King George V and state ceremonial

Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of King George Vin 1865. The view of him as a rather unimaginative blunt naval officer may describe his personality in part but iyt misses, I think, one which has not had as much consideration as it perhaps deserves. This was something which came to my mind whilst giving acourse of tutorials last year to a visiting American student of the history of the Britiush Monarchy in the twentieth century.

The point at issue was the extent to which the King, far more than his father, the more flamboyant, socialising and widely travelled King Edward VII, was responsible for developing the outward ceremonial of the monarchy, and expecially in the first four years of his reign between 1910 and 1914.

This can be seen with the Coronation in June 1911. Unlike his father's somewhat shambolic coronation the ceremony was rehearsed and for the first time for several such ceremonies the King actually wore St Edward's Crown, though not for as long as his son and granddaughter were to do at their coronations.

 St Edward's Crown

Image:royal.gov.uk

Instead of hiring in precious stones for the occasion to decorate crown it was permanently set with precious and semi-precious stones and displayed with them ever since.

In the following month there was the Investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarvon on 13 July - the first such ceremony since that of Henry Prince of Wales in the reign of King James I. That Caernarvon was the constituency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, may not be irrelevant. New insignia was made and a very public ceremony held, as can be seen in the pictures at The Investiture - 13th. July 1911

Edward Prince of Wales in 1911 following his Investiture

Image:carnarvontraders.com

This was followed by the Coronation Durbar in India on December 12th. Not only was this the first - indeed only time - the British Emptess or Emperor of India attended such a celebration, but it was carried out with enhanced ceremony. As a British crown count not be taken out of the realm under the Act of Settlement a new crown was made, taken to India for the occasion and returned to London. It was the King-Emperor who ruled that it was not, as had been suggested, to be broken up afterwards but to go on display at the Tower alongside the other Vcrown Jewels. It was made by Garrards between March and October 1911, together with a new tiara for the Queen-Empress -it is now worn, after long dissuitude by the Duchess of Cornwall. At the Durbar, and despite the intense heat, King George V and Queen Mary wore full Coronation robes at the ceremony, together with the new crown. The King later wrote in his diary "Rather tired after wearing the Crown for 3 1/2 hours, it hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy...".

The Imperial Crown of India

Image:toplots.co.uk

Notwithstanding the difficulties of wearing a crown upon his return and from 1913 until his death, the King, unlike his father, actually wore the Imperial State Crown at the annual State Opening of Parliament

The Imperial State Crown

Image:royal.gov.uk

As David  Starkey points out in his history of the monarchy this necessiated various adjustments over the years to the frame to try and make the crown more comfortable for the monarch to wear.

Similarly in these years the King presided at Garter processions at Windsor, although they did not take on a definitive annual form until the 600th anniversary of the Order in 1948. For the Order of the Bath with its chapel in King Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster ceremonial investitures were revived in 1913. The reign began with the building of the Thistle Chapel at St Giles in Edinburgh in 1910-11. Such a scheme had been talked of from the 1880s, beginning with a plan to restore the ruined nave at Holyrood. Now a new chapel was built, the first for the Order of the Thistle since 1688. King Edward VII had inaugurated the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George in St Paul's Cathedral a few years earlier, but this wasa more ambitious and much more public undertaking.

There appears to be a clear pattern in all this, and it must be one that was coming from the King himself and circle around him - carring further what his father had done - not quite what might expect from a King often thought to be rather diffident - certainly at this point in his reign with the major constitutional issues of the House of Lords and Irish Home Rule so prominent. They can be seen as balancing the regional tours the King and Queen carried out in those pre-war years.

Writing in exile in the early 1920s the king's cousin, Emperor Wilhelm II commented with reference to the ceremonial around the unveiling just before the Coronation in June 1911 by the two monarchs of the Queen Victoria Memorial that monarchies with less direct power were, the Kaiser thought, more inclined to the use of public spectacle and ceremony. That is an interesting insight from an insider - though few modern monarchs have been as keen on outward ceremony as Wilhelm, and he, presumably, was implying he had more direct power than his cousin George.

That this concern for historic ceremonial was not just a pre-War mood can be seen in the revival by King George V of the monarch's personal participation in the Royal Maundyservice in the early 1930s, at the suggestion of his cousin Princess Marie Louise.

