Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Wednesday 5 April 2023

The Coronation Invitation


The design of the formal invitation to the Coronation was released yesterday. Created by the heraldic artist Andrew Jamieson and chosen personally by The King, it is a fine piece of work, and in full colour, unlike previous such invitations. The Daily Telegraph article about it  gives additional background to the design at First look at King Charles’s Coronation invitation 

The Royal Family website has an account of the design and includes several closeups of the border. This can be seen at The Coronation Invitation

The Mail Online has an article which analyses the symbolism in some detail ( and with a few errors and idiosyncrasies it must be said ) and is accompanied by a generous selection of photo enlargements of details at King Charles's coronation invite symbolism

In its design with a floral border the Invitation is strongly reminiscent of the artistic decoration of Letters Patent or of grants from the College of Arms. 

The arms of The King and of The Queen are rendered in a striking way - the blue boar of the Shand’s would look very well as a free standing Queen’s Beast. 

National floral symbols are obviously included as well as flowers one might see on or around the royal estates in the spring and summer, the flowers shown in threes as this is the third King Charles.

Spring floral imagery is very suitable both for an event in the month of May and also for the new beginning marked by a new reign, as well as a tribute to a monarch noted for his love of gardens and the natural world.

That theme is also referred to by the inclusion of the Green Man - a medieval symbol that draws inspiration from the past and the mythic, but which also has contemporary resonances with the new monarch’s long-standing concern not just for gardens but the wider environment, and looks to the future with its imagery of vibrant and fertile life giving energy.

The BBC News website has an illustrated piece about previous Coronation invitations which is interesting - although irritating in so far as it describes the invitations as “invites”, refers to monarchs being “coronated” and to King George VI being “appointed”…. where do they get their journalists from? Those points notwithstanding, the article can be seen at Coronation invitations through the ages


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