Coronation in Budapest

Today is the 95th anniversary of the coronation of the Bl. Emperor Charles as King Charles IV of Hungary in 1916. The fact that he had received this sacramental was of enormous spiritual significance to the King and his Queen Zita, and why he refused to renounce his rights in 1921.

The ceremony, central to the traditional Hungarian concept of kingship, was both deemed to be a constitutional requirement and also. it seem, as a means of binding the new King, who had succeeded to the throne in late November, to the existing balance of political pwer within the realm by the Prime Minister, Count Tisza.

There is an account of the preparations for the coronation in Miklos Banffy's memoir The Phoenix Land and there is a detailed description of the day, set within the action of a sprawling novel about a Magyar aristocratic family, in Lajos Zilahy's The Dukays.

The King taking the Coronation oath

The King on horseback upon the hill composed of soil from every county in Hungary.
This part of the ceremonial involved the King riding up the hill and brandishing his sword to the four points of the compass to symbolise his defence of the frontiers of the kingdom - indeed the oath speaks of extending them.

King Charles IV, Queen Zita and Crown Prince Otto.
The King died in 1922, Queen Zita in 1989 and Otto in 2011.

King Charles IV wearing the Holy Crown
and mantle of St Stephen and holding the sceptre.

Images: The Emperor Charles League of Prayer

The Holy Crown of Hungary

I wrote the other day that today I would post further on the Holy Crown of Hungary.

The Hungarian Regalia

The Holy Crown

There is a Wikipedia article on the Holy Crown, and also a good article on the Crown and Regalia on the Art in Medieval Hungary site. There is also the article I cited in my previous post.

The Coronation rite itself is outined in another Wikipeda article, as is is the Doctrine of the Holy Crown. There is a very interesting article by Prof Laszlo Peter on the history and modern application of the Doctine

Here are two pictures, courtesy of the Emperor Charles League of Prayer, of the coronation of King Charles IV in 1916.

Taking the Oath:



The King on horseback symbolically indicates the defence of the frontiers of his realm:

There is an account of the 1916 Coronation in Miklos Banffy's The Pheonix Land, to which there is a link from Wikipedia article on the Coronation. Banffy was partly responsible for organizing the Coronation. There is also an account, with a few fictional elements introduced, which do not detract from the description, in Lajos Zilahy's novel The Dukays.