Despite centuries of past precedents, each monarch brings their own personal touch to their coronation, whether it’s spending lavishly or sticking to a budget, commissioning new music or new Crown Jewels, or, more recently, inviting television cameras into Westminster Abbey”
On May 6, the coronation of King Charles III will take place at London’s Westminster Abbey. It’s a tradition that’s shaped the history of the monarchy from medieval to modern times—but the ceremony hasn’t always gone according to plan…
A Thousand Years of Coronations
On May 6, King Charles III will be crowned in Westminster Abbey with his consort, Queen Camilla. While Charles became King at the moment of the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sept. 8, 2022, the coronation ceremony serves to symbolize the monarch’s lifelong commitment to the roles of sovereign and supreme Governor of the Church of England. At the event, King Charles III will be crowned King of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms (including Canada). He’ll be anointed with holy oil, and will swear to govern as a constitutional monarch according to the laws decided in parliament.
While key traditions associated with modern royal weddings, christenings and jubilees date from Queen Victoria’s reign in the 19th century, the coronation service is much older. It was written by St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in AD 973, and Westminster Abbey has been the setting for coronations since 1066. Charles III will be the 40th monarch to be crowned there.
Despite centuries of past precedents, each monarch brings their own personal touch to their coronation, whether it’s spending lavishly or sticking to a budget, commissioning new music or new Crown Jewels, or, more recently, inviting television cameras into Westminster Abbey. Here are 12 memorable British royal coronations that shaped the history of the monarchy from medieval to modern times—including a few that did not go according to plan.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (1953)
Coronation on Television
The accession of the 25-year-old Queen Elizabeth II on Feb. 6, 1952, symbolized the beginning of “a new Elizabethan age” after the austerity of the Second World War. The decision to invite television cameras into Westminster Abbey to film the whole ceremony (except for the sacred anointing of the monarch) on June 2, 1953, seemed to bring the monarchy into the modern age, allowing audiences around the world to feel as though they were part of this landmark event. More than 250-million people watched on television as Queen Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms, many purchasing television sets for the first time for the occasion and hosting coronation parties. In Westminster Abbey, the four-year-old future King Charles III attended the ceremony, seated between his aunt, Princess Margaret, and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
While 16 months passed between Elizabeth II’s accession and coronation, her father, King George VI, didn’t have nearly so long to wait. When Edward VIII abdicated to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, George VI succeeded his brother as King, and was crowned just five months later on Dec. 11, 1936—the day originally scheduled for Edward’s coronation. Under the circumstances, the coronation followed past traditions to emphasize continuity, but there were a few significant departures. For the first time, the coronation was broadcast on the radio and film footage was shown in cinema newsreels. The coronation oath also changed to reflect the equal status of the United Kingdom and Dominions following the 1926 Balfour Declaration and 1931 Statute of Westminster. George VI swore “to govern the peoples of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa, of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, and of your Empire of India, according to their respective laws and customs”—setting the tone for the development of the modern Commonwealth.
St. Edward’s Crown has been used at coronations since 1661, but it wasn’t permanently set with precious stones until much more recently. (Instead, gems were loaned by jewellers to decorate the crown for individual coronations, then returned after the ceremony.) For his 1911 coronation, King George V and his consort, Queen Mary, arranged for the crown to be permanently set with 444 precious stones. Queen Mary purchased an Art Deco-inspired crown for her own crowning as Queen consort, and this will be used to crown Queen Camilla at Charles III’s coronation.
George V’s coronation was also notable for the additional events planned around the coronation to showcase the British Empire and the Royal Navy. There was a Coronation Naval Review of the Fleet, which attracted a quarter-million spectators, and a Festival of Empire, which included “Inter-Empire Championships,” the forerunner of the modern Commonwealth Games.
When Queen Victoria’s eldest son succeeded to throne in 1901 as King Edward VII at the age of 59, planning his coronation was a challenge. So much time had passed since Victoria’s coronation in 1838 that few people remembered how the ceremony should unfold. Luckily, Victoria’s elderly cousin, Princess Augusta of Cambridge was on hand to provide valuable insights for the planning committee.
Once the plans were in place, they were derailed by a medical emergency. Just two days before the planned coronation on June 26, 1902, Edward VII underwent an emergency operation for appendicitis on a table in the music room of Buckingham Palace. The coronation was rescheduled to Aug. 9. Despite his uncertain health, Edward VII refused suggestions that the ceremony, including the anointing, be condensed, stating, “If I am going to be done, I am going to be done properly.”
The coronation of the 19-year-old Queen Victoria on June 28, 1838, took place without a rehearsal, resulting in numerous mishaps. When the Queen entered St. Edward’s chapel in Westminster Abbey, she found half-eaten sandwiches and empty bottles of wine on the altar, which had been enjoyed by guests involved in the ceremony including Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. An 82-year-old peer named Lord Rolle stumbled on the steps before the throne while paying homage to the Queen and rolled backward, regaining his footing with the Queen’s assistance. Queen Victoria noted another uncomfortable moment in her journal: “The Archbishop had (most awkwardly) put the [coronation] ring on the wrong finger, and the consequence was that I had the greatest difficulty to take it off again, which I at last did with great pain.”
The young Queen’s calm demeanour and good humour during all these unfortunate moments endeared her to the public. Throughout her long reign, Victoria would ensure royal ceremonies were better organized, introducing innovations that continue to the present day.
Queen Victoria’s uncle, William IV, was a retired naval officer who had no interest in royal ceremony. Over the course of his seven-year reign, he repeatedly tried to give away Buckingham Palace. (Neither the navy nor parliament was interested.) After first questioning whether a coronation was necessary at all, William ultimately conceded to a simplified ceremony. He agreed to travel to Westminster Abbey in the gold state coach (above) commissioned for the coronation of his father, King George III, but he refused to allow a coronation banquet and wore his admiral’s uniform rather than ceremonial dress. Tory members of parliament who objected to the comparative absence of pomp and circumstance nicknamed the ceremony,“The Half-Crown Nation.”
William IV’s determination to hold a coronation on a budget may have been an effort to distance himself from his unpopular older brother (and predecessor), George IV. Known for his lavish spending, George IV had the most expensive coronation in British history, complete with a new crown decorated with 12,000 diamonds. An enthusiastic collector of French art and furnishings, he also commissioned an exact replica of Napoleon Bonaparte’s lavish coronation robes from a workshop in Paris—a controversial decision in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
His coronation would not be remembered for its pageantry, however, but for the King’s refusal to invite the Queen consort to the ceremony. When George IV’s estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, arrived at Westminster Hall, she was told by the doorman that she could not enter without a ticket. Her efforts to find another entrance were blocked by a line of soldiers. After arguing with numerous officials, the uncrowned consort departed in her carriage as the crowds chanted, “Shame! Shame!” She died two weeks later.
The coronation of George IV’s great-grandfather, George II, also included extravagant fashions. George II’s Queen consort, Caroline of Ansbach, wore a dress so heavily encrusted with jewels that she required a pulley to lift the skirt so that she could kneel to take communion during the ceremony. The enduring legacy of George II’s coronation, however, was the composition of four choral coronation anthems by George Frederic Handel. The most famous of these anthems, Zadok the Priest, has been sung before the anointing at every subsequent monarch’s coronation.
In 2023, Charles III followed in George II’s footsteps by commissioning new coronation anthems. There will 12 original compositions performed at Charles III’s coronation, including an anthem by Andrew Lloyd Weber.
The English Civil Wars left the country without a king for 11 years. When Charles II returned to England to reclaim the throne in 1660, a coronation was essential to symbolize the restoration of the monarchy. Unfortunately, only one piece of coronation regalia had survived: the silver anointing spoon acquired by Henry II or his son Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century. Recognizing the urgent need for new Crown Jewels, Charles II commissioned a new St. Edward’s Crown, orb and sceptre from his goldsmith, Sir Edward Vyner—then defaulted on the payments for the regalia following the Stop of the Exchequer in 1672, when the state defaulted on its debts.
After the ceremony, the new Crown Jewels were stored in the Tower of London, where they made a tempting target for thieves. In 1671, an Anglo-Irish officer by the name of Colonel Thomas Blood gained access to the Tower of London disguised as clergyman, overpowered the Master of the Jewel House and stole St. Edward’s Crown. Blood was apprehended on Tower Wharf, shouting, “It was a gallant attempt, however unsuccessful! It was for a crown!” Security at the Tower of London would improve, but attempts to steal the Crown Jewels continue to this day.
Charles II wasn’t the only king who scrambled to find a crown in time for his coronation. When Henry III succeeded his father, the villainous King John, at the age of nine, he was left without royal regalia. (John had lost the Crown Jewels when his baggage train overturned in a marsh in 1215, as he hurried to flee rebel barons and a French invasion after repudiating Magna Carta earlier that year.)
The First Barons’ War was still raging when John died suddenly in 1216. With rebel barons and a French army occupying London, Westminster Abbey was not available as a coronation venue. Henry’s supporters hastily organized a ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral where the boy king was crowned with one of his mother’s circlets just 10 days after his father’s death. Neither the young king nor his regents thought this coronation was sufficient to guarantee a monarch’s authority in tumultuous times, so after the First Barons’ War ended and the French were defeated, the teenaged Henry petitioned the Pope for permission to be crowned again. In 1220, Henry III received a traditional coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Test your knowledge with these history questions people always get wrong.
The Coronation of King William I (1066)
Riot on Coronation Day
After William, Duke of Normandy defeated the last Anglo-Saxon English King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, he was crowned King William I at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. When the bishops performing the ceremony asked the English people if they accepted their new King, the crowds shouted their approval—in English. Unfortunately, William’s guards spoke only Norman French and thought they were hearing an assassination attempt. The guards began attacking the crowds and set fire to nearby buildings. Inside Westminster Abbey, the coronation guests panicked and stampeded out of the Abbey before the ceremony was over. The riot at the coronation left the new king so concerned about his personal security that he ordered the construction of the Tower of London as a royal residence, fortress and prison; a historic site which still stands today.
