Evening star., 1937-04-04
RY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

only folk in such an official position
throughout Britains far-f1ung empire
who are to have the privilege OF at
tending the coronation Of their King.
The invitation, it appears. was
originally extended by the present
Duke of Windsor when, as Prince OF
pected that he would be crowned the
King Emperor over their lands and
dominions, and it holds good for the
coronation of His Majesty George
VI. Not only has a friendship of
many years existed between Edward
and the governor, but Edward was
pleased to be godfather to the eldest
of Sir Bede and Lady Clifford's three
blond daughters. all of whom bid
fair to become famous beauties like
their mother, of whose abounding
good works the colonial residents
like to tell, in addition to their COM
ments upon her charm and grace.
With every one in Nassau agog over
the attendance of the Governor and
his lady at the coronation, Miss
Harriet E. T. Sutton, librarian Of the
Islands book collection in the fas-
cinating old cream-colored building
once used as prison and the twin
to one of Williamsburg Colonial
structures, patiently assembled for
this visitor from the States many
quaint bits OF lore about other British
coronatlons.
Linked to Romantic Incidents.
Not only do they tell story of the
splendor Of pageantry and OF mo-
mentous ceremonial but they are in
many cases associated with extra
ordinarily romantic incidents upon
whose significance sovereigns and
councillors alike often capitalized with
canny eye to its news value IN
deed, in the days before the print
ing press had even come into belng
as an instrument for the more gen.
eral dissemination of national events
and knowledge in general, 1t was
absolutely necessary to have as many
people as possible made aware OF
what was happening to Kingdoms and
their rulers. So, coronatlons were
dramatized not only for their splr-
itual meaning, but with the thought
that those who witnessed them mlght
tell the tale of their wonder and
magnifcence with such embrolder-
tngs as their enthusiasms for this
clan or that reigning house might
warrant. Several accounts of long
ago coronation banquets speak OF
"permitting who would to enter the
halls after the King and his peers had
risen from their feastlng and scramble
away the food
When st. Dunstan crowned Ethelreo
in 979 he is reputed to have remarked,
"If you have obtained the klngaom
through the untinely death OF your
brother, the sword shall not depart
from YOUR house until it shall cut it
off and the crown pass to another race
and language" Since Ethelred had
obtained the crown by murder, the
prophecy was recalled both at the time
of the establishment of the Danish
and then of the Norman dynasties
In this connection it will be remen-
bered that the archbishops who were
preparing for the coronation OF Edgar
the Atheling, upon hearing that Will
liam the Norman, conqueror, was ad-
vancing on London, were so convinced
that the cause of England was hope
less that they made submission to
him through their deputies even before
his arrival. That the English people
themselves were not entirely taken into
the confidence of the prelates OF the
church. as to this arrangement was
Christ
mas day which the Conqueror, in con-
ference with the archbishops had
chosen for his croWning. So great were
the discontented clamorings Of the
populace outside the walls of the newly
built Church of st. Peter or Westmln-
lister that the Norman soldiers took
advantage of the English absence from
their nearby homes to plunder them,
the new King himself having to rush
out from the church, sword in hand, to
quell the general rioting.
Henry Crowned Quickly.
Another hurried coronation was that
OF Henry the First, youngest son OF
William the Conqueror. Hearing of
the murder of his brother, William
Rufus, in New Forest, he rode head
long to London in order to have him.
self anointed King before his elder
brother, Robert, Duke of Normandy,
the rightful heir to the throne, could
reach there and have the proper in
Vestiture
An intensely dramatic coronation
was that of Matilda, daughter of
Henry I. whose rival claimant for the
throne, Stephen, had previously been
made a prisoner in the midst of a.
civil war The ceremony took place
in Winchester Cathedral and Matilda,
third of her name to become Queen
of England, was actually crowned
Empress as we'll as Queen, since the
council of Winchester termed her
LADY of England and Normandy"
Unfortunate John, called Lakeland"
by his father, Henry II, because he
was left without a portion when the
dominions we're divided among his
older brothers, is said to have been
crowned on Ascension day and to have
declined the holy communion. To this
circumstance his later struggles with
the mobiles and Pope Innocent Ills
papal bull suspending all religious
privileges from his kingdom were at
tributed. To England and the world
at large he will be remembered as the
reluctant signer of the famous Magma
Charta, the first great instrument OF
English liberty.
Because Edward I was in the Holy
Land conducting crusade, whole
year elapsed between the time when
he was actually entitled to ascend
the throne and the date Of his coro-
nation. This ceremonial on August
1s, 1874, appears to have been at
tended with magnificent pomp and
ceremony. Evidently not the least
glamorous feature of the whole pag-
cant was the young King himself
Blond, of magnificent proportions anc