The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-26
The Impressive CorOn ation Rites

''rhe late King Edward VII.'s corona ton was a splendid affair, but the coro- nation of George V. last Thursday echpsed anything in the way of gorgeous pageantry ever seen in England," said travelled and well read man. "In some particulars the coronation was spectacu- lar, but not so spectacular as the crown ing of a German emperor.
 "The. striking features of the King George ceremony were it's religious solem- nifty and the seriousness with which participants and untitled subjects alike regarded it. Newspaper editors who are treating it as a mere show miss the mark entirely. There is a sound philoso- phy underlying all elaborate ceremonial. The coronation of the sovereign pontiff amidst pious and stirring associations and against a background of sacred tra dition. Is, of course, marked by pomp as well as religious rites, but in many respects Georges coronation in Westmin- ster was even more medieval than any ceremony of the kind seen in the vatican in modern times.
 'Iconoclasts and frivolous persons may rldicule these great state pageants, Alt the thoughtful man sees an inner mean ing and this inner meaning goes long way in the conservation of the social and ethical life of the countries where monarchical system prevails. The New York Sun of Friday had a superb color story cabled from London. If Macauly | bad tuon1H mi haWa ha0n more brilliant or more moving. These paragraphs particularly impressed me-
 "'The sacred historic ceremonial was carried out in Westminster's ancient fane with symbolism and ritual language that carried the minds of the beholders back to the storied days of faith and chivalry, even to the time of those who | lived before Alfred.
 There are not lacking those who say that today's great ceremony was noth- ing more than a traditional pageant, a splendid anachronism in this modern world. Few who witnessed 1t could re- main of that mind. Were there nothing more. then surely the whole proceed ing must have been swept away ere now 10 1uuRe DY lHe eNluelCt OI OllS . eyes and ears, the truth seems to be just the opposite. The coronation of George V. appears to have gripped the imagination of the people of the entire British empire. even more than that of his well beloved father, when to affec- ton was added deep human sympathy for the man who six short weeks before had looked death in the face.
 At 10 o'clock all stood again as a glittering company of great foreign princes walked up. the aisle and took their places in the chancel Then fol- lowed the diplomatic corps, foreign en- voys and minor royalties, and then in a map of the world stretching from Ethiopia to Japan.
 " Following these came another as semblage, which touched the hearts of the people within and without the ab- bey as did none other today, not even the arrival of the King and Queen themselves. This was the group of the royal children, ''the hope of England" ," the Prince of Wales with his sister and his brothers. They were followed by nineteen princes and princesses of the British blood royal, but all eyes were for the boy prince and his sister and brothers.
 Grave and serious looked the young prince as he walked with a dignity be- yond his years at the head of this royal group dressed in the medieval costume of the Garter. He looked every inch a prince, but the modesty and diffidence of the human boy could plainly be seen. adding, not distracting. from the prince liness of his bearing. Y"