The Coronation of Edgar the Peaceable (973)
1000 Years of Monarchy
In 973, St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the coronation service for the crowning of the Anglo-Saxon King of England, Edgar the Peaceable, and his consort, Aelfthryth, at Bath Abbey. The ceremony marked the zenith of Edgar’s reign rather than its beginning. By 973, Edgar had been king for 14 years, taking advantage of a lull in Viking attacks to acquire more ships and reform the monasteries.
In 1973, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and their children attended a service at Bath Abbey to mark the 1000th anniversary of Edgar the Peaceable’s coronation. When King Charles III is crowned, he will be following in the footsteps of a thousand years of kings and queens who pledged their lifelong commitment to their people in a coronation ceremony.
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy as we know it today involves many elements that have been a part of the pageantry ever since the 11th century. Such features of the ceremony carried out in Westminster Abbey since 1066 have been maintained by successive monarchs right down to Queen Elizabeth II (r. 1952-2022) and her coronation on 2 June 1953, as all rulers were keen to show they were part of a long-standing tradition.
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy as we know it today involves many elements that have been a part of the pageantry ever since the 11th century. Such features of the ceremony carried out in Westminster Abbey since 1066 have been maintained by successive monarchs right down to Queen Elizabeth II (r. 1952-2022) and her coronation on 2 June 1953, as all rulers were keen to show they were part of a long-standing tradition.
The essential purpose of the British coronation ceremony is to see the monarch swear an oath to uphold the Church and rule with honour, wisdom and mercy. The monarch is anointed with holy oil and given a sword, orb, ring, sceptre and, finally, a crown. Then all the nobles and clergy present swear loyalty to their sovereign. The new monarch next embarks on a procession to be presented to the people and finally – although nowadays it has gone out of fashion – there was a great feast of celebration, a function now replaced by live television.
Origins
The earliest English coronation that is recorded in detail, although it was certainly not the first, is the crowning of the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar (r. 959-975 CE) in Bath in 953 CE. Early English kings may even have settled for an ornate helmet rather than a crown but with the arrival of William the Conqueror (r. 1066-1087 CE), a tradition began of holding a lavish coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. William was himself crowned there on Christmas Day 1066 CE. Subsequent kings and queens, all keen to maintain a link with history and emphasise their legitimacy for the role, repeated many of the ceremonial elements which are still a part of the coronation ceremony today. Each monarch would add a little something to the ceremony, but in its essentials, a combination of religious and secular rituals, it has remained unchanged for a thousand years.
The Ceremony
In the Middle Ages, monarchs prepared for their big day by bathing, a ritual act of purification conducted on the eve of the coronation in the Tower of London. This was followed by a vigil in the Tower’s chapel. Both of these acts were typical of the process by which a squire became a medieval knight. A tradition also began in 1399 CE where the monarch invested a number of new knights on the coronation eve, who became known as the Knights of Bath (and from 1725 CE, members of the order of that name).
The first public act of the coronation spectacle was the procession which took the monarch to Westminster Abbey and allowed as many people as possible to view the proceedings. The star of the show wore red parliamentary robes at this point while musicians and flag-bearers accompanied the main carriage from the Tower of London (or Buckingham Palace in more modern times) to its final destination. From 1685 CE, the procession started closer to Westminster Abbey. On arrival, a group of dignitaries follow the monarch bearing the various precious objects from the British Crown Jewels which will be used later during the ceremony. A bodyguard of sergeants-at-arms, each member of which carries a ceremonial mace (a reminder that protection was their primary aim), then escorts the monarch up the aisle of the Abbey.
Trumpets blare and drums beat as a line of dignitaries follows their monarch to a podium, three of them bearing a sword each. These swords are the Sword of Temporal Justice, Sword of Spiritual Justice, and the blunt Sword of Mercy (aka ‘Curtana’); all are survivors of the destruction of the Crown Jewels in 1649 CE (see below). Music has always played an important role in coronations with some pieces being a permanent fixture such as George Frederick Handel’s Zadok the Priest, played at all ceremonies since 1727 CE. The congregation then shouts their acceptance and loyalty to the monarch who now wears magnificent robes of silk and gold. The robe worn by Elizabeth II is the golden Imperial Mantle, and she also wore a stole embroidered with symbols of the British nations and plants from the Commonwealth. The monarch is now seated on the chair known as King Edward’s Chair, made c. 1300 CE, and the audience settles down for the ceremony to begin proper.
Anointing the Monarch
Another item which survives from the pre-1649 CE regalia is the coronation spoon. This is used to anoint the monarch with holy oil at the start of the ceremony. As the monarch is regarded as chosen by God to rule, their coronation ceremony had several features similar to the consecration of a bishop. In this case, the anointing is done by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who pours a small quantity of oil onto the monarch’s head, chest, and palms.
The oil used at the coronation of Henry IV of England (r. 1399-1413 CE) in 1399 CE was believed to have been miraculously given to the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket (in office 1162-1170 CE) by the Virgin Mary. This wondrous oil had only recently been discovered hidden away in one of the darker corners of the Tower of London’s cellars. The oil, whatever its real origin, was a useful add-on in Henry’s search to legitimise his usurpation of the throne from Richard II of England (r. 1377-1399 CE). Despite Henry IV’s best-laid plans, his coronation did suffer a mishap when he dropped the gold coin which he was supposed to ceremoniously offer to God. The coin rolled away and was never seen again, an ill omen of the rebellions that would ruin his reign. Nevertheless, Becket’s sacred oil was used at several coronations thereafter.
Symbols of Power
As traditionally a monarch was also a knight, the coronation ceremony involves symbols associated with that rank such as golden spurs, armills (bracelets), and a sword. The two swords which are presented to the monarch at coronations are the Sword of State, which dates to 1678 CE, and the Jewelled Sword of Offering, which was first used by George IV of England (r. 1820-1830 CE) for his coronation in 1821 CE. The archbishop presents these swords and proclaims the following:
With the sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order.
(Holmes, 5)
The monarch is then given the Sovereign’s Orb which is topped by a cross and so symbolic of the Christian monarch’s domination of the secular world. It is placed in the sovereign’s left hand. The hollow gold orb, set with pearls, precious stones and a large amethyst beneath the cross, was made in 1661 CE and has been used in every coronation since then.
The monarch is next given the ‘Ring of Kingly Dignity’, placed on their third finger of the left hand (where a wedding ring is traditionally worn). The one used today, the Sovereign’s Ring, was originally made in 1831 CE for William IV of England (r. 1830-1837 CE) and has a cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) in rubies (thought to represent dignity) against a blue background of a single sapphire. A mix-up during the coronation of Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901 CE) resulted in the ring being too tight and the queen later wrote that the archbishop had great trouble putting it on and she removing it later.
The monarch is now given a sceptre and staff or rod, traditional symbols of royal power and justice. The Sovereign’s Sceptre (aka King’s Sceptre) was first made in 1685 CE, with modifications being added subsequently. Today, it has the 530-carat Cullinan I diamond, also known as the First Star of Africa, sparkling at the top of it.
Crowning Moment
The climax of the entire ceremony is, of course, the actual crowning of the seated monarch. The crown used is usually Saint Edward’s Crown (and if an alternative is used, it still carries this name). The crown is named after Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066 CE) and was made when Henry III of England (r. 1216-1272 CE), a fan of the saint, fancied new regalia for his coronation. It is likely that parts of a more ancient Anglo-Saxon gold crown were incorporated into this new version. Unfortunately, most of the British Crown Jewels, including the crown, were destroyed, broken up or sold off in 1649 CE following the execution of Charles I of England (r. 1600-1649 CE) and the (what turned out to be) temporary abolishment of the monarchy.
The 1660 CE Restoration of the monarchy necessitated the production of new regalia which would be put into immediate use at the coronation of Charles II of England in 1661 CE (r. 1660-1685 CE). Although it is not clear exactly by what means they were found or reacquired, many of the precious stones that survived the old regalia were incorporated into the new Crown Jewels of the 17th century CE and the new St. Edward’s Crown. It is this crown which has been used in coronations ever since. It is gold and weighs 2.3 kilos (5 lbs). As the crown is so heavy, after the actual crowning it is usually replaced by another lighter crown such as the Imperial State Crown. Curiously, the St. Edward’s Crown was only ever filled with hired gems when it was needed for a coronation and not until 1911 CE did it receive permanent settings.
The Imperial State Crown was created for the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 CE as a lighter alternative to St. Edward’s Crown. It is a spectacular crown and contains over 2,800 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies, and 269 pearls. Amongst these are the central Black Prince’s Ruby (actually a balas or spinel), below it the 317-carat Cullinan II diamond (aka Second Star of Africa), as well as the 104-carat oval-cut Stuart Sapphire and Saint Edward’s Sapphire (set in the top cross). The latter sapphire, an octagonal rose cut stone, is said to have been taken from the ring of Edward the Confessor making it the oldest item in all of the Crown Jewels.
Finally, the monarch’s consort also receives a crown during the ceremony. The most famous of these today is the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Made of platinum in 1937 CE, it contains the 105.60-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond from India, given to Queen Victoria as part of the peace treaty which ended the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845-49 CE). The great diamond is said to bring luck to a female wearer and bad luck to a male one, hence it has only appeared in various Queen consort crowns.
The final dramatic act in this royal drama involves the monarch’s nobles paying homage and swearing allegiance to their sovereign. Everyone dons their own crowns and coronets if they have the right to wear them and the whole congregation acclaims their new monarch by shouting ‘God Save the King/Queen’. The bells of Westminster Abbey ring out and there is simultaneously a 62-gun salute from the Tower of London. The monarch moves to sit on a throne on a raised platform and then receives homage from certain high-ranking clergy and nobles who kiss their hand. Finally, the monarch may issue a general pardon of those found guilty of wrong-doing under their predecessor and sometimes throws coins or medals into the assembly.
Procession
The monarch then leaves Westminster Abbey, now wearing purple imperial robes, and is transported in a golden carriage through the streets so that they may be presented to their people. Finally, the monarch arrives at Westminster Hall where a great feast used to be held. A fixture of medieval coronations, these were an opportunity for a monarch to shower some grace and favour on their most important subjects. Medieval coronation feasts could be huge affairs with up to 5,000 dishes served. We know that the guests at the coronation feast of Edward II of England (r. 1307-1327 CE) in 1308 CE managed to down 1,000 casks of wine. Exotic dishes were prepared and often sculpted into weird and wonderful forms, all served on solid gold dishes, chalices, wine fountains, punch bowls and salt cellars for the added entertainment of the guests. When it was all over, the commoners were allowed in to eat the leftovers. The last coronation feast was held in 1821 CE.