Coronation commemoration service

I was not able to watch on television the service commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Coronation which was held at Westminster Abbey this morning, so I was dependent upon online reports and photographs of the event. Such a service is without precedent, so its format had to be worked out by the Abbey Chapter to be a reflection on the themes in the rite of Coronation

The most striking image I saw was this one, of St Edward's Crown resting once again on the altar of the Abbey, as it was in 1953:

St Edward's Crown rests on the High Altar of Westminster Abbey

Image: Reuters

This, it seemed to me, was a forceful image of the enduring concept of Christian kingship, be it for this country or any other realm, as well as of the endurance of the English monarchy.

 

Coronation of King George V

Today is the centenary of the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911. There is an article with links about it here.

Amongsty other points of interest is the fact that this was the first British coronation ceremony, as opposed to the procession, to be recorded by photographs. This photograph shows the beginning of the ceremony in Westminster abbey.

Copyright: Heritage Images The King and Queen Copyright: lamodeillustree.livejournal.com

It was King George who resumed the practice of being crowned with St Edward's Crown, rather than the lighter Imperial State Crown used by Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, although he quicly exchanged it for the Imperal crown. In 1937 and 1953 the monarch was to wear St Edward's Crown right up to the communion, only assuming the Imperial Stae Crown at the Recess for the procession out of the abbey and back to the palace. It was the King who ordered that St Edwar's Crown be permanently set with precious and semi-precious stones, rather than the previous practice of hiring gems for the Coronation and then replacing them with paste.

St Edward's Crown

It was only fairly recently that I discovered that it was King George V who from the 1913 State Opening of Parliament actually wore the Imperial State Crown with his robes of state, and this has remained the practice. at Queen Victoria's few post 1861 State Openings and those of King Edward VII the crown was carried on its cushion, although the Sovereign wore the robes.

The 1911 Coronation was, I think, the only time that Queen Mary's crown was used with its arches. Like Queen Alexandra's 1902 crown, but unlike those of 1831 for Queen Adelaide and 1937 for Queen Elizabeth, it has eight half arches rather than the more traditional four. In design it is very like the Crown of India, which was also made by Garrards that year - but I will say more about that in December.

Queen Mary's Crown

The crown contains some 2,200 diamonds and in 1911 it contained the Koh-i-Noor diamond as well as Cullinan III and Cullinan IV (the Cullinan diamond had been presented to King Edward VII and after cutting the largest piece was set in the sceptre and the second largest in the Imperial Stae Crown, displacing to the back of the circlet the Stuart Sapphire). In 1914 they were replaced by crystal models.

Unlike many earlier coronation crowns, it was specially constructed so that its arches could be removed, allowing it to be worn as a circlet, and it was in that way that Queen Mary wore it for State Openings and at the Coronation of King George VI in 1937. At her funeral in 1953 I understand that her crown did not rest on her coffin, unlike the practice at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 2002.

As the Queen Consort's crown has been seen as an ornament rather than regalia Queen Mary presented her crown to King George V for the use of future Queens consort. However a new crown, based on a circlet made for Queen Victoria, and incorporating the Koh-i-Noor was used to make the 1937 crown for Queen Elizabeth, allowing Queen Mary to wear her crown as a circlet at that Coronation.

Coronation Day 1661

Were it not Holy Saturday today would be the feast of St George, the patron saint of England. It was on that feast day 350 years ago that King Charles II was crowned as King of England in Westminster Abbey - he had been crowned as King of Scots in 1651 at Scone.

There is an eye-witness account of the day by the diarist Samuel Pepys which can be read here.

This was the first occasion on which the regalia made by the London goldsmith Sir Robert Vyner at a cost of £12,050 3s 5d to replace that destroyed in 1649 was used. Despite some alterations and replacements this set is at the heart of the present regalia held in the Tower of London.

Amongst the regalia St Edward's Crown, about whose design I wrote in St Edward and St Edward's Crown, and the Orb are unchanged since 1661, although since 1911 the Crown is permanently set with jewels, whereas previously they were hired for Coronations and then replaced with paste substitutes.

St Edward's Crown

The Orb

Image: The Internetforum/Royalforum

Both the Crown and the Orb assert that thr Sovereign's authority derives from and is under that of Christ and His Cross, which is a suitable thought for this most solemn and joyful weekend of Easter.

St Edward and St Edward's Crown

Today is the Feast of the Translation of St Edward the Confessor. The day commemorates the move of the relics in 1163 within the abbey church at Westminster built by Edward at the time of his canonization.

St Edward as depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry

His shrine in the present, thirteenth century, Westminster Abbey is shown here:

and here is the scene in the Abbey on the occasion of the Papal visit, as part of which the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed at St Edward's shrine behind the High Altar.

The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury at prayer together at the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor.
Image from Idle Speculations

St Edward's positionas patron of the Monarchy and exemplar of English Kingship is enshrined in St Edward's Crown, used to crown the monarch.but not worn subsequently. This practice is similar to that followed in France, Hungary and Bohemia.

Bless we beseech thee this Crown and so sanctify thy servant Elizabeth, upon whose head this day thou dost place it for a sign of royal majesty ...

There have been two St.Edward's Crowns. The first was believed to have belonged to Edward the Confessor. The second was the crown which replaced it in 1661.

The original St. Edward's crown was kept at Westminster Abbey rather than in the Tower of London. This can be seen as indications its status as a relic in the custody of the Church. Aidan Nichols expresses this elegantly and susuccinctly in The Realm in his passage about the centrality of the Coronation to national life. By 1399 it had, if Froissart is to be believed accurate in his description, and he makes the point as clearly being a significant one, that King Henry IV was crowned with St Edward's Crown and that it was arched - implying sovereignty directly under God. As Henry's coronation followed rapidly upon the deposition of King Richard II, and from what is clear about Richard's devotion to St Edward and his exalted view of his regal position. it may well be that it was he who had added the arches. The effect may, possibly, have been rather like his father-in-law Charles IV's Crown of St Wenceslas, about which I wrote recently, although the English crown appears to have always alternated crosses and fleur de lys:

Following the regicide of Charles I in 1649 and the `abolition'of the Monarchy St. Edward's Crown was taken to the Tower of London to be melted down at the Mint. However there is no evidence that the metal was actually used for coins and it is thought that it may have been used to make the crown that Cromwell is said to have ordered in 1656 and which was displayed at his funeral two years later.

At the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, directions were given for a new 'St. Edward's Crowne'. Partly on the basis that only one new crown was delivered, but two were in use at the 1661 Coronation, it has been suggested that the crown which existed in the 1650s was refashioned. It has been suggested that the same gold from the old crown, from the Treasury supply, may have been used to make the new St. Edward's Crown in 1661. The work of Robert Vyner, who made the whole new set of regalia, it is made with 4lb 12oz of solid gold. From 1661 until the early twentieth century, the crown was set with stones hired for the coronation and then returned and replaced with paste stones.

The design of the present crown may well reflect that of its predecessor. In 1649 it was described as "King Alfred's crowne" and as being of gold wirework and set with slight stones and two little bells. Assuming a missing comma between "gold" and "wirework", with the wirework referring to the mounts for the stones, and that the pendant pearls from the cross on the monde are the representitives of the bells what Robert Vyner produced may well be a close or fairly close reproduction of what had been lost. His Imperial State Crown was not however very similar to that which was lost in 1649 - but that is another story about which I will post on another occasion.

From 1702 until the early 19th Century the crown was not actually used for the Coronation, but was instead only carried in the procession as a symbolic object. At Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838 it did not even leave the Tower of London.

King Edward VII decided to revive the central role of the crown of his saintly namesake and St. Edward's crown was refurbished and prepared for his coronation in 1902. However, he had to abandon his plans to wear the heavy St. Edward's Crown as at the time he was recuperating after an appendicitis operation, and instead, like his mother was crowned with the Imperial State Crown, although on both occasions it was referred to as St Edward's Crown. For the coronation of King George V in 1911, Garrards carried out £375 worth of work, permanently resetting the crown with 444 precious and semi-precious stones. Since then it has once again been used as the actual Coronation Crown. In 1911 King George V quickly exchanged it for the lighter Imperial State Crown, but both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II wore it for the enthronement and homage until the Communion at their Coronations.

Meanwhile I am off to start my novena to that sainted King of the twentieth century, Bl.Emperor Charles of Austria, in the lead up to his feast day on October 21st. It can be found on the Emperor Charles League of Prayer website.