The Coronation Book of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

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Princess and Prince Arthur of Connaught, the King's first cousin and her husband, the King's first cousin once removed Supplement to the London Gazette, 10 November 1937 issue no. 34453, pp. 7044–45" . Retrieved 26 May 2014. See also: 1937 Imperial Conference Eaton's department store window in Toronto displaying mannequins of George and Elizabeth wearing their crowns and holding orbs In 1911, standards of the Dominions—autonomous communities of the British Empire—were borne during the procession. But, after the 1931 Statute of Westminster, which established legislative equality between the Dominions and the United Kingdom, the actual service and coronation rite needed to be updated to reflect this change in political power within the Empire, which itself was beginning to be known as the Commonwealth. Furthermore, the fact that the service was an Anglican rite excluded other faiths and denominations; in 1937, several Dominions had premiers who were Catholic and, by that time, laws which previously excluded people from public office on religious grounds had been repealed. [13] The Coronation Committee altered the rite to reflect this change; the King now swore to maintain "the Protestant Reformed Religion only as established by law in the United Kingdom." [13] During Edward VIII's reign, a committee was established and chaired by the Duke of York to investigate how colonial representatives might be included within the ceremony. The committee failed, though, to implement any changes, except to the Coronation Oath. This was the first amendment to the oath since the coronation of King William III and Queen Mary II in 1689. [14]

Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805, Dean & Canons of Windsor, archived from the original on 27 September 2011 , retrieved 15 February 2010 Princess Paul of Yugoslavia and the Prince Regent of Yugoslavia, the King's second cousin and her husband (representing his first cousin once removed, the King of Yugoslavia) The royal couple walked past the choir, in which sat the foreign representatives and delegates, before passing through the screen; after this, they sat or stood in their designated area and the King and Queen took their seats in the Chairs of State in front of the royal box. As the King and Queen and the procession proceeded, the choir sang I was glad with the traditional acclamations of Vivat Regina Elizabetha and Vivat Rex Georgius by the King's Scholars of Westminster School. Once adorned with his regalia and seated in St Edward's Chair, King George was crowned with St Edward's Crown by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the people in the abbey proclaimed loudly "God save the King"; the peers and peeresses wore their coronets (the only time that this happens) and the guns in the Royal Parks were fired to mark the crowning. [40] The ceremony appeared to run smoothly, although there were a few inconspicuous mishaps: the Archbishop of Canterbury almost placed the crown on the King's head the wrong way, one bishop stepped on the King's train, and another obscured the words of the Oath with his thumb while the King was reading it. [16] Enthronement and homage to the King [ edit ] A 1938 painting by Frank O. Salisbury, depicting the coronation service.Lady Elizabeth Ivy Percy (1916–2008), daughter of the Duke of Northumberland; she later became the Duchess of Hamilton. Roberts, Andrew (2000), Antonia Fraser (ed.), The House of Windsor, London: Cassell & Co., pp.57–58, ISBN 978-0-304-35406-1 Despite a number of hitches, described above, the coronation ran relatively smoothly. It has been somewhat overshadowed in history by the larger Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953; the Abbey's sacrist, Jocelyn Perkins, said that the 1953 event was "out and away the most impressive" of the 1953, 1937 and 1911 coronations. [56] Nonetheless, a number of those present, the King included, commented privately on the spirituality of the ceremony. Despite recalling it as being "inordinately long" and remembering how heavy the crown and robes were, the Queen said that it was "wonderful and there is a great sense of offering oneself". [57] The King wrote to Lang thanking him for his support and, although he said it was an "ordeal", he also wrote that "I felt I was being helped all the time by Someone Else as you said I would". [58] Media coverage [ edit ] The front cover of the coronation edition of the Radio Times with a depiction of a commentator's vantage point by C. R. W. Nevinson. Radio [ edit ] About Heathrow Airport: Heathrow's history, LHR Airports, archived from the original on 3 October 2013 , retrieved 9 March 2015

Led by two officers of arms—the Rouge Croix Pursuivant and the Rouge Dragon Pursuivant—and two Gentleman Ushers (Rear-Admiral Arthur Bromley and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry De Satgé), the senior members of the Royal Family arrived at 10:15 and formed their procession into the abbey. The Princess Royal was flanked by The Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and they were followed by the Duchesses of Gloucester and Kent and then, in pairs, Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught; Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and Lady Patricia Ramsay; and Princess Marie Louise and Princess Helena Victoria, each with an attendant, train-bearer, or coronet carrier, as applicable. [32]

They are dressed in their fine silks and satins with lots of gold thread, and they are getting rained on with wax. “There is a comic description of people looking up, and as they do, their faces are getting absolutely splattered, undoing all their makeup.” The Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the King's maternal uncle and aunt (also first cousin once removed) The BBC and CBC jointly transmitted the proclamation of George VI. In the lead up to the Coronation, the BBC organised talks by Ministers to be broadcast under the name Responsibilities of Empire, and also broadcast The Empire's Homage featuring messages from colonial officers and citizens from across the Empire. [62] The BBC's Empire Service broadcast the whole service, lasting two-and-a-half hours. [63] Television [ edit ] On the day of Edward's abdication, the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Irish Free State, removed all direct mention of the monarch from the Irish constitution. The next day, it passed the External Relations Act, which gave the monarch limited authority (strictly on the advice of the government) to appoint diplomatic representatives for Ireland and to be involved in the making of foreign treaties. The two acts made the Irish Free State a republic in essence without removing its links to the Commonwealth. [52] Petrocelli, P. (2007). William Walton and the Violin Concerto in England between the 1900 and 1940, Universal Publishers ( ISBN 1-59942-654-4)

Richards, Jeffrey (2001). Imperialism and Music: Britain, 1876–1953, Manchester University Press ( ISBN 0-7190-4506-1) London Declaration 1949 (PDF), Commonwealth Secretariat, archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2012 , retrieved 2 April 2013 Range, M. (2012). Music and Ceremonial at British Coronations: From James I to Elizabeth II, Cambridge University Press ( ISBN 978-1-107-02344-4) I can only say my heart is very full when this evening I say – God bless & guide & keep your Majesties always. I felt that His Presence was around you this morning – His help assured to you in the Sacraments of Anointing and Communion. He will not fail you in the days to come. Believe me to be Sir and Madam, Your Majesties devoted and affectionate Servant.In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax. [82] After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister". [83] Every Tuesday for four and a half years from September 1940, the two men met privately for lunch to discuss the war in secret and with frankness. [84] George related much of what the two discussed in his diary, which is the only extant first-hand account of these conversations. [85]