Instead of feasts we now have live television. In the mid-20th century CE, the coronation of Elizabeth II ignited the imagination of a nation. The ceremony was watched by some 20 million people and for the vast majority of them, it was the first event they ever watched on television. One can imagine the next coronation will be live-streamed around the world giving a view better than the people in Westminster Abbey itself with its notoriously bad sightlines. As the famed diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703 CE) noted on Charles II’s coronation in 1661 CE: “I sat from past 4 until 11 before the King came in…the King passed through all the ceremonies of the Coronation, which to my great grief I and most in the Abbey could not see” (Dixon-Smith, 46). Fortunately, with ever superior camera technology we can look forward to a superb throne-side view of the next coronation, whenever that may be.
The setting of Charles III’s crowning in Westminster Abbey in London lends grandeur and history to this great ceremony. John Goodall considers the evolution of this remarkable building and its role in celebrating the authority and antiquity of the monarchy.
Westminster Abbey first became our coronation church almost by accident nearly 1,000 years ago. The last Anglo-Saxon king of the English, Edward the Confessor, had a particular fondness for Westminster — then a peaceful spot outside London — and not only created a palace for himself on the Thames here, but also patronised the ancient monastery beside it, rebuilding the church in a new and monumental idiom of architecture inspired by Roman example. He died in this palace and was laid to rest before the high altar of his Abbey on January 6, 1066. The Bayeux Tapestry shows his funeral procession entering the church as a workman erects a final weathercock on the roof.
Taking advantage of the funeral gathering, Earl Harold Godwinson was acclaimed King and crowned in the same church on the same day. It was the first such ceremony ever held at Westminster. Nevertheless, it ensured that, when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings several months later, he, in turn, sought coronation in the same building.
Things did not go well.
The ceremony took place on Christmas Day 1066 and was a harbinger of the brutality of Norman rule. Mistaking the cries of acclamation in an unfamiliar tongue for treachery, the guards began sacking the surrounding houses.
According to the 12th-century account of Orderic Vitalis, amid the ensuing chaos, the newly-annointed monarch, possibly for the only time in his life, lost his nerve and sat trembling on the throne.
It was on the strength of these calamitous events in 1066, that Westminster Abbey successfully secured and formalised its role as the coronation church of the English kings for centuries to come.
The crossing, where the temporary coronation stage was erected, is partially visible to the extreme right (1). From this, steps led up to the sanctuary with its Cosmati pavement and the High Altar (2), backed by the 13th-century Westminster Retable. To the right is a four-part seat or sedilia used by the clergy celebrating mass (3). The Cosmati pavement extended into St Edward’s Chapel, with the Confessor’s shrine (4) encircled by royal tombs. At the end of the coronation service, the regalia were deposited on the attached altar. The usual sedilia for this altar was St Edward’s Chair (5). Dividing the chapel from the sanctuary is a reredos completed by the Abbey mason John Thirsk in 1441 (6), which screened the shrine from the choir. Henry V’s Chantry Chapel (7), also designed by Thirsk in 1438, created an internal porch to the 13th-century Lady Chapel (8). The form of this Lady Chapel—replaced from 1502–03 by what is familiarly known as Henry VII’s Chapel—can be reconstructed from previously unrecognised fragments at vault level. Opening off it is the St Erasmus Chapel (9). The position of the altars in the radiating chapels is inferred from extant fittings and decoration. Overall, this drawing illustrates the way in which colour—in glass, paintings and furnishings—was used to focus attention on liturgically important spaces in what was otherwise a cool, two-tone interior of Reigate stone and Purbeck Marble.
The process was driven forward by a formidable succession of 12th-century abbots, who, with the support of Henry II (then locked in conflict with Thomas Becket), also began to promote the sanctity of Edward the Confessor. The growing importance of the Abbey was naturally reinforced by its proximity to Westminster Palace, which was gradually emerging as the seat of the royal administration. It was distinguished architecturally from the 1090s by a leviathan hall that came to accommodate a fixed throne of stone, the literal seat of royal authority in England.
Our earliest detailed description of an English coronation — that of Richard I on September 3, 1189, by the monk of St Albans, Roger of Wendover — illustrates the intertwined roles of the Palace and the Abbey. On the morning of the ceremony, a procession of nobles and clergy conducted the King from the door of his ‘inner chamber’ in the former to the ‘high altar’ of the latter. Woollen cloth carpeted the route and the coronation regalia were carried in order of importance — a linen coif, spurs, sceptre, rod, three swords, a large board bearing vestments and finally ‘a golden crown great and heavy and adorned on all sides with precious stones’. The King himself followed beneath a silk canopy.
This display of the symbols of royalty made it clear what the King was assuming in the coronation ritual, an event invisible to most within the confines of Edward the Confessor’s church. It was, indeed, the only public outing that the regalia received because, after the ceremony, the King ‘put on a lighter crown and vestments, and so crowned came to breakfast [in Westminster Hall]’. These two processions, the exchange of regalia and the palace celebrations, remained central to the coronation ceremony as it subsequently evolved. Sections of the processional carpet — latterly made of blue ray — were claimed afterwards as perquisites.
In the early 13th century, Westminster Abbey found a crucially important new patron in Henry III. Devotion to his ancestor, Edward the Confessor, and a sense of competition with the resurgent power of the rival Capetian kings of France, prompted him to reconstruct the Abbey on the grandest scale from 1245. Among the points of architectural reference for the new building was the High Gothic coronation church of the French Kings, Reims Cathedral. Indeed, it’s strongly suggestive of a direct link that the mason in charge at Westminster was called Henry ‘of Reynes’.
Henry III’s new abbey church was taller and more opulently detailed than any other English great church. The main elevations made use of different coloured stones and were encrusted with carved decoration (Country Life, December 15 and 22, 2021). Craftsmen were brought from Rome to lay pavements in mosaic and semi-precious stone. Their so-called Cosmati work pavement extends across the sanctuary in front of the high altar and into the chapel beyond it, where a new shrine to Edward the Confessor was erected. The shrine itself and several surrounding tombs, including that of Henry III, were also decorated in Cosmati.
In certain details, the choir of Henry III’s church seems to have been designed with the ceremony of coronation in mind. The triforium gallery, for example, is exceptionally large, presumably to accommodate spectators, and the piers of the crossing are strikingly slim in order to open out views through the building (Fig 2). It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the design of the Cosmati floor in the sanctuary defines a central area in front of the high altar, an ideal spot for the King to be anointed.
By these changes, Westminster Abbey was not only splendidly renewed as a theatre for coronation, but it simultaneously became the mausoleum of England’s kings and the shrine of their royal saint and ancestor, Edward the Confessor. Uniting these functions in one place right beside the seat of the royal administration in Westminster Palace was exceptional in contemporary Europe. The Capetians, by contrast, were crowned at Reims (where the implements of coronation were divided between ecclesiastical institutions), had their mausoleum at St Denis and displayed their relic collection in the splendid interior of the Sainte Chapelle on the Isle de la Cité in Paris (which was also the seat of the royal administration).
Only the choir, transepts and eastern nave of the new abbey church at Westminster were completed during Henry III’s reign. They were first used for a coronation by his son, Edward I, in 1274, when the crossing had to be boarded over to tidy up the interior. It would be more than a century before the awkward abutment of the Gothic and Romanesque elements would be resolved by rebuilding. For this period, the main entrance to the church probably moved from the nave to the splendid north transept (Fig 3).
More important for the coronation — and completely conventional within a great church — was the creation of a gated liturgical enclosure inside the main volume of the building. At Westminster, this comprised the Confessor’s Chapel with its shrine beyond the high altar, the sanctuary to the west of the high altar, the crossing and the monastic choir, which occupied the first bays of the nave. This enclosure was ringed with high screens, furnishings and monuments, which were incrementally developed throughout the Middle Ages.
The use of these spaces in a coronation is described in the so-called Fourth Recension, a version of the liturgy first securely known to have been used to crown Edward II on February 25, 1308. Its directions or rubrics — augmented in the late 14th century — describe a ‘pulpitum’ or stage that was to be set up ‘near the four high pillars in the cross of the church’, with steps rising to it from the choir and descending towards the high altar. The structure was to be covered in carpets and cloth of gold. From about 1400, the area around the high altar was also dressed in tapestry for the coronation, the most fabulously expensive of all surface coverings.
On arrival in the church, the King was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to his people each side of the stage and acclaimed before being led to the high altar, to make an offering of gold. He then briefly prostrated himself on the floor, which was spread with carpets and cushions, before taking a seat on the sanctuary to hear a sermon.
What followed was laden with symbolism. In very abbreviated form, the coronation oaths were then taken at the high altar, after which the sovereign took off his outer garments and was anointed. The regalia, having been brought in procession to the Abbey, were laid on the high altar and the King was vested. He must have stood to put on such things as the tunic or colobium, although he is usually depicted receiving the crown seated. The history of this regalia is now beyond rescue — all bar one item being destroyed in 1649 — but there were clearly traditions that linked it to the figure of Edward the Confessor, reinforcing the connection of the living monarch with this legitimising and saintly ancestor.
The King then offered his sword to the altar, which was immediately redeemed, and was afterwards conducted to ‘a lofty throne’ on top of the stage in the crossing where he could ‘be clearly seen by all the people’. For Edward II’s coronation, this structure — probably resembling the 1370s cathedra at Durham (Fig 4) — is elsewhere described as incorporating seats for the King and Queen and of being high enough for a mounted knight to ride beneath it. Enthroned on this, he received the homage of his nobles.
The Queen’s coronation followed the King’s in similar, but distinct, form. She received the homage of the women present and her throne was pointedly lower than her husband’s. Next, a Mass was celebrated, after which the King and Queen descended from their high thrones and were conducted past the high altar to the shrine of Edward the Confessor. Here, they were divested of all their regalia and their crowns were placed on the altar of the shrine. Then, wearing lighter crowns and with their sceptres only — which were later collected by the Abbot of Westminster, the custodian of all the regalia — they processed back to Westminster Hall for breakfast.
Such are the rubrics, but other accounts of Edward II’s coronation suggest a chaotic event. One anonymous eyewitness describes the press of people causing the partial collapse of the coronation stage and the death of a knight. The behaviour of the notorious favourite, Piers Gaveston, meanwhile, incensed several important guests. Royal accounts additionally reveal that the enthronement took place in a huge, temporary hall within the Palace. Its arched throne recess — presumably resembling that which survives at Knaresborough Castle, North Yorkshire (Country Life, January 17, 2008) — incorporated a gilt effigy of the King, a means of making his likeness visible to everyone. It gives some sense of the numbers attending that 14 subsidiary halls were erected for the occasion, as well as 40 ovens to prepare food. Ostentatious and prolific consumption was essential at such an important royal event.
In the late 14th century, Richard II further enriched the architectural setting of the coronation, pressing forward the construction of the Abbey nave and re-roofing Westminster Hall in its present, magnificent, form. He also had an image of himself in regalia painted on his stall in the choir (Fig 1).
Ironically, the King who first used these spaces for his coronation, however, was the man who deposed him, Henry IV. This ceremony in 1399 was necessarily organised with particular care. To dignify the usurpation, not only was discovery made of an ampule of oil supplied by the Virgin herself, but an existing piece of furnishing in the Abbey was pressed into new service for the act of anointing, probably for the first time. This was St Edward’s Chair (Country Life, May 29, 2013), containing the Stone of Scone, upon which Scottish kings were inaugurated. A trophy of war, the stone, together with the Scottish crown and sceptre, was gifted to the Abbey in 1298 by Edward I. It was incorporated within a special seat for priests celebrating Mass at the shrine altar of Edward the Confessor and the chair has subsequently been used in every coronation.
Westminster Abbey as prepared for Henry IV’s coronation in 1399, the first in which St Edward’s Chair (1) is securely known to have been used for the anointing. Note the open plan of the interior between the High Altar (2) and shrine (3). The King was shown to his people on each side of the crossing stage, but climbed up onto an elevated throne above it (4) to hear the Coronation Mass and to receive homage. According to the rubrics of the coronation liturgy, a carpet and cushion were laid where the King abased himself on the sanctuary floor (5). From the late 14th century, the church interior was almost certainly dressed with tapestry, then a novel and stupendously expensive type of wall covering (6). Entrance to the choir enclosure was carpeted in wool (7) and, when the nave was under construction, was probably through the north transept. Richard II’s portrait dignified the first north stall (8), the conventional position of a bishop’s throne or cathedra.
Another innovation made at about this time was the use by peers of so-called parliamentary robes and fur-lined caps of estate. These caps were carried in procession to the coronation and then put on collectively after the crowning, a theatrical flourish first recorded in the 1440s sculpture of Henry V’s Chantry in the Abbey.
From the late 15th century, there is a growing volume of documentation on individual coronations, most of it compiled by heralds. These suggest the outward forms of the ceremony remained remarkably consistent. Such changes as it underwent generally emphasised its magnificence, one such being the gradual enrichment of the robes worn by peers. Not only did they adopt small crowns or coronets, but, by 1626, robes lined with rich fur.
Fig 3: The north-transept façade of the Abbey offered the most direct connection between the Palace and the Abbey. The reconstruction of the nave continued into the 15th century. Westminster Abbey photographed for Country Life magazine by Paul Highnam.
The setting of Charles III’s crowning in Westminster Abbey in London lends grandeur and history to this great ceremony. John Goodall considers the evolution of this remarkable building and its role in celebrating the authority and antiquity of the monarchy.
Westminster Abbey first became our coronation church almost by accident nearly 1,000 years ago. The last Anglo-Saxon king of the English, Edward the Confessor, had a particular fondness for Westminster — then a peaceful spot outside London — and not only created a palace for himself on the Thames here, but also patronised the ancient monastery beside it, rebuilding the church in a new and monumental idiom of architecture inspired by Roman example. He died in this palace and was laid to rest before the high altar of his Abbey on January 6, 1066. The Bayeux Tapestry shows his funeral procession entering the church as a workman erects a final weathercock on the roof.
Taking advantage of the funeral gathering, Earl Harold Godwinson was acclaimed King and crowned in the same church on the same day. It was the first such ceremony ever held at Westminster. Nevertheless, it ensured that, when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings several months later, he, in turn, sought coronation in the same building.
Things did not go well.
The Coronation of William I (The Conqueror) as King of England, in 1066. The coronation was interrupted by a fire which broke out at Westminster Abbey.
The ceremony took place on Christmas Day 1066 and was a harbinger of the brutality of Norman rule. Mistaking the cries of acclamation in an unfamiliar tongue for treachery, the guards began sacking the surrounding houses.
According to the 12th-century account of Orderic Vitalis, amid the ensuing chaos, the newly-annointed monarch, possibly for the only time in his life, lost his nerve and sat trembling on the throne.
It was on the strength of these calamitous events in 1066, that Westminster Abbey successfully secured and formalised its role as the coronation church of the English kings for centuries to come.
The east end of Westminster Abbey in 1500
The east end of Westminster Abbey as it would have appeared in 1399. Credit: Illustration by Stephen Conlin, researched by John Goodall and Matthew Payne, by kind permission of the British Archaeological Association
The crossing, where the temporary coronation stage was erected, is partially visible to the extreme right (1). From this, steps led up to the sanctuary with its Cosmati pavement and the High Altar (2), backed by the 13th-century Westminster Retable. To the right is a four-part seat or sedilia used by the clergy celebrating mass (3). The Cosmati pavement extended into St Edward’s Chapel, with the Confessor’s shrine (4) encircled by royal tombs. At the end of the coronation service, the regalia were deposited on the attached altar. The usual sedilia for this altar was St Edward’s Chair (5). Dividing the chapel from the sanctuary is a reredos completed by the Abbey mason John Thirsk in 1441 (6), which screened the shrine from the choir. Henry V’s Chantry Chapel (7), also designed by Thirsk in 1438, created an internal porch to the 13th-century Lady Chapel (8). The form of this Lady Chapel—replaced from 1502–03 by what is familiarly known as Henry VII’s Chapel—can be reconstructed from previously unrecognised fragments at vault level. Opening off it is the St Erasmus Chapel (9). The position of the altars in the radiating chapels is inferred from extant fittings and decoration. Overall, this drawing illustrates the way in which colour—in glass, paintings and furnishings—was used to focus attention on liturgically important spaces in what was otherwise a cool, two-tone interior of Reigate stone and Purbeck Marble.
The process was driven forward by a formidable succession of 12th-century abbots, who, with the support of Henry II (then locked in conflict with Thomas Becket), also began to promote the sanctity of Edward the Confessor. The growing importance of the Abbey was naturally reinforced by its proximity to Westminster Palace, which was gradually emerging as the seat of the royal administration. It was distinguished architecturally from the 1090s by a leviathan hall that came to accommodate a fixed throne of stone, the literal seat of royal authority in England.
Our earliest detailed description of an English coronation — that of Richard I on September 3, 1189, by the monk of St Albans, Roger of Wendover — illustrates the intertwined roles of the Palace and the Abbey. On the morning of the ceremony, a procession of nobles and clergy conducted the King from the door of his ‘inner chamber’ in the former to the ‘high altar’ of the latter. Woollen cloth carpeted the route and the coronation regalia were carried in order of importance — a linen coif, spurs, sceptre, rod, three swords, a large board bearing vestments and finally ‘a golden crown great and heavy and adorned on all sides with precious stones’. The King himself followed beneath a silk canopy.
This display of the symbols of royalty made it clear what the King was assuming in the coronation ritual, an event invisible to most within the confines of Edward the Confessor’s church. It was, indeed, the only public outing that the regalia received because, after the ceremony, the King ‘put on a lighter crown and vestments, and so crowned came to breakfast [in Westminster Hall]’. These two processions, the exchange of regalia and the palace celebrations, remained central to the coronation ceremony as it subsequently evolved. Sections of the processional carpet — latterly made of blue ray — were claimed afterwards as perquisites.
In the early 13th century, Westminster Abbey found a crucially important new patron in Henry III. Devotion to his ancestor, Edward the Confessor, and a sense of competition with the resurgent power of the rival Capetian kings of France, prompted him to reconstruct the Abbey on the grandest scale from 1245. Among the points of architectural reference for the new building was the High Gothic coronation church of the French Kings, Reims Cathedral. Indeed, it’s strongly suggestive of a direct link that the mason in charge at Westminster was called Henry ‘of Reynes’.
Henry III’s new abbey church was taller and more opulently detailed than any other English great church. The main elevations made use of different coloured stones and were encrusted with carved decoration (Country Life, December 15 and 22, 2021). Craftsmen were brought from Rome to lay pavements in mosaic and semi-precious stone. Their so-called Cosmati work pavement extends across the sanctuary in front of the high altar and into the chapel beyond it, where a new shrine to Edward the Confessor was erected. The shrine itself and several surrounding tombs, including that of Henry III, were also decorated in Cosmati.
Fig 2: The choir, crossing and sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Credit: Country Life
In certain details, the choir of Henry III’s church seems to have been designed with the ceremony of coronation in mind. The triforium gallery, for example, is exceptionally large, presumably to accommodate spectators, and the piers of the crossing are strikingly slim in order to open out views through the building (Fig 2). It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the design of the Cosmati floor in the sanctuary defines a central area in front of the high altar, an ideal spot for the King to be anointed.
By these changes, Westminster Abbey was not only splendidly renewed as a theatre for coronation, but it simultaneously became the mausoleum of England’s kings and the shrine of their royal saint and ancestor, Edward the Confessor. Uniting these functions in one place right beside the seat of the royal administration in Westminster Palace was exceptional in contemporary Europe. The Capetians, by contrast, were crowned at Reims (where the implements of coronation were divided between ecclesiastical institutions), had their mausoleum at St Denis and displayed their relic collection in the splendid interior of the Sainte Chapelle on the Isle de la Cité in Paris (which was also the seat of the royal administration).
Only the choir, transepts and eastern nave of the new abbey church at Westminster were completed during Henry III’s reign. They were first used for a coronation by his son, Edward I, in 1274, when the crossing had to be boarded over to tidy up the interior. It would be more than a century before the awkward abutment of the Gothic and Romanesque elements would be resolved by rebuilding. For this period, the main entrance to the church probably moved from the nave to the splendid north transept (Fig 3).
More important for the coronation — and completely conventional within a great church — was the creation of a gated liturgical enclosure inside the main volume of the building. At Westminster, this comprised the Confessor’s Chapel with its shrine beyond the high altar, the sanctuary to the west of the high altar, the crossing and the monastic choir, which occupied the first bays of the nave. This enclosure was ringed with high screens, furnishings and monuments, which were incrementally developed throughout the Middle Ages.
The use of these spaces in a coronation is described in the so-called Fourth Recension, a version of the liturgy first securely known to have been used to crown Edward II on February 25, 1308. Its directions or rubrics — augmented in the late 14th century — describe a ‘pulpitum’ or stage that was to be set up ‘near the four high pillars in the cross of the church’, with steps rising to it from the choir and descending towards the high altar. The structure was to be covered in carpets and cloth of gold. From about 1400, the area around the high altar was also dressed in tapestry for the coronation, the most fabulously expensive of all surface coverings.
Fig 1: Richard II ‘The Westminster Portrait’, 1390s. This oil and wood portrait was probably painted for his stall at the Abbey.
On arrival in the church, the King was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to his people each side of the stage and acclaimed before being led to the high altar, to make an offering of gold. He then briefly prostrated himself on the floor, which was spread with carpets and cushions, before taking a seat on the sanctuary to hear a sermon.
What followed was laden with symbolism. In very abbreviated form, the coronation oaths were then taken at the high altar, after which the sovereign took off his outer garments and was anointed. The regalia, having been brought in procession to the Abbey, were laid on the high altar and the King was vested. He must have stood to put on such things as the tunic or colobium, although he is usually depicted receiving the crown seated. The history of this regalia is now beyond rescue — all bar one item being destroyed in 1649 — but there were clearly traditions that linked it to the figure of Edward the Confessor, reinforcing the connection of the living monarch with this legitimising and saintly ancestor.
The King then offered his sword to the altar, which was immediately redeemed, and was afterwards conducted to ‘a lofty throne’ on top of the stage in the crossing where he could ‘be clearly seen by all the people’. For Edward II’s coronation, this structure — probably resembling the 1370s cathedra at Durham (Fig 4) — is elsewhere described as incorporating seats for the King and Queen and of being high enough for a mounted knight to ride beneath it. Enthroned on this, he received the homage of his nobles.
Fig 4: The late 14th century Bishop’s Throne and Hatfield Chantry at Durham Cathedral. Credit: Country Life
The Queen’s coronation followed the King’s in similar, but distinct, form. She received the homage of the women present and her throne was pointedly lower than her husband’s. Next, a Mass was celebrated, after which the King and Queen descended from their high thrones and were conducted past the high altar to the shrine of Edward the Confessor. Here, they were divested of all their regalia and their crowns were placed on the altar of the shrine. Then, wearing lighter crowns and with their sceptres only — which were later collected by the Abbot of Westminster, the custodian of all the regalia — they processed back to Westminster Hall for breakfast.
Such are the rubrics, but other accounts of Edward II’s coronation suggest a chaotic event. One anonymous eyewitness describes the press of people causing the partial collapse of the coronation stage and the death of a knight. The behaviour of the notorious favourite, Piers Gaveston, meanwhile, incensed several important guests. Royal accounts additionally reveal that the enthronement took place in a huge, temporary hall within the Palace. Its arched throne recess — presumably resembling that which survives at Knaresborough Castle, North Yorkshire (Country Life, January 17, 2008) — incorporated a gilt effigy of the King, a means of making his likeness visible to everyone. It gives some sense of the numbers attending that 14 subsidiary halls were erected for the occasion, as well as 40 ovens to prepare food. Ostentatious and prolific consumption was essential at such an important royal event.
In the late 14th century, Richard II further enriched the architectural setting of the coronation, pressing forward the construction of the Abbey nave and re-roofing Westminster Hall in its present, magnificent, form. He also had an image of himself in regalia painted on his stall in the choir (Fig 1).
Ironically, the King who first used these spaces for his coronation, however, was the man who deposed him, Henry IV. This ceremony in 1399 was necessarily organised with particular care. To dignify the usurpation, not only was discovery made of an ampule of oil supplied by the Virgin herself, but an existing piece of furnishing in the Abbey was pressed into new service for the act of anointing, probably for the first time. This was St Edward’s Chair (Country Life, May 29, 2013), containing the Stone of Scone, upon which Scottish kings were inaugurated. A trophy of war, the stone, together with the Scottish crown and sceptre, was gifted to the Abbey in 1298 by Edward I. It was incorporated within a special seat for priests celebrating Mass at the shrine altar of Edward the Confessor and the chair has subsequently been used in every coronation.
Westminster Abbey on coronation day in 1399
Credit: Illustration by Stephen Conlin, researched by John Goodall and Matthew Payne, by kind permission of the British Archaeological Association
Westminster Abbey as prepared for Henry IV’s coronation in 1399, the first in which St Edward’s Chair (1) is securely known to have been used for the anointing. Note the open plan of the interior between the High Altar (2) and shrine (3). The King was shown to his people on each side of the crossing stage, but climbed up onto an elevated throne above it (4) to hear the Coronation Mass and to receive homage. According to the rubrics of the coronation liturgy, a carpet and cushion were laid where the King abased himself on the sanctuary floor (5). From the late 14th century, the church interior was almost certainly dressed with tapestry, then a novel and stupendously expensive type of wall covering (6). Entrance to the choir enclosure was carpeted in wool (7) and, when the nave was under construction, was probably through the north transept. Richard II’s portrait dignified the first north stall (8), the conventional position of a bishop’s throne or cathedra.
Another innovation made at about this time was the use by peers of so-called parliamentary robes and fur-lined caps of estate. These caps were carried in procession to the coronation and then put on collectively after the crowning, a theatrical flourish first recorded in the 1440s sculpture of Henry V’s Chantry in the Abbey.
From the late 15th century, there is a growing volume of documentation on individual coronations, most of it compiled by heralds. These suggest the outward forms of the ceremony remained remarkably consistent. Such changes as it underwent generally emphasised its magnificence, one such being the gradual enrichment of the robes worn by peers. Not only did they adopt small crowns or coronets, but, by 1626, robes lined with rich fur.
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The Restoration in 1660 and the need to revive the traditions of monarchy prompted a further outpouring of antiquarian study and analysis of the ceremony. The herald Francis Sandford set a new standard in this regard with his sumptuously illustrated account of the coronation of James II and Queen Mary, published in 1687 (Fig 5). From this point forward, the physical appearance of Westminster Abbey as a theatre for coronation — its interiors transformed by temporary viewing galleries — is easy to reconstruct. Such imagery underlines the degree to which every coronation is a reinvention of tradition. Over the coronation weekend in 2023, we will all be able to enjoy the next step in its evolution.
[37]
”When the Witan convened the next day they selected Harold to succeed,[d] and his coronation followed on 6 January, most likely held in Westminster Abbey, though limited but persuasive evidence from the time survives to confirm this, in the form of its depiction in the Bayeux Tapestry (shown above left).[25”
”Henry was staying safely at Corfe Castle in Dorset with his mother when King John died.[16] On his deathbed, John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom, and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal, one of the most famous knights in England.[17] The loyalist leaders decided to crown Henry immediately to reinforce his claim to the throne.[18][c] William knighted the boy, and Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the papal legate to England, then oversaw his coronation at Gloucester Cathedral on 28 October 1216.[19]
In the absence of Archbishops Stephen Langton of Canterbury and Walter de Gray of York, he was anointed by Sylvester, Bishop of Worcester, and Simon, Bishop of Exeter, and crowned by Peter des Roches.[19] The royal crown had been either lost or sold during the civil war or possibly lost in The Wash, so instead the ceremony used a simple gold corolla belonging to Queen Isabella.[20] Henry later underwent a second coronation at Westminster Abbey on 17 May 1220.”
”The rebellious barons, faced with an uncompromising king, turned to King Philip’s son, Louis, who, in 1216, then sailed to England with an army despite his father’s disapproval, as well as the pope’s, who subsequently excommunicated him. Louis captured Winchester and soon controlled over half of the English kingdom.[1] He was proclaimed “King of England” in London by the barons, although never actually crowned.
Louis’ ambitions of ruling England faced a major setback in October 1216, when John’s death led to the rebellious barons deserting him in favour of John’s nine-year-old son, Henry III, and the war dragged on. Louis’ army was finally beaten at the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217. Also, after a fleet assembled by his wife, Blanche of Castile, attempted to bring him French reinforcements but was defeated off the coast of Sandwich on 24 August 1217, he was forced to make peace on English terms. He signed the Treaty of Lambeth and surrendered the few remaining castles that he held. The treaty had the effect of Louis agreeing he had never been the legitimate king of England. That formalised the end of the civil war and the departure of the French from England”
”Henry was staying safely at Corfe Castle in Dorset with his mother when King John died.[16] On his deathbed, John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom, and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal, one of the most famous knights in England.[17] The loyalist leaders decided to crown Henry immediately to reinforce his claim to the throne.[18][c] William knighted the boy, and Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the papal legate to England, then oversaw his coronation at Gloucester Cathedral on 28 October 1216.[19]
In the absence of Archbishops Stephen Langton of Canterbury and Walter de Gray of York, he was anointed by Sylvester, Bishop of Worcester, and Simon, Bishop of Exeter, and crowned by Peter des Roches.[19] The royal crown had been either lost or sold during the civil war or possibly lost in The Wash, so instead the ceremony used a simple gold corolla belonging to Queen Isabella.[20] Henry later underwent a second coronation at Westminster Abbey on 17 May 1220.”
”On 18 October 1216, John contracted dysentery, which would ultimately prove fatal.[7][8] He died at Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, and with him the main reason for the fighting. Louis now seemed much more of a threat to baronial interests than John’s nine-year-old son, Henry.
Pierre des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and a number of barons rushed to have the young Henry be crowned as King of England. London was held by Louis (it was his seat of government) and therefore could not be used for this coronation so, on 28 October 1216, they brought the boy from the castle at Devizes to Gloucester Abbey in front of a small attendance presided over by a Papal Legate, Guala Bicchieri (d. 1227, Bishop of Vercelli, papal legate in England 1216–18). They crowned Henry with a necklace of gold.”
John returned west but is said to have lost much of his baggage train along the way.[221]Roger of Wendover provides the most graphic account of this, suggesting that the King’s belongings, including the English Crown Jewels, were lost as he crossed one of the tidal estuaries which empties into the Wash, being sucked in by quicksand and whirlpools.[221] Accounts of the incident vary considerably between the various chroniclers and the exact location of the incident has never been confirmed; the losses may have involved only a few of his pack-horses.”
”In the absence of Archbishops Stephen Langton of Canterbury and Walter de Gray of York, he was anointed by Sylvester, Bishop of Worcester, and Simon, Bishop of Exeter, and crowned by Peter des Roches.[19] The royal crown had been either lost or sold during the civil war or possibly lost in The Wash, so instead the ceremony used a simple gold corolla belonging to Queen Isabella.[20] Henry later underwent a second coronation at Westminster Abbey on 17 May 1220”
”The climax of the entire ceremony is, of course, the actual crowning of the seated monarch. The crown used is usually Saint Edward’s Crown (and if an alternative is used, it still carries this name). The crown is named after Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066 CE) and was made when Henry III of England (r. 1216-1272 CE), a fan of the saint, fancied new regalia for his coronation. It is likely that parts of a more ancient Anglo-Saxon gold crown were incorporated into this new version. Unfortunately, most of the British Crown Jewels, including the crown, were destroyed, broken up or sold off in 1649 CE following the execution of Charles I of England (r. 1600-1649 CE) and the (what turned out to be) temporary abolishment of the monarchy.”
”Edward the Confessor wore his crown at Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas.[11] In 1161, he was made a saint, and objects connected with his reign became holy relics. The monks at his burial place of Westminster Abbey claimed that Edward had asked them to look after his regalia in perpetuity for the coronations of all future English kings.[12] Although the claim is likely to have been an exercise in self-promotion on the abbey’s part, and some of the regalia probably had been taken from Edward’s grave when he was reinterred there, it became accepted as fact,[12] thereby establishing the first known set of hereditary coronation regalia in Europe.[13] A crown referred to as St Edward’s Crown is first recorded as having been used for the coronation of Henry III in 1220, and it appears to be the same crown worn by Edward.[14]”
Unfortunately, most of the British Crown Jewels, including the crown, were destroyed, broken up or sold off in 1649 CE following the execution of Charles I of England (r. 1600-1649 CE) and the (what turned out to be) temporary abolishment of the monarchy.”
St Edward’s Crown is the crown used at the moment of coronation. It was made for Charles II in 1661, as a replacement for the medieval crown which had been melted down in 1649. The original was thought to date back to the eleventh-century royal saint, Edward the Confessor – the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.
The crown was commissioned from the Royal Goldsmith, Robert Vyner, in 1661. Although it is not an exact replica of the medieval design, it follows the original in having four crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, and two arches. It is made up of a solid gold frame set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. The crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band.
”After some hesitation, Henry met the exiled Thomas Arundel, former archbishop of Canterbury, who had lost his position because of his involvement with the Lords Appellant.[13] Henry and Arundel returned to England while Richard was on a military campaign in Ireland. With Arundel as his advisor, Henry began a military campaign, confiscating land from those who opposed him and ordering his soldiers to destroy much of Cheshire. Henry initially announced that his intention was to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster, though he quickly gained enough power and support to have himself declared King Henry IV, imprison King Richard (who died in prison, most probably forcibly starved to death[14]) and bypass Richard’s 7-year-old heir-presumptive, Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March”
The Archbishop who walked up with Henry turned around towards the congregation asking if they wanted Henry as King to which they replied loudly: “Yes”. The Archbishop then turned back to Henry and read the 4 articles of the coronation oath to which Henry swore to uphold. At the coronation he made a speech in English. Before this, the official language of the court was French, ever since William I conquered England”
Henry IV, also known as Henry of Bolingbroke was the son of John of Gaunt who was the fourth son of Edward III and the third son to survive to adulthood. His mother was Blanche of Lancaster was a descendant of Henry III.
Henry joined in 1386 a group of opposition leaders to Richard II – the lords appellants – who outlawed Richard’s closest associates and forced the king to accept their counsel. The following year, Henry’s father died. Richard then seized the family estates, depriving Henry of his inheritance and this prompted Henry to invade England. He met little opposition, as many were horrified by the king’s actions. Richard surrendered in August 1399. It was claimed that Richard had abdicated of his own free will. Henry of Bolingbroke thus usurped the throne of England.
Henry’s accession is dated the 30 September 1399. Henry IV was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Monday 13 October 1399. Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury performed the ceremony. Henry added a few changes to the coronation. He added the dubbing of 46 knights 2 days before the coronation who had joined him at the Tower of London. They spent the night maintaining a vigil and were ritually bathed, similarly Henry undertook such. The following day they were knighted during morning Sunday mass. Later that day they accompanied Henry in procession to Westminster dressed in matching long green robes and hats trimmed with white fur and decorated with cords and tassels of white silk.
On the afternoon of Sunday 12 Oct the procession from the Tower of London to Westminster took place. Henry rode bare-headed on a white horse wearing a short doublet of gold cloth, a blue garter on his left leg and the badge of the King of France around his neck. Henry was accompanied by over 2000 lords, ladies, knights, clerks and household servants, all wearing new robes together with three times as many horses. The mayor and peoples of London were arranged in fur-trimmed scarlet uniforms and displayed their company badges. Thomas Erpingham carried the sword and Tomas Percy carried the Stewart’s baton. They wore red velvet or silk. The streets were highly decorated and wine flowed through conduits for drinking.
After Henry’s vigil and bath, he began his coronation day by taking confession and hearing three masses. Just before 0900 hrs the monks of Westminster and other clergy went from the Abbey to the palace and waited outside the royal chamber. Henry wearing sandals was then purified with holy oil and incense by the Archbishop of Canterbury and York before being taken to the Abbey. A canopy to which was attached 4 gold bells and made of blue silk was held above Henry by silver poles by four people from Cinque Ports. The Bishop of London carried the sacraments and sang mass. On one side of Henry was young 13 year old Prince Henry carrying the Curtana or coronation sword and on the other side of Henry was the Earl of Northumberland carrying a sword known as the Lancaster sword. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset and Earl of Warwick carried a sword wrapped in red and bound with golden straps symbolising twofold mercy. Thus Four swords instead of three were carried around the King.
The ceremony was generally based on established custom. On entering the Abbey, the procession moved towards the elevated stage between the transepts covered with crimson cloth. On top of the stage was the coronation throne draped on gold cloth. Henry stepped up on the platform and sat on the throne. The Archbishop who walked up with Henry turned around towards the congregation asking if they wanted Henry as King to which they replied loudly: “Yes”. The Archbishop then turned back to Henry and read the 4 articles of the coronation oath to which Henry swore to uphold. At the coronation he made a speech in English. Before this, the official language of the court was French, ever since William I conquered England. Both left the stage and approached the altar. The paving stones were covered again in gold cloth. Henry upper body clothing was then removed and his hands, chest, shoulders, upper back, arms and head were anointed. The congregation sang Veni Creator Spiritus.
The Ampulla, of solid gold and in the form of an eagle, which contains the oil with which the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the Sovereign is still in use. It was last used for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It is believed that this same Ampulla was also used for the Coronation of Henry IV in 1399, although design modifications have probably occurred over the centuries.
After the ceremony the feasting began and part way through included the tradition of interruption by the Kings Champion (Sir Thomas Dymock). He entered through the great north door on horseback in full armoury with other knights carrying Henrys sword and shield.
Henry first married Mary de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Joan FitzAlan. She was only about 12 years old. It is believed the marriage took place on 5 February 1381, at Mary’s family home of Rochford Hall, Essex or possibly at Arundel Castle. Her coronation details are unknown.
On 7 February 1403 Henry married his second wife, Joanna of Navarre, the daughter of Charles d’Évreux, King of Navarre, at Winchester. On the 26th of the same month, she held her formal entry to London, where she was crowned queen of England by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury.
END OF THE ARTICLE
SEE ALSO THE OTHER SOURCE, CONFIRMING THAT
HENRY IV HELD HIS CORONATION SPEECH IN ENGLISH
YOUTUBE
[HISTORIAN DAN JONES]
REIGN OF TERROR: THE VICIOUS RULE OF RICHARD II/
BRITIAIN’S BLOODIEST HISTORY/TIMELINE
ANOTHER SOURCE, CONFIRMING HENRY IV’S CORONATION SPEECH IN ENGLISH
”Henry’s coronation, on 13 October 1399 at Westminster Abbey,[16] may have marked the first time since the Norman Conquest that the monarch made an address in English.”
”Stylistically it seems to relate to the twelfth century and is therefore a remarkable survival – the only piece of royal goldsmiths’ work to survive from that century. It was possibly supplied to Henry II or Richard I.”
The silver-gilt spoon has an oval bowl, divided into two lobes, engraved with acanthus scrolls. The bowl is joined to the stem by a stylised monster’s head, behind which the stem flattens into a roundel, flanked by four pearls, and a band of interlaced scrolling, with another monster’s head; the end of the tapering stem is spirally twisted, and terminates in a flattened knop.
The spoon is first recorded in 1349 as preserved among St Edward’s Regalia in Westminster Abbey. Already at this date it is described as a spoon of ‘antique forme’. Stylistically it seems to relate to the twelfth century and is therefore a remarkable survival – the only piece of royal goldsmiths’ work to survive from that century. It was possibly supplied to Henry II or Richard I.
It is unclear from the 1349 inventory whether the spoon at this date was part of the chapel plate or simply a secular object. However, it was clearly never intended for eating or stirring. Its divided bowl and length suggest that it always had a ceremonial purpose, and its presence among the regalia means that it has always been associated with coronations. It may originally have been used for mixing wine and water in a chalice, but it was certainly used for anointing the sovereign during the coronation of James I in 1603, and at every subsequent coronation. One suggestion is that the divided bowl was designed in this fashion so that the archbishop might dip two fingertips into the holy oil.
