbishop recited the "Accipe Glad--1 ium." THE OBLATION OF THE SWORD. ' The next ceremony prescribed is I that the Sovoroign shall rise and go

to the Altar, where he offers the Sword in the scabbard, whicli the Archbishop lays upon the Altar, signifying that the power of the Sword belongs to God, and that man undertakes to exercise it, not as a natural, but permitted right, for temporary usc __" no t a sword-taker, but a swordbearer." After the offering, the King again seats himself in King Edward's Chair, while the Bearer of the Sword of State offers the price of it—a hundred shillings—to the Altar, whereupon the Dean of Westminster returns the Sword, and the nobleman draws it out of its scabbard, and carries it naked before the Sovereign throughout all the solemnities of the Coronation Day. Then the King stands up, and about his shoulders is thrown THE IMPERIAL MANTLE of cloth-of-gold woven with designs in purple of eagle, the rose, the thistle, the shamrock, and the flower-de-luce. This vestment completes the ecclesiastical attire, the "Bysshop's gere," wherewith the King is habited to sym-

bolise the priestly nature of his office, emphasized at the Coronation of Henry VI by the rubric which directed the arranging of the King "like as a Bysshop [who] shuld say masse." Tims vested, the King again seats himself, and theDeanof Westminster, brings the Orb with the Cross +'rom the Altar, transfers it Archbishop who delivers it into the King's right hand for the brief space of the Blessing and the Exhortation "Accipe Pallium." THE RING AND THE SCEPTRES. An officer of the Jewel-house next hands to the Lord Chamberlain a ring set with magnificent table jewel, on " which is engraved the Cross of St. George. This ornament has been poetically called "The Wedding Ring of England." This he delivers to the Archbishop, who places it upon the fourth finger of the Sovereign's right hand-—the ancient "marrying finger" —giving the charge: "Receive the Ring, the Ensign of Kingly Dignity." By the time the "Amen" has been pronounced to this exhortation, the Dean of Westminster is in readiness, bearing the Sceptre with the Cross and the Rod with the Dove.- The top of the Sceptre with the Cross rises into an arched crown, out of which issues a mound, formed of a huge amethyst, with a girdle of jewelled gold, and, surmounted by p. cross pattee of stones. The Rod with the Dove. is also of gold, with three splendid I bands thickly encrusted with jewels, widening at the top into a golden mound, encircled, with diamonds. ! Over all, alighting upon a cross, is a J white dove. Meanwhile, in pursuance of an ancient and picturesque tradition, the Lord of the Manor of Worksop, on bended knee, performs the feudal service, in virtue of which he holds his lands, of presenting the Sovereign with a pair of rich gloves. These the King puts on; and then the Sceptre with the Cross is given into his right hand, as the emblem of Kingly Power and Justice, while in his left is placed the Rod with the Dove, symbolising Equity and Mercy. Now approaches the supreme moment of the day's ceremonial, when the ultimate emblem of regality will be placed by the Southern Primate on the head of the anointed King to show forth that sanction which the Church, representing the Heavenly Power, accords to the earthly power of the Monarch. ■'■'•'.' THE CROWNING. The interest of the vast and brilliant assemblage, already on tip 1 toe of expectation, is now centered upon the venerable figure of the Archbishop, who, standing before the Altar, solEARL OF CREWE.

emnly blesses the Crown. After the blessing, the Dean of Westminster, bearing the Crown, advances to King Edward's Chair. A hush falls over the assembly while the Primate, taking the Crown from the Bean, reverently places it on the Monarch's head. At that moment all the Peers assume their coronets, the Bishops their caps, and the Kings of Arms their crowns, and while a redoubled blaze of splendour thus flashes down the long drawn aisles, a great shout of "God save the

