The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-04-07 00:00:00

THE CORONATION OF THE CZAR.

The Correspondent of the bail?) IVonea writes
The aetual date of the coronation still remains un-
certain, but there is no doubt it will be either Sunday,
May 2 tb, or Sunday, May 27th. It is equally certain
that the pnperial Court will remain only ten days at
Moscow. The two elder princes, Grand Dukes
Nicolas and George, will accompany their °grouts,
while the three youngest children remain at Peterhof.
The following ceremonies and festivities will take
place
The entry of the Court at Moscow, where they will
occupy the Petroffsky ralace ; the coronation in the
Church of the Assumption; the traditional presenta-
tion of bread and salt by deputations from all parts of
the Empire; the State banquet in the Diamond Hall
of the Kremlin, at which only the highest State offi-
cials will be present, to be followed by four other
banquets for the diplomatic corps, and the three
classes of civil, military, and church officials; two or
three great balls, the public festivities for the people,
and finally the consecration of the new Church of the
Saviour in the presence of the Court.
The nobility of Moscow will also entertain their
Majesties at a grand ball for which only 2,700 persons
will be invited instead of 4,000 as first proposed. This
ball takes place in the Nobility Hall, which will be
decorated at a cost of 15,000 roubles, besides 8,000
roubles for the furniture and 11,000 for the ball ex-
penses.
The golden dish and salt cellar with which the
Moscow nobility intend to offer bread and salt to the
Czar represent a value of 5,000 roubles.
The coronation cloaks for their Majesties have been
completed after months of incessant labour. They
are true masterpieees of heraldic embroidery. The
front part consists of very fine, but strong drap d'or,
on which the Ru sian Imperial eagle, double-headed
and triple-crowned, is embroidered with black silk.
The breast of the eagle bears the old Muscovite
escutcheon of St. George and the-Dragon ; the right
wing shows the arms of Astrachan, Novgorod, and
Kleff in three shields, the left wing those of Siberia,
Kazan, and Vladimir, and lower down are the shields
of Poland, Tauria, Georgia, and Finland. The
material for the other parts of these cloaks is purple
velvet, with lining and broad facings of ermine; the
trains will be borne by sixßages.
According to ancient custom the Czar and his con-
sort will make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Kieff
about one week after their coronation in order to visit
the churches, chapels, and catacombs, give alms, and
pay their devotions to the icons and relics. Later, it
is believed, they will pay visits to Warsaw, and
perhaps Copenhagen.
Already it is stated that all telegraphic or other
accounts of the coronation from the correspondents of
Russian, as well as foreign journals, must be sub-
mitted to a special commission under the Court
Minister for revision and approval. At the same time
it will be utterly impossible to admit any correspon-
dents, with the sole exception of the official represen-
tative of the Government Messenger, to the actual
coronation ceremony in the Uspensky-Sobor Chapel,
which can only hold 240 persons while the foreign
guests and official personages, whose presence is re-
quired by law, already exceed this number.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who will specially repre-
sent the Queen at the forthcoming coronation of the
Czer of Russia, is selecting the staff to accompany him
to Moscow. His Royal Highness will not leave Eng-
land before the let of next month, when he will take
with him insignias and presents from Her Majesty
and the members of the Royal Family,