The spoon remained among the regalia until 1649, when it was sold off (rather than melted down like the other items). It was purchased by a Mr Kynnersley, Yeoman of Charles I’s Wardrobe, for 16 shillings. Kynnersley returned the spoon to Charles II, for use at the coronation in 1661, when the small pearls were added to its decoration. It has remained in use ever since.
The anointing is the most sacred part of the coronation ceremony, and takes place before the investiture and crowning. The Archbishop pours holy oil from the Ampulla (or vessel) into the spoon, and anoints the sovereign on the hands, breast and head. The tradition goes back to the Old Testament which describes the anointing of Solomon by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet. Anointing was one of the medieval holy sacraments and it emphasised the spiritual status of the sovereign. Until the seventeenth century the sovereign was considered to be appointed directly by God and this was confirmed by the ceremony of anointing. Although the monarch is no longer considered divine in the same way, the ceremony of Coronation also confirms the monarch as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Provenance
Possibly made for Henry II or Richard I. First recorded in the Royal Collection in 1349
The gold Ampulla is used to hold the consecrated oil with which a sovereign is anointed during the coronation ceremony. It is cast in the form of an eagle with outspread wings. The head of the eagle is removable, and there is an opening in the beak for pouring the oil.
The design is based on an earlier, smaller vessel, which was based on a fourteenth-century legend: the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St Thomas Becket and presented him with a golden eagle and a vial of oil for anointing future kings of England. Oil from the Ampulla is poured onto the twelfth-century Anointing Spoon (RCIN 31733) at the most sacred moment of the coronation. The gesture of anointing, when the Archbishop touches holy oil onto the head, breast and hands of the sovereign, dates back to the Old Testament Book of Kings, where the anointing of Solomon as King is described.
Provenance
Supplied for the coronation of Charles II in 1661 by the Crown Jeweller, Robert Vyner.
What is significant about an ampulla and spoon? Watch The Reverend Dr James Hawkey, Canon Theologian and Almoner, explain the most symbolic and sacred part of the coronation.
Of all the objects used within coronations, the ampulla and spoon are arguably the most important. They are required for the anointing, which is the most sacred part of the coronation service. Replicas of both objects are on display within the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries and have been used for hundreds of years.
The ampulla, shaped like an eagle, holds the consecrated oil with which the monarch is anointed. It was made for the coronation of King Charles II in 1661. Unlike the regalia that had to be remade in the 17th century, the spoon is the only item to survive Oliver Cromwell’s destruction of the sacred symbols of monarchy after the English Civil War. It dates back to the early 12th century, and is recorded among objects at the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey in an inventory of 1349.
Anointing is the moment when the archbishop places holy oil on to the head, heart or breast, and hands of the monarch. It is the only part of the coronation service that the congregation are not allowed to watch; during the televised coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, a canopy was held over the Queen as she was anointed to ensure it could not be seen.
The recipe for the holy oil is secret, but contains oils of orange flowers, roses, jasmine and cinnamon. It is consecrated by a bishop on the coronation day. This sacred blessing, using the ampulla and spoon, is at the heart of the Christian coronation service, demonstrating the connection between the monarch and God
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Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Notes 55 t/m 57/Lord and King
”Historically, the artefact was kept at the now-ruined Scone Abbey in Scone, near Perth, Scotland. It was seized by Edward I’s forces from Scone during the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, and was used in the coronation of the monarchs of England as well as the monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, following the Treaty of Union of 1707”
WIKIPEDIA
STONE OF SCONE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_of_Scone
”In 1296, the English king Edward I seized a block of sandstone from Scone Abbey in Perthshire called the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny. This stone had been used by Scottish kings for centuries to sit upon when they were crowned. Edward brought the Stone to England and commissioned the Coronation Chair to hold it”
”In 1296, the English king Edward I seized a block of sandstone from Scone Abbey in Perthshire called the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny. This stone had been used by Scottish kings for centuries to sit upon when they were crowned. Edward brought the Stone to England and commissioned the Coronation Chair to hold it”
The Coronation Chair in St George’s Chapel is one of the most precious and famous pieces of furniture in the world. It has been the centrepiece of coronations for over 700 years when it is placed in the centre of the Abbey, in front of the High Altar.
Origins and decoration
The Coronation Chair was made by order of Edward I to enclose the famous Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to the Abbey in 1296, where he placed it in the care of the Abbot of Westminster. The King had a magnificent oaken chair made to contain the Stone in 1300-1301, painted by Master Walter and decorated with patterns of birds, foliage and animals on a gilt ground. The figure of a king, either Edward the Confessor or Edward I, his feet resting on a lion, was painted on the back. The four gilt lions below were made in 1727 to replace the originals, which were themselves not added to the Chair until the early 16th century. The Stone was originally totally enclosed under the seat but over the centuries the wooden decoration had been torn away from the front.
History
At coronations, the Chair – height 2.05m (6 feet 9 inches) – with the Stone stands facing the High Altar. The Chair has been in use at the coronation ceremony since 1308 although opinion is divided as to when it was actually used for the crowning, but this was certainly the case from 1399 when Henry IV was crowned in the Chair.
There have been thirty nine coronation ceremonies for reigning monarchs held at the Abbey (William and Mary were crowned in one ceremony. Edward V, one of the “Princes in the Tower” and Edward VIII, who abdicated, were never crowned). Fifteen queen consorts also had separate coronation ceremonies.
Joint coronation
At the joint coronation of William III and Mary II in 1689 a special chair was made for Mary, as William used the ancient chair. Mary’s chair is on display in the new Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at the Abbey.
Removal
The ancient Chair was taken out of the Abbey when Oliver Cromwell was installed upon it as Lord Protector in Westminster Hall. It was used by Queen Victoria at the 1887 Golden Jubilee Services in the Abbey. During the Second World War the Chair was evacuated to Gloucester Cathedral and the Stone was secretly buried in the Abbey.
Graffiti and damage
Most of the graffiti on the back part of the Chair is the result of Westminster schoolboys and visitors carving their names in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the tourists carved “P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800” on the seat.
A bomb attack in 1914 thought to be organised by the Suffragettes even knocked a small corner off it.
Move to St George’s Chapel
The Chair was kept in the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor for many centuries until that chapel was closed to general visitors in 1997. In February 1998 the Chair was moved out to the ambulatory and raised on a modern pedestal near the tomb of Henry V.
In April 2010 it was moved to a specially-built enclosure within St George’s Chapel at the west end of the Nave for essential conservation work. During conservation and cleaning, under the supervision of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, a rare pigment called orpiment was discovered in the compartment which housed the Stone. Tiny traces of vivid colour were found on the Chair. New wooden tracery was put in at the front of the Chair (the original had been missing since the 18th century). It was discovered that originally there was no seat and a cushion on top of the Stone was probably used in earlier times.
Stone of Scone
Legends abound concerning the Stone of Scone. Tradition identifies it with the one upon which Jacob rested his head at Bethel – “And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it” (Genesis chapter 28, verse 18). The legend then says that Jacob’s sons carried it to Egypt and from thence it passed to Spain with King Gathelus, son of Cecrops, the builder of Athens. About 700 BC it was said to be in Ireland, whither it was carried by the Spanish King’s son Simon Brech, on his invasion of the island. There it was placed upon the sacred Hill of Tara, and called “Lia-Fail”, the “fatal” stone, or “stone of destiny”, for when the Irish kings were seated on it at coronations the Stone groaned aloud if the claimant was of royal race but remained silent if he was a pretender. Fergus Mor MacEirc (died 501?), the founder of the Scottish monarchy, and one of the Blood Royal of Ireland, received it in Scotland, and Kenneth MacAlpin (died 860) finally deposited it in the monastery of Scone in Perthshire (846).
Setting aside the earlier myths it is certain that it had been for centuries an object of veneration to the Scots. Upon this Stone their kings, down to John Balliol in 1292, were crowned, and it is said that the following words were once engraved on the Stone by Kenneth:
Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem
[If Fates go right, where’er this stone is found The Scots shall monarchs of that realm be crowned]
The prophecy was fulfilled at the accession of James VI of Scotland and I of England in 1603. The Stone weighs 152 kg (336 pounds) and is composed of sandstone.
Theft and return to Scotland
It was stolen by Scottish Nationalists on 25th December 1950. After its recovery in April 1951 it was kept in the vault in which it had been stored during the Second World War and was not replaced in the Chair until February 1952, after elaborate precautions had been taken for its future safety.
However, on 3rd July 1996 the Prime Minister (John Major) announced that the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland by the end of the year, returning to the Abbey only for coronations. On the evening of 13th November 1996 the Stone was removed from the Chair by representatives of Historic Scotland and put in a specially made crate. It was transported by stretcher to stand in the Lantern of the Abbey overnight and was removed in silence to the waiting police escort early on the morning of 14th November to make the long journey to Scotland by road. It can now be seen in Edinburgh Castle. The Stone was indeed temporarily returned to be re-united with the Chair for the coronation of King Charles III in 2023.
So the Coronation Chair, once the oldest piece of furniture in England still used for the purpose for which it was originally built, now stands empty after 700 years.
When King Charles III is coronated on May 6, he’ll do so from a very historic point. The coronation chair, which was commissioned by King Edward I and finished around 1300, has served as the seat for 38 monarchs as they were crowned and is thought to be one of the oldest pieces of British furniture still in use. Made of gilded oak, it’s been painstakingly preserved over centuries and was given a thorough restoration ahead of King Charles III’s crowning.
“It is one of the oldest surviving artifacts associated with coronations for which we have a complete provenance,” Dr. R. M. Morris, honorary senior research associate at the Constitution Unit of University College London tells AD. Because a great number of coronation items were lost during the interregnum that lasted from 1649 to 1660, little, except for the chair and a spoon used in the ceremony, remains. “It is a remarkable survival and a more than 700-years-old link with an unimaginably remote past, and yet still also a witness to the wonderful fact of the long continuity of our society.”