1 King" is lifted up, the trumpets i sound and, by a given signal, a roar of artillery announces the culmination of the solemnity to the expectant , multitude without. ' The Archbishop pronounces the charge beginning "Be strong and of good Courage," and the choir sings "The King shall rejoice in Thy Strength, 0 Lord; exceeding glad | shall he be of thy salvation. Thou I hast presented him with the Blessings of Goodness, and hast set a Crown of pure Gold upon his Head." THE BIBLE. Prominent in the procession of the Regalia has been a copy of the Holy Scriptures, richly bound in purple velvet. The point of the service has now arrived at which the Dean of Westminster bears the Bible from the Altar and places it in the hands of the Archbishop, who, in turn, delivers it to the Sovereign with an exhortation,' opening with the words "Our Gracious King, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this wo rid affords. Here is Wisdom; this is the Royal Law ; theso are the livelyOracles of God." When the Bible has been returned to the Altar, the Primate pronounces over the King a solemn Benediction, in which he prays that His Majesty may be granted a faithful Senate, a loyal nobility, wisdom and knowledge, length of days, ; victory in battle, and all temporal and spiritual happiness. To each section of the Blessing, the whole assembly re- j sponds with a loud and hearty ! "Amen." Finally, turning to the people, the Archbishop prays that the nation may enjoy, under the Sovereign's care* Peace, Plenty, and Prosperity. Closely following the last "Amen" come the opening bars of the "Te v Deum," which is the moment for the S6vereign to return, preceded by the Swords, io his Chair of Repose, where he remains until the end of the singing. From the beginning of the service the Throne has oeen unoccupied, but r.ow the King, crowned and bearing the Sceptres, moves towards it. With the utmost pomp of royalty he ascends the Theatre, attended by all the greatest in the realm, who form a gorgeous procession, wherin the coronets of the nobility and the collars of the knightly orders glitter against the rich background afforded by the crimson robes of the Peers and the sweeping blue and scarlet mantles of the Knights of the Garter and the Bath. THE INTHRONIZATION. The Archbishop and Bishops ana other Peers then lift the Sovereign into his throne (a relic of the ancient LORD CHARLES BERESFORD.

Ceremony of Elevation) and the brilliant throng, including the great officers of State and the Lords that bear the Swords and Sceptres, group themselves about the Siege Royal, their costumes and orders combining in a blaze of splendid pageantry. While the Archbishop repeats the exhortation, there is scarcely a stir throughout the whole vast concourse ; but as soon, as the concluding words have left the Primate's lips, life and motion are imported to the scenes as the Lords Spiritual, with the Archbishop at their head, detach themselves from the crowd, kneel before the Sovereign, and make their FEALTY AND HOMAGE, saying: "I, Frederick, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be faithful and true, and Faith and Truth will bear unto you, our Sovereign Lord, and your. heirs —King or Queens —of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas. And I will do, and truly acknowledge, the servica of the Lands which I claim to hold of you, as in right of the Church. So help me God." This done, the Archbishop and all the Lords Spiritual kiss the King's hand. THE HOMAGE OF THE LORDS TEMPORAL. is now performed. There noblemen,

taking off their coronets, kneel before the Sovereign, according to precedence, while the premier Peer of each degree with his fellows crowned and about him, recites the Oath of Allegiance. Then one by one the Peers pass i in order before the King, and each touches the Crown on the Monarch's head, thus signifying his readiness to support it on all occasions, and everyone kisses the King's right hand. During the ceremony it was customary for the Treasurer to scatter commemorative medals, an act known as the King's Princely Lorgesse, while the Lord Chancellor, read a general pari don. An anthem is sung during the I Homage, and when that ceremony is ended, the trumpets sound and the drums beat, and all the people shout, i crying aloud, "God Save King George! Long Live King George! May the King Live for Ever!" This concludes the actual solemnity of the King's Coronation, and His Majesty is left inthroned while the clergy proceed to the CROWNING OF THE QUEEN CONSORT. All this time the Queen, wearing a jewelled circlet with a purple velvet cap, has been seated on her Chair at the South side of the Altar, but the moment has now come for Her Majesty to arise and advance with her two supporting Bishops to the Altar. Escorting Her Majesty are the chief lady attending, the the Ladies of the ADMIRAL FISHER.

Bedchamber. The group surrounding the Queen may lack somewhat of the stately magnificence which waited on / the King in the Presbytery, but it is certainly of surpassing grace and charm. While the Queens kneels before the steps of the Altar, the Archbishop of York recites a benedictory prayer, and thereupon the chief lady 1 attending removes the circlet, and j Her Majesty proceeds to the place ( of her Anointing. While the Queen kneels, four Peeresses hold over her a rich Pall, |to ensure a seemly secrecy for the Anointing. The Holy Oil is now poured upon the Queen's head, and the Archbishop, taking Her Majesty's Rmg from the Master of the Jewel-house, places it upon the fourth ''n.'r.ev of her right hand, saying: "Receive this Ring, the seal of a sincere Faith." His Grace, then taking the Crown from the Altar, sets it .upon the Queen's Head with the words: "Re-i ceive the Crown of glory, honour and | joy." The Crowning of the Consort adds yet another brilliant touch to the scene, for as the royal diadem is I placed upon Her Majesty's head, all j the Peeresses present put on coro- < nets. The Sceptres are delivered, ' and during the singing of an anthem the Queen, with her escort, leaves her place and proceeds to the Theatre. Bowing low as she-'pa-sea the King; > Her Majesty is conducted in state to her own Throne, where she reposes until she descends together with the King for the office of .* THE COMMUNION. Ascending again to tlhe Altar in the same order .as before, their Majesties kneel, at their footstools, and, laying aside their Crowns and Sceptres, both offer for their Oominiunion Bread and Wine, which are brought from St. Edward's. Chapel. Then the King presents his second Oblation, a purse of gold, and the Queen makes a similar offering. "More," says Walsingjbam, the chronicler of Richard the Second's time," "the King might offer to God and St. Peter, but less he could not." Then the • Archbishop administers to their Majesties the Bread, and the Dean of /Westminster the Cup, and the Communion Service is oonaluded after the usual form of the Church of England. After receiving the Sacrament, their Majesties again put on their Crowns, and taking their Sceptres, re-ascend their Thrones. Another anthem follows, and aifter the Archbishop has read the final prayer, the King and Queen prepare for , THE RECESS. > Descending from their Thrones crowned, and still carrying _ their Sceptres "and Rods, their Majesties

re-eater the. Presbytery; those portions of the Regalia that still lie upon the Altar being handed by the j Dean of Westminster to the Lords ! that carried them .in the procession. The King and hi:.s lOonsort .pass in state to the .sound of solemn music < into the seclusion of St. Edward's Gliapel, the King by the door on the south, iside of the. Altar, and the Queen by that on the north. Within the ohapel rthe Rod with the Dove is delivered to the Archbishop, who lays it upon the Altar. The King is then disrobed of his sacred vestments, and arrayed by the Lord Great Chamberlain in his royal robe of purple velvet, furred with erm-. ine. Before St. Edward'© Altar the Aircabishop places the T)r.b in his Majesty's left hand, and this, being done, the Archbishops and Bishops divest themselves of their capes and proceed in their usual canonicals. A procession formed by the Peers, all wearing their coronets, and theArchbishops and Bishops in their caps,' is martiaHed to escort;, their Majesitdes from the Abbey in the followiinig rder:—Tho Queen .precedes with her supporting Bijshopsi and attendant ladies, •■.followed by tike great Officers of Stai>e, including those who •carry the Swords, and tine Princes of tihe Blood Royal. Last of alii the King, bearing in bis right hand the Sceptre with the Gross, and | in Wis left the Orb, proceeds down the body of the Church through the . great West Door, and thus is con- ' eluded tire glorious solemnity of the Coronation. "COD SAVE THE KING."