National interest was intense and the Australian press followed the Menzies’ every move. Sir Robert, an enthusiastic shutterbug, also produced a home movie of the coronation which can be viewed via this link. This was taken up and new ones crafted by the crown jewellers were presented to and worn by the Queen, a gift from all the Commonwealth. It was Menzies who suggested that part of the Regalia, the traditional solid-gold armills (bracelets, below), which dated from 1661, might be replaced. Prime Minister Robert Menzies was there 70 years ago, accompanied by his wife, Pattie, and their 20-year-old daughter, Heather, who, at 94, must be one of the very few Australians who attended the Coronation and are still with us. Instead, the hoi polloi will fill many of the pews – 850 community and charity workers including some 450 British Empire Medallists – the most modest of all the honours but those awarded on effort and not rank. Apart from some nobles in attendance for other reasons and achievements, there will be a mere 25 peers. The others will presumably be watching the tele from their sitting rooms or libraries at Auchmar, Chatsworth, Blenheim, Baron’s Court, Goodwood, Alwnick and Floors. The reformist John Grigg had suggested that they might be “replaced by eminent Canadians, Australians, Pakistanis and other Commonwealth leaders” but he met a wall of opposition from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl Marshal and so, as in the past, there was a galaxy of coronets.īut on Saturday, it seems there will be only a handful of dukes. In fact, the Abbey was packed with peers in 1953. A splendid sight, according to diarist Chips Channon MP. This is a Coronation not Royal, Ascot.” His duchess, Lavinia, stood in for the Queen at rehearsals and she was one of 13 duchesses sitting in the front row. When a divorced peer expressed concern about not being invited, Norfolk retorted, “Of course you will. In 1953, it was Bernard, the efficient, precise 16th Duke with a fine sense of ceremony and astonishing eye for detail. One key character is the MC, the Earl Marshall – always the premier duke, the Duke of Norfolk. This slim work is full of gems - characters and anecdotes woven through the pageantry and prayer. Now that Charles’s turn has come, Hugo Vickers’ authoritative and fascinating Coronation (Dovecote Press, 2023) is timely as it sheds light on the mystery and magic of that last Coronation. It was said of Queen Victoria and her son (eventually Edward VII), “The Queen continues to reign, and reign and won’t let the son shine.” It might be said of her great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth, “The Queen continued to shine, and shine and wouldn’t let the son reign.” But if one looks to her coronation, held seventy years ago in June, it is not difficult to see why she felt bound to retain the reins and make her septuagenarian son await her death.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |