Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1903-09-25
MARY IFS CHAIR MOVED.
Interesting Changes Recently Male
in Westminster Abbey.

"bNN y ~ NVHh'NAANAA " A'n tht N.NfN
brated coronation chair, accord
ing to Il London cable to the st
Louis Republic.
For many years past two chairs
have stood side by side immedi
ately behind the high altar of the
church, facing the tomb of st
Edward the Confessor.
The larger of these chairs pos
sesses, of course, meaning which
to the English people can never
be less than sacred, for it has de-
seconded to MS from the DAYS of
the greatest of the Plantage-
nets" himself, and the old stone
which it enshrined unites our
twentieth century with a hoary
antiquity.
The other chair, commonly des-
ignated as the Queens Chair, "
though by no means lacking in
interest, stands, of necessity up
on an infinitely lower level in his
tOrical Importance when com
pared with King Edwards chair.
II was manufactured for Queen
Mary H., who was crowned as
joint sovereign with her husband,
William III.
At the time of the revolution in
1859 the prince of Orange abso.
lutely declined to give way, on to
occupy position inferior in dig
nifty TO that of his wife. who, IS
the Oldest daughter of James H.,
had by no means an inconsidera-
BILE claim upon the crown Of Eng
land.
The difficulty. therefore. could
only be solved by placing the two
Of them upon precisely equal
'OOting. With this end in view, it
was necessary to furnish. i'm view
IF the coronation, the special en-.
)lems of sovereignty peculiar to
| regnant monarch, for the queen
Is we'll as the king. The Scepter
md the orb with which Mary III.
was duly invested may still be
een among the regalia in the
over of London.
1t was also considered desira-
he for a special chair TO he made,
is nearly as possible resembling
King Edwards chair i'm it's gen
rial shape and details. Into this
hair, then, Queen Mary was lift
al. and while seated there she
was anointed and crowned. in
stead of undergoing these cere.
monies in a kneeling posture. like
Queen Alexandra and other
queen couSortS.
This chain has now been re.
moved to an altogether different
position. II stands i'm the small
chapel at the extreme eastern
end of King Henry Wis chapel.
II will probably never be used
again. seeing that We are never
likely to hehold Il queen-regnant
in England simultaneously with a
king.
1t ought TO be made perfectly
clear, therefore. that this chair
is not the queens chair at all. |
Properly speaking, it should un-
douhtcdly be called Queen Mary's !
chair, for it has never been
rightfully occupied by any queen
since the year 1899.
King Edwards chair now TO.
mains in sole possession of the
chapel of the kings. 1t has been
placed upon Il wooden pedestal
similar in the character of it's de
sign to the perpendicular Den.
cling of the fifteenth century al
tar screen adjoining it.
? Here il occupies an infinitely
more commanding position than
before. 1t at once arrests the eve
of visitors az being almost the
most prominent object in the
chapel.
added 10 this, it will never he
possible for tie grand old chair
in future to he subjected to the
painful indignities which have
been perpetrated upon it's surface
in the inscription of the names OF
countless worthless people. who
seem to have scant reverence for
a country's great traditions.
TrachomA Patients.
y cabinet officer of the mikado