Late last year, a restoration of the chair, led by Westminster Abbey conservator Krista Blessley, began with the aim of cleaning it and preserving the gilding where it had flaked. The six-foot-nine-tall chair, which resides in Westminster Abbey’s St. George’s Chapel when it’s not in use, was originally designed to hold the Stone of Scone, a Scottish symbol of monarchy that King Edward I captured and brought back to England. It was enclosed in a wood platform that served as the seat of the chair. While the stone was given back to Scotland in 1996, it will be sent from Edinburgh Castle to Westminster Abbey for the coronation.
The chair features ornate detailing of plants, birds, and other animals. On the back, a king (which is believed to have been Edward I or Edward the Confessor) is depicted. Westminster Abbey curator Susan Jenkins believes the chair’s decoration is its greatest virtue. “You need to get up close to the chair to see the level of detailed decoration that still survives on it. The chair has what is called punchwork and stenciling in the gilding, which originally completely covered it,” she tells AD. “The gilding still shows signs of flowers and birds in delicate markings on the inner and outer sides. It also had colored glass that would have sparkled in the candlelight.”
Historians see incredible detail in the chair that brings to life the complex history of the royal family. Much would be very easy to miss at first glance. “I think relatively little is known about the chair—about its age and its continual use. Visitors probably don’t realize that a copy of it was made for the coronation of Queen Mary II (Stuart) in 1689, so that she could be crowned alongside her husband, King William III,” Jenkins shares. The queen had a stronger claim to the English throne than Dutch-born William, but he was crowned in the 14th-century chair, and she was crowned in one that was made for her coronation.
Every element of the chair’s design highlights the living history of British royalty and the sanctity with which it is seen. “During the coronation service, the chair is positioned on the Cosmati pavement of the sacrarium and it is the closest seat to the high altar, with its back towards the rest of the congregation,” Jenkins says. “The use of a chair that was commissioned by a king of England over 700 years ago helps to emphasize the ancient and traditional nature of the coronation service and the reverence owed to the monarch.”
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[64]
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Origins and decoration
The Coronation Chair was made by order of Edward I to enclose the famous Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to the Abbey in 1296, where he placed it in the care of the Abbot of Westminster. The King had a magnificent oaken chair made to contain the Stone in 1300-1301, painted by Master Walter and decorated with patterns of birds, foliage and animals on a gilt ground”
The coronation ceremony sees the crowning of a new king or queen. This ancient ceremony is an occasion for spectacle and celebration. The English ceremony has remained essentially the same for a thousand years.
The coronation of the new monarch happens several months after their accession. The accession is when a new monarch succeeds to the throne upon the death of the previous king or queen. This time allows for the enormous amount of preparation required to organise and rehearse the ceremony.
For the last nine centuries, the coronation ceremony has nearly always taken place at Westminster Abbey in London. It is normally conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first English king to be crowned at the Abbey was William the Conqueror in 1066. Thirty-nine coronations have taken place in the Abbey, including that of King Charles III, and forty monarchs have been crowned.
The Coronation Regalia form a key part of the ceremony. These sacred objects which represent the powers and responsibilities of the monarch, are presented to the new king or queen during the service.
What happens during the coronation?
The ceremony traditionally features music, prayers, and hymns in several parts:
Recognition and Oath
The people in the Abbey are asked if they recognise the new monarch and respond with ‘God Save The King’ or ‘God Save The Queen’. The monarch then signs an oath where they promise to rule according to the law and with mercy. The monarch is traditionally wearing the crimson Robe of State.
Following the oath, the monarch sits in the Coronation Chair, made for King Edward I in 1300. The chair historically housed the Stone of Scone, also known as “the Stone of Destiny”. This Stone is an ancient object associated with the kings of Scotland. Since 1996 it has been kept at Edinburgh Castle unless required at a coronation.
Anointing
The monarch is then anointed using the Coronation Spoon with holy oil contained in the Ampulla. The Coronation Spoon is the most ancient item of Coronation regalia.
The choir traditionally sings Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’ during this most sacred moment of the coronation. Zadok the Priest was first used for the coronation of George II in 1727.
Investiture and Crowning
The anointing is followed by dressing of the monarch in the spectacular robe of cloth of gold called the Supertunica and the longer Imperial Mantle. The monarch is then presented with other items from the Coronation Regalia.
These includes the gold spurs, the jewelled Sword of Offering and the Armills. The Armills are gold bracelets representing sincerity and wisdom. The monarch also receives the Sovereign’s Orb, a gold globe topped by a cross, as well as a ring and two sceptres.
The ceremony culminates with the placing of the magnificent St Edward’s Crown on the monarch’s head. The monarch then changes into the robe of purple velvet and wears the lighter Imperial State Crown for the rest of the service.
Homage
This is the final part of the coronation. The new monarch moves to the throne chair and senior officials of the United Kingdom pay homage to the newly crowned monarch. They place their hands on the monarch’s knees, swear an allegiance, touch the crown and kiss the monarch’s right hand.
In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip was the first to pay homage to his wife, pledging his service to her.
Procession
The coronation day has traditionally started with a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach. This coach has been used at every coronation since William IV’s in 1831.
After the service there is traditionally a procession through the streets of London. This allows as many people as possible to see the newly crowned monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey in 1953 following her succession. The queen succeeded to the throne on 6 February 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI.
The coronation took place on 2 June 1953 and it was the first to be broadcast live on television. Twenty-seven million people in the United Kingdom tuned in to watch the ceremony.
“I am sure that this, my Coronation, is not the symbol of a power and a splendour that are gone but a declaration of our hopes for the future, and for the years I may, by God’s Grace and Mercy, be given to reign and serve you as your Queen.”
QUEEN ELIZABETH II ON HER CORONATION DAY, JUNE 2 1953.
King Charles III’s Coronation
The Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III took place on 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. The Coronation reflected the monarch’s role today and looked towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.
The Queen Consort was crowned with The King in a similar but simpler ceremony. She was crowned and received a smaller version of the Sceptre with the Cross. Queen Mary’s Crown was used for the Coronation of Queen Camilla.
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ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST
THE CROWN JEWELS: CORONATION AND REGALIA
Everything you need to know about the famous collection.
The Crown Jewels are the most famous of the nation’s treasures. They include over 100 extraordinary items including orbs, sceptres, and crowns. All are closely connected with the status and role of the monarch. The oldest of these is the 12th-century spoon used to anoint the king or queen at the coronation.
Housed at the Tower of London, the Crown Jewels are the most complete collection of royal regalia in the world. They are used at occasions such as the coronation service and the State Opening of Parliament. Part of the Royal Collection, the Crown Jewels are held in trust by the monarch for the nation.
The Coronation Regalia
At the heart of the Crown Jewels are the Coronation Regalia. These are the sacred objects used in the coronation ceremony. The collection includes St Edward’s Crown, the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Sovereign’s Orb.
St Edward’s Crown
This spectacular solid gold crown is used at the moment of crowning during the coronation ceremony.
It weighs 2.07 kg (nearly 5lb) and is decorated with rubies, amethysts and sapphires.
It was made for the Coronation of Charles II in 1661 as a replacement for the medieval crown melted down in 1649, after the execution of Charles I.
The lost medieval crown dated back to the 11th century and belonged to the royal saint, Edward the Confessor.
St Edward’s Crown was last used for the crowning of King Charles III in 2023.
mperial State Crown
The Imperial State Crown was made for the Coronation of King George VI in 1937 replacing a crown made for Queen Victoria.
The crown is set with 2,868 diamonds, as well as several famous jewels.
It includes St Edward’s Sapphire, said to have been worn in a ring by Edward the Confessor.
The crown also includes the Cullinan II diamond, the second largest stone cut from the great Cullinan Diamond. The Cullinan Diamond is the largest diamond ever discovered.
The Imperial State Crown is worn by the monarch to leave Westminster Abbey after the coronation ceremony.
Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross
The Sovereign’s Sceptre was made for the Coronation of Charles II in 1661 and has been used at every coronation since.
The Sceptre includes the magnificent Cullinan I diamond, the largest colourless cut diamond in the world.
In 1911 the Crown Jeweller, Garrard, mounted the diamond in the Sovereign’s Sceptre. The diamond is so large that the Sceptre had to be reinforced to take its weight.
Sovereign’s Orb
The Sovereign’s Orb is a representation of the monarch’s power. It symbolises the Christian world with its cross set on a globe.
The gold Orb weighs 1.32kg and is mounted with emeralds, rubies and sapphires surrounded by diamonds and pearls.
During the coronation service, the Orb is placed in the right hand of the monarch. It is then placed on the high altar before the moment of crowning.
Coronation Spoon & Ampulla
The oldest item in the Coronation Regalia is the 12th-century Coronation Spoon.
It is the only piece of royal goldsmiths’ work to survive from that century.
During the coronation ceremony the spoon is used to anoint the monarch with holy oil.
The gold Ampulla or flask holds the holy oil. The head of the eagle is removable with an opening in the beak for pouring the oil into the spoon.
Queen Mary’s Crown
Queen Mary’s stunning Crown is set with 2,200 diamonds.
The crown was designed for the Coronation of Queen Mary in 1911.
At the 1911 Coronation the crown contained three large diamonds – the Koh-i-nûr, Cullinan III and Cullinan IV. These were later replaced with crystal replicas.
The crown was reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
The Cullinan Diamond
The magnificent Cullinan Diamond is the largest diamond ever found, weighing 3,106 carats. The diamond was discovered in modern-day South Africa in 1905. It was named after the chairman of the mining company, Thomas Cullinan.
Over a period of eight months, three polishers worked for 14 hours a day to cut and polish nine large stones from the original diamond. In total 97 small brilliants were also created.
The two largest stones are Cullinan I and Cullinan II. They are set in the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Imperial State Crown.
What happened to the earlier Crown Jewels?
The medieval Crown Jewels were sold or destroyed in the mid-17th century.
In 1649, at the close of the English Civil War, Charles I was executed, and items from the Royal Collection were sold by Parliament to fund the new government. Jewels were sold and items of silver and gold were melted down and turned into coins.
By 1660 the monarchy was restored, and Charles II ordered the creation of new regalia for his Coronation in 1661. These make up a large proportion of the Crown Jewels which can be seen today.
Fig 3: The north-transept façade of the Abbey offered the most direct connection between the Palace and the Abbey. The reconstruction of the nave continued into the 15th century. Westminster Abbey photographed for Country Life magazine by Paul Highnam.
